Apis of Argos

Apis is presented in Greek genealogical tradition as a son of Phoroneus and an early ruler of Argos and the Peloponnese, called in some accounts the eponym by which the region was named 'Apia.' Ancient summaries attribute to him the role of an early lawgiver; variant genealogies name different mothers (traditions cite Teledice, Cinna, Cerdo, Perimede or Peitho) and associate him with siblings such as Niobe, Aegialeus or Europs. Accounts diverge over his death: one tradition records a conspiracy by Thelxion and Telchis who killed him (later avenged by Argus Panoptes), while other versions say he was slain by Aetolus. Some later summaries add that he went to Egypt and reigned there for some years, a detail modern compendia note as evidence that Egyptian myths became mixed into Apis's story (see Apis (Egyptian mythology)). These variant strands are reported in modern summaries of the ancient authors (Apollodorus, Pausanias, and scholiasts) as condensed in modern reference works.

In the surviving summaries for the Argive tradition Apis is described only as a human king; no Argive account preserved in the supplied materials ascribes animal form or bull iconography to him. The name Apis (Ancient Greek: Ἄπις) is glossed in modern reference as deriving from apios, meaning 'far-off' or 'of the pear-tree,' but the provided sources do not attach any specific physical description or bestial attributes to the Argive figure. The later association with the Egyptian bull-cult Apis is noted in the sources as a point of narrative confusion rather than as attested Argive iconography.

Accounts portray Apis not as a supernatural agent with explicit magical powers in the provided materials but as a mythic political figure: an early lawgiver credited with instituting laws and civic order, an eponymous ruler who called the Peloponnese 'Apia,' and a monarch who in some accounts established a tyrannical government during his reign. After his death he is said in some traditions to have been worshiped as a god under the name Serapis, indicating that his memory could be transformed into cult practice. The supplied summaries record his involvement in dynastic and vengeance narratives (his murder and subsequent avenging by Argus Panoptes) rather than superhuman exploits.