In Greek mythology, Bias (/ˈbaɪ.əs/; Ancient Greek: Βίας), was one of the three kings of Argos when the kingdom was divided into three domains. The other kings were his brother Melampus and Anaxagoras. From Bias, they say, a river in Messenia was called.
Family
According to Pausanias, Amythaon was the father of Bias and the seer Melampus[1] by Idomene, daughter of Pheres or Abas of Argos; otherwise their mother was called Aglaia.[2] Bias was the father of Talaus by his first wife Pero while together with Iphianassa, daughter of Proetus, had a daughter Anaxibia (Alphesiboea[3]) who married Pelias, to whom she bore Acastus and several daughters. It is mentioned by Apollonius of Rhodes that Bias had three sons: Talaus, Arëius, and Leodocus who were crews of the Argo.[4][5] One source, named the children of Bias as Perialces, Aretos and Alphesiboea.[6][7]
Mythology
Bias married his cousin Pero who was the daughter of Neleus. It was said that Neleus would not allow his daughter to marry anyone unless the suitor brought him the oxen of Iphiclus. These Melampus achieved with courage and using his supernatural abilities of speaking with animals,[8][9] upon winning the challenge he arranged the marriage of Pero and Bias. The couple had one child together, Talaus.
When Pero died, Bias remarried Iphianassa, daughter of Proetus, after Melampus had cured her, her sisters and the Argive women from madness. He received one third of Proetus's kingdom all of which he gave to Bias. According to Pausanias, the Biantidae continued to rule in Argos for four generations: Bias – Talaus – Adrastus – Diomedes – Cyanippus.
Pausanias
Sicyon had a daughter Chthonophyle, and they say that she and Hermes were the parents of Polybus. Afterwards she married Phlias, the son of Dionysus, and gave birth to Androdamas. Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa to Talaus the son of Bias, king of the Argives; and when Adrastus fled from Argos he came to Polybus at Sicyon, and afterwards on the death of Polybus he became king at Sicyon.
...
The Argives are the only Greeks that I know of who have been divided into three kingdoms. For in the reign of Anaxagoras, son of Argeus, son of Megapenthes, the women were smitten with madness, and straying from their homes they roamed about the country, until Melampus the son of Amythaon cured them of the plague on condition that he himself and his brother Bias had a share of the kingdom equal to that of Anaxagoras. Now descended from Bias five men, Neleids on their mother's side, occupied the throne for four generations down to Cyanippus, son of Aegialeus, and descended from Melampus six men in six generations down to Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus.
...
Opposite these is the grave of Talaus, the son of Bias; the history of Bias and his descendants I have already given.
...A short distance further the river Bias reaches the sea. The name is said to be derived from Bias the son of Amythaon.
...
These cattle must have been of Thessalian stock, having once belonged to Iphiclus the father of Protesilaus. Neleus demanded these cattle as bride gifts for his daughter from her suitors, and it was on their account that Melampus went to Thessaly to gratify his brother Bias.
References
Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca, Book 1.9.10–11, 2.2.2
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4. 68. 3
Theocritus, Idylls 3.45
Apollonius of Rhodes. Argonautica, Book 1.118
Herodotus. Histories, 9.34; Pausanias. Description of Greece, 2.6.18 & 4.34.4; Pindar. Nemean Ode, 9.30; Scholia. ad Ioc
Scholion on Nekuia 3F33 with Pherecydes as the authority
Gantz, Timothy (1993). Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Ancient Sources. The John Hopkins Press Ltd., London: The John Hopkins University Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-8018-4410-X.
"Melampus". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
Scholia. ad Theocritus. Idyll, 3.43; Scholia. ad Apollonius of Rhodes. Argonautica, 1.118; Pausanias. Description of Greece, 4.36; compare with Homer. Odyssey, Book 11.286 & 15.231.
Sources
William Smith. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. s.v. Bias. London (1848). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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