Inachos (river)
The Inachus rises, according to Pausanias (ii 25.3, 8.6.6), in Mt. Artemisium, on the borders of Arcadia, or, according to Strabo (viii. p.370), in Mt. Lyrceium, a northern offshoot of Artemisium. Near its sources it receives a tributary called the Cephissus, which rises in Mt. Lyrceium (Strab. ix. p.424; Aelian, Ael. VH 2.33.) It flows in a south-easterly direction, E. of the city of Argos, into the Argolic gulf. This river is often dry in the summer. Between it and the city of Argos is the mountain-torrent named Charadrus, which also rises in Mt. Artemisium, and which, from its proximity to Argos, has been frequently mistaken for the Inachus by modern travellers. It flows over a wide gravelly bed, which is generally dry in the summer, whence its modern name of Xerias, or the Dry River. It flows into the Inachus a little below Argos. It was on the banks of the Charadrus that the armies of Argos, on their return from military expeditions, were obliged to undergo a court of inquiry before they were permitted to enter the city. (Thuc. 5.60; comp. Paus. 2.25.2; Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 364, Peloponnesiaca, p. 267; Mure, vol. ii. p. 161.)
References
Sources
- William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854). s.v. Argos This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.