Hollywood movies like “Marley & Me” or “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” have brought both joy and tears to millions of viewers around the world, with their ability to capture the special bond between humans and their canine companions – aptly dubbed “man’s best friend”.
In some ways, not much has changed over thousands of years. The ancient Greeks had their very own stories concerning this special relationship between man and dog.
Of all the tales in Greek mythology, one of the most touching and relatable is that of the loyal dog Argos separated from his master Odysseus.
Argos was Odysseus’ faithful dog in Greek mythology
Odysseus, the most cunning Greek hero in Homer’s “Iliad” and the eponymous “Odyssey” raised Argos as a puppy to become one of the swiftest and strongest dogs on his island home of Ithaca.
However, Odysseus had little time to spend with his faithful companion, as he was called away to fight in the Trojan War for King Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army that besieged Troy.
The king of Ithaca spent 10 long years fighting the Trojans until at last the city fell. It took another decade for Odysseus to make the arduous journey home and his adventures were full of dangerous challenges and misfortunes. He was forced to overcome several mythical adversaries, including the Cyclops, the Sirens and the sorceress Circe.
When Odysseus did finally make it back to Ithaca, he found his palatial home in disarray. Many of the so-called friends and courtly retainers who had feigned loyalty for him were now attempting to take advantage of his absence by marrying his wife, Penelope.
Odysseus and Argos are reunited
The goddess Athena helped Odysseus by disguising him as a beggar so that he could properly assess the unwelcome situation before making his next move. However, loyal to the end, even the illusion of the mightiest Greek goddess could not fool Argos who recognized his owner, even after 20 long years.
The moment of recognition and reunion between Odysseus and his loyal dog described by Homer is one of the most moving parts of the “Odyssey” and surely earns Argos the title of “goodest boy” in Greek mythology.
As they spoke, a dog who was lying there lifted his head
and pricked up his ears. It was Argos, Odysseus’ dog;
he had trained him and brought him up as a puppy, but never
hunted with him before he sailed off to Troy.
In earlier times the young men had taken him out
with them to hunt for wild goats and deer and hares,
but he had grown old in his master’s absence, and now
he lay abandoned on one of the heaps of mule
and cattle dung that piled up outside the front gates
until the farmhands could come by and cart it off
to manure the fields. And so the dog Argos lay there,
covered with ticks. As soon as he was aware
of Odysseus, he wagged his tail and flattened his ears,
but he lacked the strength to get up and go to his master.
Odysseus, who recognized his canine friend was moved to tears, and turned away from his companion, Eumaeus, to hide his emotions. He asked Eumaeus – who was unaware of Odysseus’ true identity – about the dog’s fate. Eumaeus explained that Argos once accompanied the young men hunting, and that “No animal could escape him
in the deep forest once he began to track it.” However, in his master’s absence and in his old age, the dog was neglected by the servants of Odysseus, who did not take their responsibilities seriously once he had left.
Homer then tells us that Odysseus had little time to ruminate on the sad fate of Argos and continued into the palace to confront his wife’s would-be suitors, “And just then death came and darkened the eyes of Argos, who had seen Odysseus again after twenty years.”
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