Hundred-eyed Argus - Стоокий Аргус
According to Greek mythology, Argus was a fabulous creature with a hundred eyes in his head or over
his body; he was called all-seeing because some of his
eyes were always awake.
In his Metamorphoses, Ovid tells us that when Zeus
fell in love with Io, he changed her into a beautiful
white cow to protect her from the jealousy of his wife,
Hera. But Hera persuaded her husband to give her the
cow as a present and set the hundred-eyed Argus to
watch her day and night. Being unable to speak, Io
could not tell anyone how much she suffered. To restore
Io to her original form Zeus ordered his son, Hermes, to
kill Argus. Hermes put Argus to sleep (according to
some accounts, by playing the flute), then cut off his
head. Hera placed the eyes of Argus on the tail of a
peacock, her sacred bird.
The phrase hundred-eyed Argus is used ironically to
describe an ever-watchful person, an over-watchful
guardian.