Psamathe

Psamathe (, from ψάμαθος "sand of the sea-shore"), sometimes given only as the daughter of Crotopus, was the daughter of King Crotopus of Argos, who became the lover of the god Apollo. Etymology Psamathe was theorized to be a sea-nymph (nereid) by (1863) and a personification of the "sand of the sea-shore" ( psamathos), from which she derived her name. Mythology Psamathe was pursued and assaulted by King Aeacus of Agina. They had a child named Phocus ("Seal") or Linus. In one version (Conon), Psamathe abandoned the child, and although shepherds reared the foundling who was then named Linus, the child was torn apart by the shepherd's dogs. In the interim, Psamathe was ordered to be killed by her father. Apollo avenged her murder by sending a plague to Argos. When consulted, Apollo demanded that Psamathe and Linus be propitiated with due honors and festivities. The Argives complied but the plague persisted. And by oracular decree, the king was forced to leave in order to found the city of Tripodiscium near Megara, where he would live out his life. In an alternate version (Pausanias), Psamathe exposed the unnamed child, which was torn apart by the king's sheepdogs. Apollo then sent Poena (Greek: Poinē), the personification of punishment, upon the city. Poine would steal children from their mothers until Coroebus killed her. A hero Coroebus emerged from Argos to slay it, but Apollo then brought a plague upon the city.