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ARGYVE2. Argia was the daughter of Adrastus, king of Argos. She married Polynices, Oedipus's son. When Eteocles refused to give up the Theban throne to Polynices, Adrastus gathered an army together to besiege the city on behalf of his son-in-law (Thebaid V).

Cassandra tells of Argyve's distress and her weeping at her husband's death, Tr V.1509. [Adrastus: Polymyte]

Argyves is the ME genitive case. Argyvam, Latin accusative of Argyva, appears in a stanza inserted in the Troilus manuscript; Argia appears in one of the Latin arguments of the Thebaid. Chaucer may have derived the name from either form.


F.P. Magoun, Jr., "Chaucer's Summary of Statius's Thebaid II-XII." Traditio 11 (1955): 418; Riverside Chaucer, ed. L. Benson, 1177; Robinson, 912; Statius, Thebaid, ed. and trans. J.H. Mozley, II: 2-59.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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