Amymone

Amymone searched for water while drought afflicted Argos. King Danaos had sent his daughters to seek springs, after Poseidon dried up the sources. The god had become angry because he had not received the city of Argos. Without water, the land faced severe hardship.

During her search, Amymone met a satyr. When Poseidon appeared, the satyr fled. Poseidon rescued Amymone, and she became his lover. Her meeting with the god produced the result that her sisters had failed to achieve. She obtained a new source of water for Argos.

Poseidon struck the ground with his trident. The blow opened a spring at Lerna, where Amymone found the water that Danaos had ordered the Danaids to seek. The spring restored a supply of fresh water to the land and ended the immediate danger caused by the drought.

At Lerna, Amymone conceived Nauplius by Poseidon. She later gave birth to him there. Nauplius became a culture hero and was associated with the invention of navigation. Some accounts distinguish this Nauplius from a later figure of the same name, who was known as a wrecker. That later Nauplius lived long after the Trojan War. The distinction separates Amymone’s son from the later figure in accounts that include both men.