In Greek mythology, Mycene or Mykene (Ancient Greek: Μυκήνη), was a daughter of Inachus, king of Argos, the sister of Phoroneus, and the wife of Arestor. She was said to be the eponym of Mycenae.^[1]

Mythology

Homer's Odyssey, calling her "Mycene of the fair crown" mentions her in passing, along with Tyro and Alcmene, as "women of old ... fair-tressed Achaean women".^[2] Pausanias, citing the Megalai Ehoiai, says that Mycene was the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor, without naming the mother.^[3] However, a scholiast on Homer's Odyssey says that Mycene was the daughter of Inachus and the Oceanid nymph Melia, and that, according to the Epic Cycle, Mycene and Arestor were the parents of Argus Panoptes.^[4] As the daughter of Inachus, she would have been therefore the sister of Phoroneus, who, according to Argive tradition, was the first man, or first inhabitant of Argos, who lived during the time of the Great Flood, associated with Deucalion.^[5]

According to Pausanias—among several accounts of how the city Mycenae got its name—one was that Mycene gave "her name to the city".^[6]