Psamathe was the daughter of
Crotopus, king of
Argos. She was mortal mother of
Linus by
Apollo. Fearing her father she gave Linus to shepherds to be raised; after reaching adulthood, he was torn apart by the shepherd's dogs, and Psamathe was killed by her father, who would not believe that she had had intercourse with a god rather than a mortal. Apollo avenged her murder by sending a child-killing plague to Argos, which would not cease until the Argives, at the god's command, paid honors to Psamathe and Linus. In an alternate version, the baby Linus was torn apart by the king's sheepdogs upon being exposed and Apollo sent Poene, the personification of punishment, upon the city. Poene would steal children from their mothers until
Coroebus killed her.