Icarius was from Athens. He was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog, Marea, found his body. Erigone handed herself. Dionysus was angry and punished Athens with a plague; and caused insanity in all the unmarried women, of whom all committed suicide. Icarius was placed in the stars as the constellation Boötes.
In Greek mythology, Erigone was also the daughter of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. With her half-brother, Orestes, she was the mother of Penthilus.