Amphion

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Amphion and Zethus

Amphion ( Greek  Ἀμφίων ) is in Greek mythology a son of Antiope and Zeus or Epopeus , the twin brother of Zethos and with him the ruler of Thebes and the husband of Niobe , the daughter of Tantalus .

childhood

Amphion and Zethos were born in a bush by the roadside near the city of Eleutherai by their uncle Lykos , the king of Thebes, who was then still called Kadmeia , on the mountain Kithairon . They were found and raised by shepherds.

Amphion, who had erected an altar to Hermes , was given a four- stringed lyre by the god and added more strings to it, so that she had seven of them, as was customary with the Lydians , because his wife came from there. After Pliny , Amphion invented the Lydius modus , a key that roughly corresponds to the major . Often mocked by Zethos, who devoted himself to hunting and cattle breeding, because of his devotion to music, his talent later proved to be superior to Zethos' talents during the construction of the lower town of Thebes: the stones put themselves together and out of themselves during his lyre play for this reason the city wall was built with seven gates.

Battle for Thebes

The two brothers, whom Euripides called the Dioscuri with white horses , settled in Eutresis near Thespiai and fortified the city with a wall. Her mother, who was held captive by Lykos, escaped and came to Eutresis. When Antiope recognized Amphion and Zethus as their sons and reported their abuse, they gathered an army to take revenge on Lycus. They conquered Kadmeia, killed Lykos and Dirke and expelled Laios . According to another version, they had brought Laios to safety beforehand so that he would not be harmed. They surrounded the lower town of Kadmeia with a wall and called it Thebes and Amphion ruled over Thebes together with Zethos.

Family and death

According to the library of Apollodorus , Amphion had fourteen children and seven sons with Niobe : Sipylos , Eupinitus , Ismenos , Damasichthon , Agenor , Phaidimos , Tantalos and seven daughters: Ethodaia or Neaira , Kleodoxa , Astyoche , Phthia , Pelopia , Astykrateia and Ogygia . According to Hesiod there were 10 sons and 10 daughters, according to Herodotus 2 sons and 4 daughters, and according to Homer 6 sons and 6 daughters. Amphion, Amyklas and Meliboia are listed as other children. However, all the children except for Amyklas and Meliboia , called Chloris , were killed. Since Niobe had boasted of her great fertility and had mocked Leto , the lover of Zeus , the daughters of Artemis and the sons of Apollo were killed. According to Pausanias , they died of the plague and the corpses were burned on a stake . Amphion either killed himself, was killed by Apollo and his sons - or only when he was driven by thoughts of revenge and attacked a temple of Apollo.

Further traditions

Julius Troschel : Zethus and Amphion (1840/50), Neue Pinakothek .

Amphion was buried with his brother in Thebes. The burial mound was surrounded with stones that had followed his lyric play. According to a prophecy of the poet Bakis , the people of Tithorea should fetch earth from this grave at the time of the passage of the sun through the constellation of Taurus. The scattering of this earth on the tomb of Antiope, which was in Tithorea, would bring them fertility. Because of this, the Thebans guarded the tomb at that time.

In Plato's Gorgias , Socrates compares his speech against Callicles with the speech of Amphion against Zethos (Gorgias, 506b).

According to Robert von Ranke-Graves, the name Amphion should mean "protected by the moon" or "with the moon on both sides" and bring him close to the triple goddess who rules in the air, on earth and in the underworld. The lyre game during the construction of the city walls should therefore also provide their towers, gates and foundation walls with the protection of the goddess. That is why Ranke-Graves also believes that the lyre could only have had three strings.

Amphion is often mentioned together with Orpheus . Both are said to have charmed and tamed wild animals with their music. An early operatic performance in Düsseldorf on the occasion of the marriage of Johann Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg was titled Orpheus and Amphion .

literature

Web links

Commons : Amphion and Zethos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Apollodor, Libraries , 3, 43.
  2. ^ Pausanias, Travels in Greece , 9, 5, 8.
  3. ^ Strabo , Geographica , 411.
  4. ^ Pausanias, Travels in Greece , 9, 5, 6.
  5. ↑ Apollodor, Libraries , 3, 43-46.
  6. ^ Pausanias, Travels in Greece , 9, 17, 4.
  7. ^ Pausanias, Travels in Greece , 9, 17, 4-7.
predecessor Office successor
Lycus King of Thebes
Joint government with Zethos
14th century BC Chr.
(Fictional chronology) 		Laios

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