Amphion

Amphion was a son of Zeus and Antiope and the twin brother of Zethus. Together the brothers fortified Thebes, and in the later story the stones followed the music of Amphion’s lyre. Amphion married Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, and when she boasted that she had more children than Leto, Apollo and Artemis killed them all. The sources disagree on how he himself died (Homer, Odyssey 11.260–265; Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5–6).

Birth and Youth

Homer calls their mother Antiope, daughter of Asopus, who claimed to have slept in the arms of Zeus; she bore Amphion and Zethus (Homer, Odyssey 11.260–262). In Apollodorus, Antiope was the daughter of Nycteus. When she was pregnant by Zeus, she fled to Epopeus at Sicyon and married him. Lycus, Nycteus’ brother, conquered Sicyon, killed Epopeus and led Antiope away, and on the road she gave birth to two sons at Eleutherae in Boeotia. The infants were exposed, and a neatherd found them and brought them up, naming them Zethus and Amphion. Zethus took to cattle-breeding, but Amphion practised music, because Hermes had given him a lyre (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5).

Antiope, meanwhile, was held prisoner by Lycus and his wife Dirce and treated cruelly. When her bonds came loose one day, she came to her sons’ hut. They recognised her, killed Lycus, tied Dirce to a bull and threw her body into the spring that now bears her name (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5).

The Walls of Thebes

Homer says that the sons of Antiope were the first to found the seat of seven-gated Thebes and raise towers around it, since they could not live in wide Thebes without walls, strong as they were (Homer, Odyssey 11.262–265). Pausanias says that they gathered a force, returned to Thebes, and defeated Lycus; and that, after taking the throne, they added the lower city to the Cadmeia and named it Thebes (Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.5.6).

Homer does not mention the lyre. In Apollodorus, the brothers fortified the city and “the stones followed Amphion’s lyre” (Library 3.5.5). Apollonius of Rhodes describes the scene on Jason’s cloak: Zethus lifts the peak of a steep mountain on his shoulders like a man toiling, and Amphion comes after him, singing on his golden lyre, while a rock twice as large follows his footsteps (Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.735–741). Pausanias adds that Amphion learned the Lydian mode from the Lydians, because of his kinship with Tantalus, and added three strings to the four old ones; he also quotes the poem on Europa, which says that Hermes taught Amphion, who was the first harpist, and that his songs drew stones and beasts after him (Description of Greece 9.5.7–8). At Thebes the two brothers shared a tomb, a small mound of earth (Pausanias 9.17.4).

Amphion and Niobe

Zethus married Thebe, after whom Thebes was named, and Amphion married Niobe, daughter of Tantalus (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.6). Their children were the Niobids. The ancient numbers differ: Homer counts six sons and six daughters (Homer, Iliad 24.603–604); Apollodorus gives seven sons and seven daughters, adding that Hesiod gives ten of each (Library 3.5.6).

The cause of their death is Niobe’s pride. In Homer she said Leto had borne only two children, while she herself had borne many; so Apollo killed the sons and Artemis the daughters with their arrows (Iliad 24.605–609). Apollodorus says that Niobe boasted of her many children, and Leto, stung by the insult, sent Artemis and Apollo against them: Artemis shot the daughters in the house and Apollo killed the sons while they hunted on Cithaeron. Niobe herself went to her father Tantalus on Sipylus and was turned to stone there, her tears flowing night and day (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.6). Homer too places her as a stone on Sipylus (Iliad 24.614–617).

The Death of Amphion

The sources do not agree about Amphion’s end. Ovid says that Amphion drove a sword through his breast and ended his grief together with his life (Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.271–272). In Hyginus, he was killed by Apollo’s arrows when he tried to attack Apollo’s temple (Hyginus, Fabulae, “Niobe”). Apollodorus says only that Laius took over the kingdom after Amphion’s death (Library 3.5.7). Pausanias reports that Amphion is punished in Hades for being among those who mocked Leto and her children, a punishment told in the epic poem Minyad, and that his house was left desolate by plague (Description of Greece 9.5.8–9).

Other Men Named Amphion

In the Odyssey, Amphion, son of Iasus, ruled Minyan Orchomenus, and his youngest daughter Chloris married Neleus (Homer, Odyssey 11.281–286). Amphion, son of Hyperasius, from Pellene in Achaea, was one of the Argonauts (Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.176–177).

Amphion Sources

Homer, Odyssey 11.260–265, 11.281–286; Iliad 24.602–617; Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5–7; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.176–177, 1.735–741; Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.5.6–9, 9.17.4; Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.271–272; Hyginus, Fabulae (“Niobe”).

See Also: Zeus, Zethus, Niobe, Apollo, Artemis, Thebes, Hermes, Leto, Laius