Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/169

Rh AMPHI'NOME {'Afji(piv6fx-n the wife of Aeson and motlier of Jason, When her Im.sband and her son Promaclms had been slain by Pelias, and she too was on the point of sharing their fate, she fled to the hearth of Pelias, that his crime might be aggravated by nmrdering her on that sacred spot. She then cursed the murderer of her rela- tives, and plunged a sword into her own breast. (Diod. iv. 50 ; Apollon. Ilhod. i. 45.) Two other mythical personages of this name are mentioned in Diod. iv. 5. and in the I/iud, xviii. 44.

 AMPIIl'O.X {'A/x<piwv). 1. A son of Zeus and Antiope, the ^laughter of Nycteus of Thebes, and twin-brother of Zethus. (Ov. Met. xi. 110, &c,; Apollod. iii. 5. § 5.) When Antiope was with child by the father of the god?, fear of her own father induced her to flee to Kpopeus at Sicyon, whom she married. Nycteus killed himself in despair, but charged his brother Lycus to avenge him on Epopeus and Antiope. Lycus accordingly marched agaiiit Sicyon, took the town, slew Epopeus, and carried Antiope with him to Eleutherae in Boeotia. Dm-ing her imprisonment there she gave birth to two sons, Amphion and Zethus, wlio were exposed, but found and brought up by shepherds. (Apollod. /. c.) According to Hyginus {Fab. 7), Antiope was the wife of Lycus, and was seduced by Epo- peus. Hereupon she was repudiated by her hus- band, and it was not until after this event that she was visited by Zeus. Dirce, the second wife of Lycus, was jealous of Antiope, and had her put in chains ; but Zeus helped her in escaping to mount Cithaeron, where she gave birth to her two sons. According to Apollodorus, she remained in capti- vity for a long time after the birth of her sons, who grew up among the shepherds, and did not know their descent. Hermes (according to others, Apollo, or the Muses) gave Amphion a lyre, who henceforth pmctised song and music, while his bro- ther spent his time in hunting and tending the flocks. (Herat. Epist i. 18. 41, &c.) The two brothers, whom Euripides {Phoen. G09) calls "the Dioscuri with white horses," fortified the town of Entresis near Thespiae, and settled there. (Steph. Byz. s. V.) Antiope, who had in the meantime been very ill- treated by Lycus and Dirce, escaped from her prison, her chains having miraculouslj- been loosened ; and her sons, on recognising their mother, went to Thebes, killed Lycus, tied Dirce to a bull, and had her dragged about till she too was killed, and then threw her body into a well, which was from this time called the well of Dirce. After having taken possession of Thebes, the two brothers fortified the town by a wall, the reasons for which are differently stated. It is said, that when Amphion played his lyre, the stones not only moved of their own accord to the place where the}"- were wantt.'d, but fitted themselves together so as to form the wall. (Apollon. Rhod. i. 740, 755, with the Schol. ; Syncell. p. 125, d. ; Horat. ad Pison. 394, &c.) Amphion afterwards married Niobe, who bore him many sons and daughters, all of whom were killed by Apollo. (Apollod. iii. 5. § 6; Gi^Uius, XX. 7 ; Hygin. Fab. 7, 8 ; Horn. Od. xi. 'J0, <!v:c. ; Pans. ix. 5. § 4 ; comp. NiouE.) As regards the death of Amphion, Ovid {Met. vi. 271) relates, that he killed himself with a sword from grief at the loss of his children. According to others, he was killed by Apollo because he made an assault on the Pythian temple of the god. (Hy- gin. Fab. 9.) Amphion was buried together with his brother at Thebes (or, according to Stephanus Byzantius, s. v. T»0opaio, at Tithoraea), and the Tithoracans believed, that they could make their own fields more fruitful by tJiking, at a certain time of the year, from Amphion's grave a piece of earth, and putting it on the grave of Antiope. For this reason the Thebans watched the grave of Am- phion at that particular season. (Paus. ix. 17. § 3, &c.) In Hades Amphion was punished for his conduct towards Leto. (ix. 5. § 4.) The following passages may also be compared : Paus. ii. 6. § 2, vi. 20. § 8 ; Propert. iii. 13. 29. The punishment inflicted by Amphion and his brother upon Dirce is represented in one of the finest works of art still extant — the celebrated Farnesian bull, the work of Apollonius and Tauriscus, which was discovered in 1546, and placed in the palace Farnese at Rome. (Pliny, //. ^V. xxxvi. 4; Heyne, Afdiquar.Ju/satze^ ii. p. 182, &c. ; comp. Miiller, Orchom. p, 227, &c.) . A son of Jasus and husband of Persephone, by whom he became the father of Chloris. (Horn. 6d. xi. 281, &c.) In Homer, this Amphion, king of Orchomenos, is distinct from Amphion, the hus- band of Niobe ; but in earlier traditions they seem to have been regarded as the same person. (Eu- stath. ad Horn. p. 1684 ; Miiller, Orchom. pp. 231, 370.)

There are three other mythical personages of this niime, one a leader of the Epeians against Tro}- (Horn. 11. xiii. 692), the second one of tlie Argonauts (Apollon. Rhod. i. 176; Orph. Ar(/.2; Ylyg'm. Fab. 14), and the third one of the sons of Niobe. [Niobe.]

 AMPHION ('A/i0jW). I. A sculptor, son of Acestor, pupil of Ptolichus of Corcyra, and teacher of Piso of Calaureia, was a native of Cnossus, and flourislied about u. c. 428 or 424. He executed a group in which Battus, the colonizer of Cyrene, was represented in a chariot, with Libya crowning him, and Cyrene as the charioteer. This group was dedicated at Delphi by the people of Cyrene. (Paus. vi. 3. §2, x. 15. § 4.)

2. A Greek painter, was contemporary with Apelles (b. c. 332), who yielded to him in arrangement or grouping {cedebat Amphioni ditpo' sitione, Plin. xxv. 36. § 10: but the reading Aiti^ pliioui is doubtful : Melanihio is Brotier's conjec- ture ; Mklanthius).

 AMPHIS, an Athenian comic poet, of the middle comedy, contemporary with the philosopher Plato. A reference to Phryne, the Thespian, in one of his plays (Athen. xiii. p. 591, d.), proves that he was alive in B. C. 332. We have the titles of twenty-six of his plays, and a few fragments of them. (Suidas, s. v.; Pollux, i. 233; Diog. Laert. iii. 27; Athen. xiii. p. 567, f.; Meineke, i. p. 403, iii. p. 301.)

 AiMPHlSSA ("Aak^'cto-o), a daughter of Maca- reus and grand-daughter of Aeolus, was beloved by Apollo, and is said to have given the name to the town of Amphissa in Phocis, where her memory was perpetuated by a splendid monument. (Paus. X. 38. §2,&c.)

 AMPHISSUS {''AfjL(pi