Antiope

After Zeus had intercourse with Antiope, daughter of Nycteus of Thebes, she became pregnant. When her father threatened her, she fled to Epopeus, king of Sicyon, who married her. Nycteus ordered his brother Lycus to punish them. Lycus marched against Sicyon, killed Epopeus, and took Antiope prisoner. On the journey back to Thebes, she gave birth to twin sons, Amphion and Zethus, at Eleutherai in Boeotia.

Lycus ordered the infants to be exposed on Mount Cithaeron. A shepherd or cowherd found them and kept them alive. The boys grew up among cattlemen. Zethus devoted himself to cattle-rearing, while Amphion practised singing to the lyre, which Hermes had given him. Antiope remained in captivity. Lycus placed her under the authority of his wife, Dirce, who confined and mistreated her for many years.

One day, Antiope’s bonds came undone without her jailers’ knowledge. She escaped and went to the farmhouse on Mount Cithaeron where her sons lived. In one account, Amphion and Zethus recognised her as their mother and listened with anger as she told them of her suffering. In another, they mistook her for a runaway slave and refused her shelter. Dirce then arrived in a Bacchic frenzy, seized Antiope, and dragged her away. The cattleman warned the young men that they had failed to protect their mother.

Amphion and Zethus pursued Dirce and rescued Antiope. They bound Dirce by her long hair to the horns of a wild bull. The bull dragged her over the ground and trampled her to death. The brothers then travelled to Thebes, killed Lycus, and took revenge for the years of cruelty inflicted on their mother. Some accounts add that Dionysus, angered because Dirce was his votary, drove Antiope mad until Phocus cured and married her in Phocis.

Theseus sailed away with Antiope after taking part in Heracles’ expedition against the Amazons. In one tradition, he abducted her. In another, she had already fallen in love with him and betrayed the Amazon city of Themiscyra on the river Thermodon. A further version says that Theseus later visited the Amazons with Peirithous and his companions. Antiope came to greet him with gifts, but he took her aboard his ship and sailed away. She remained with him in Athens and bore him a son, Hippolytus, also called Demophoon in one account.

The Amazons marched against Athens because Antiope had been taken. They pitched their camp beside the Areiopagos. Theseus and the Athenians defeated them. Another account says that Antiope survived this battle and continued to live with Theseus. She was devoted to him, although she was not his legal wife. Some traditions say that the Amazons’ society resisted monogamy, which prevented her from holding that status.

Theseus later made peace with Deucalion, king of Crete, and accepted Deucalion’s sister Phaedra as his wife. After Phaedra had borne him two sons, Acamas and Demophon, Antiope arrived at the wedding celebrations with her fellow Amazons. She was fully armed and threatened to kill the guests. The doors were closed quickly. In one version, Theseus and his companions killed her in the ensuing fight. In another, Theseus himself killed her in battle. This account says that an oracle had foretold her death when Theseus entered his alliance with Deucalion and married Phaedra.

Hippolytus was sent to Pittheus at Troezen, where Pittheus adopted him as heir to the throne. He later raised a temple to Artemis there, following the devotion to the goddess that he had inherited from Antiope. The traditions agree that Antiope bore Theseus a son, but differ over her name, her capture, her relation to Theseus, and the manner of her death.

The Amazons marched against Athens after Theseus abducted Antiope. Some traditions say that Theseus had taken part in Heracles’ expedition against the Amazons and received Antiope as his share. Others name her as Melanippe, or, in Simonides, Hippolyte. Another account says that Theseus later visited the Amazons with Peirithous and his companions, and abducted Antiope after she came aboard his ship with gifts. The Amazons camped beside the Areiopagos and attacked the Athenians.

Theseus defeated them with the Athenians. Antiope became his wife, and she bore him a son, Hippolytos. Theseus later accepted Phaedra, daughter of Minos, as his wife from Deucalion, ending his former hostility with Crete. During the wedding celebrations, Antiope arrived fully armed with other Amazons. She was ready to kill the guests, but they shut the doors quickly and killed her. A different tradition says that she died in the fighting against the Athenians, killed by Theseus.

Another account describes Antiope fighting bravely beside Theseus during the battle. Molpadia shot and killed her. Theseus then killed Molpadia. The Athenians drove the surviving Amazons from Attica. Some traditions say that the Amazons offered peace only after four months of fighting, and that the armistice was sworn near the sanctuary of Theseus. Wounded Amazons left on the battlefield were sent to Chalcis for treatment. Oreithyia escaped to Megara with a few followers and died there in grief, while the remaining Amazons settled in Scythia.

On the journey back to Thebes, Antiope gave birth to twin sons, Amphion and Zethus. Lycus ordered that the infants be exposed on Mount Cithaeron. They were left there without protection and would have died if a shepherd had not found them. Taking pity on the children, he rescued them and preserved their lives.

The twins grew up among cattlemen on Mount Cithaeron. One account says that a passing cowherd discovered them, gave them their names, and brought them up. Zethus devoted himself to cattle rearing, while Amphion practised singing to the lyre, which Hermes had given him.

Antiope remained in Lycus’ power. He held her captive, and his wife Dirce treated her cruelly for many years. At last Antiope’s bonds loosened by themselves, and she escaped to the dwelling where her sons lived. In one account, the young men failed to recognise her and refused her shelter, believing her to be a runaway slave. Dirce then seized Antiope and dragged her away. The cattleman warned the brothers that they had refused to protect their mother, and they learned the truth. They pursued Dirce and later avenged Antiope’s suffering by tying Dirce by the hair to the horns of a wild bull. The animal dragged her until she died. In another account, Antiope reached her sons’ dwelling after escaping confinement, and the brothers recognised her at once. The two accounts agree that the exposed children survived through the mercy of a herdsman and grew into the men who would avenge their mother.

After Zeus made Antiope, daughter of Nycteus of Thebes, pregnant, she left Thebes for Sicyon. Some accounts say that Zeus had appeared to her in the form of a satyr. Epopeus, king of Sicyon, took her as his wife without seeking Nycteus’ consent. In the account in which Epopeus carried Antiope away, her father was left dishonoured and gravely wounded. Nycteus became despondent and ordered his brother Lycus to punish Epopeus and Antiope. Another account says that war followed and Nycteus was killed.

Lycus marched against Sicyon, defeated its people in a bloody battle, and killed Epopeus. He took Antiope prisoner and brought her back towards Thebes. On the journey, she gave birth to twin sons, Amphion and Zethus, at Eleutherai in Boeotia. The infants were exposed, but a cowherd found them and raised them. In another account, Antiope gave birth in a wayside thicket on Mount Cithaeron, where the twins were later rescued by a passing cattleman. Zethus devoted himself to cattle rearing, while Amphion learned to sing to the lyre given to him by Hermes.

Lycus and his wife Dirce confined Antiope and treated her harshly for many years. One day, her bonds came undone without human help, and she escaped to her sons’ farmhouse. They recognised her as their mother in one account, but in another they mistook her for a runaway slave and refused her shelter. Dirce then found Antiope in a Bacchic frenzy and dragged her away. When the brothers learned how their mother had been treated, they seized Dirce on Mount Cithaeron, tied her by the hair to a wild bull’s horns, and killed her. A spring rose where her body fell, and it was later called the Dircaean Stream.

Dionysus, avenging Dirce, drove Antiope mad. She wandered through Greece until Phocus, grandson of Sisyphus, cured her and married her in Phocis. Amphion and Zethus later went to Thebes, expelled Laius, and built the lower city. Amphion’s stones moved to the sound of his lyre, though Zethus had often mocked his devotion to music.