Stheneboea

Stheneboea was the wife of Proetus, king of Tiryns in the Argolid, and in the tragic poets the daughter of Iobates of Lycia. She is remembered for the story of Bellerophon: when he refused her advances, she accused him falsely to her husband, and Proetus sent him to Lycia with a letter that asked for his death. Homer tells the same story but calls the queen Anteia (Homer, Iliad 6.155–197; Apollodorus, Library 2.2.1, 2.3.1).

Family

Apollodorus says that Proetus, driven from Argos by his twin brother Acrisius, went to Lycia, to the court of Iobates (or, as some say, of Amphianax), and married his daughter, whom Homer calls Antia and the tragic poets Stheneboea (Apollodorus, Library 2.2.1). Euripides wrote a tragedy about her, and in Aristophanes’ Frogs the character Aeschylus taunts Euripides for putting lustful women like Phaedra and Stheneboea on the stage (Aristophanes, Frogs 1043–1049). Her father restored Proetus to his land with an army of Lycians; Proetus occupied Tiryns, which the Cyclopes had fortified for him, and the two brothers divided the Argive land between them, Acrisius reigning over Argos and Proetus over Tiryns (Library 2.2.1). Proetus had three daughters by Stheneboea, Lysippe, Iphinoe and Iphianassa. When they grew up they went mad, according to Hesiod because they would not accept the rites of Dionysus, and according to Acusilaus because they disparaged the wooden image of Hera; Melampus cured them, though Iphinoe died during the pursuit (Library 2.2.2).

Another woman of the same name was Stheneboea, the daughter of Aphidas of Arcadia and sister of Aleus, who is also said to have been the wife of Proetus (Apollodorus, Library 3.9.1). The story told here belongs to the daughter of Iobates.

Bellerophon at the Court of Proetus

Bellerophon, the son of Glaucus and grandson of Sisyphus, killed his brother, whom Apollodorus calls Deliades, or, as some say, Piren or Alcimenes, and came to Proetus to be purified (Apollodorus, Library 2.3.1). In Homer the gods gave Bellerophon beauty and manliness, but Proetus, who was far mightier, plotted evil against him and drove him out of the land of the Argives, for Zeus had made them subject to his sceptre (Iliad 6.155–159).

The False Accusation

Stheneboea fell in love with Bellerophon and sent him proposals for a meeting. When he rejected them, she told Proetus that Bellerophon had made a vicious proposal to her (Apollodorus, Library 2.3.1). Homer gives the same account with the queen called Anteia: she longed to lie with Bellerophon in secret, but could not persuade the good and wise man, and she told King Proetus a lie, telling him to die himself or kill Bellerophon, who had tried to lie with her against her will (Iliad 6.160–165).

The Letter and the Tasks

Proetus believed her. He avoided killing a guest, since he felt reverence for it in his heart, and sent Bellerophon to Lycia with a folded tablet carrying many deadly signs, which he was to show to his father-in-law so that he would be killed (Iliad 6.166–170). In Apollodorus, Proetus gave him a letter for Iobates telling him to kill Bellerophon (Library 2.3.1). The king of Lycia, whom Homer does not name, received him kindly, entertained him for nine days and sacrificed nine oxen, and on the tenth day asked to see the token he brought from his son-in-law Proetus (Iliad 6.171–178). After reading it, he ordered him to kill the Chimera, believing that the beast would destroy him: it had a lion’s front, a dragon’s tail, and a goat’s head in the middle, breathing out blazing fire (Iliad 6.179–183; Apollodorus, Library 2.3.1). Bellerophon killed it, trusting in the signs of the gods, riding the winged horse Pegasus in Apollodorus’ account (Iliad 6.183; Apollodorus, Library 2.3.2).

Iobates then sent him against the Solymi, and Bellerophon fought what he called the hardest battle he had ever entered. Next he killed the Amazons. As he returned, Iobates set an ambush of the best men in Lycia, but Bellerophon killed them all (Iliad 6.184–190). Realizing that he must be the son of a god, Iobates kept him in Lycia, gave him his daughter and half of his royal honor (Iliad 6.191–193; Apollodorus, Library 2.3.2, where Iobates showed him the letter, begged him to stay, and left him the kingdom when he died).

Stheneboea Sources

Homer, Iliad 6.155–197; Apollodorus, Library 2.2.1–2, 2.3.1–2, 3.9.1; Aristophanes, Frogs 1043–1049.

See Also: Iobates, Proetus, Bellerophon, Pegasus, Chimera, Acrisius, Melampus