Amphion in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Amphion

15 passages from 7 ancient authors that tell of Amphion, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Amphion was a name attributed to various individuals in Greek mythology. However, the better known Amphion was the son of Zeus and Antiope. He had a t... For the story in one place, read our article on Amphion.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.86–96Dionysus, Coronis and CyreneHere Hesiod describes the gifts of Dionysus, the wine that brings joy and sorrow, and the story of Coronis, to whom a crow brought word to Pytho. Apollo and Asclepius appear, and Zeus is angry with Apollo. Cyrene and her son Aristaéus follow, then Antiope, and the building of the walls of Thebes by Zethus and Amphion.

Homer (1)

Homer, Odyssey 11.225–332The women of oldPersephone sends up the ghosts of the women who were wives and daughters of heroes, and Odysseus questions each in turn. He sees Tyro, Antiope, Alcmene, Megara, Epicaste, Chloris, Leda, Iphimedeia, Phaedra, Procris, Ariadne, Maera, Clymene and Eriphyle. He then breaks off, saying that the night is late.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.5.1–9Dionysus, Pentheus, Niobe and OedipusDionysus roams Egypt, Syria and Thrace, where Lycurgus is punished, and returns to Thebes, where Agave tears her son Pentheus apart; he also turns the Tyrrhenian pirates into dolphins. Cadmus and Harmonia go to the Encheleans and become serpents, and the house of Labdacus continues through Laius, Antiope with Zethus and Amphion, and Niobe, whose children are shot by Apollo and Artemis. Laius, warned against fathering a son, exposes the infant Oedipus, who kills him unknowingly, answers the Sphinx's riddle, marries Jocasta and learns the truth.

Euripides (1)

Euripides, Phoenician Women 784–832Second choral song: the Chorus reproaches Ares and recalls the curse on ThebesThe Chorus asks Ares why he loves blood and war instead of the festivals of Bromius. They wish that Oedipus had died on Cithaeron and the Sphinx had never come. They recall the Sown Men, the wedding of Harmonia and the building of the walls to Amphion's lyre.

Apollonius Rhodius (1)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.721–909Jason and Hypsipyle on LemnosJason puts on the purple mantle that Athena gave him, woven with scenes such as the Cyclopes at their forge, and goes to the city. Hypsipyle tells him how the women drove out the men and offers him her father's rule. The Argonauts linger on Lemnos until Heracles rebukes them, and Hypsipyle bids Jason a tearful farewell.

Pausanias (9)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.5.1–16Thebes: Cadmus, Amphion and Zethus, Oedipus and the early kingsPausanias gives the early history of Thebes: the Ectenians under Ogygus, then Hyantians and Aonians, then Cadmus, who founded the Cadmea, and the Sparti. He traces the line of Polydorus, Labdacus and Laius, and Amphion and Zethus, who added the lower city. He argues from Homer that Oedipus' children were by Euryganea and not Jocasta, and ends with Polynices and Eteocles, the second expedition of the Argives and the later kings.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.17.1–7Thebes: Artemis of Good Fame, the Girder Athenas and the tomb of Zethus and AmphionPausanias describes the temple of Artemis of Good Fame, where the daughters of Antipoenus died to win victory over the Orchomenians, and the stone lion dedicated by Hercules. He notes the pyre of Amphion's children, the two Athenas surnamed Girder and the common tomb of Zethus and Amphion. The people of Tithorea try to steal earth from that mound to bring fertility to their own land, a belief based on the oracles of Bacis, who calls it the tomb of Phocus because Antiope was healed and married by Phocus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.20.1–19Olympia: Sosipolis, the stadium and the TaraxippusPausanias describes the sanctuary of Ilithyia and Sosipolis on the slope of Mount Cronius, with the story of the child who turned into a serpent and routed the Arcadians. He also describes the Hippodamium, the stadium and the altar of Demeter Chamyne, and the starting-gate of the hippodrome with its bronze eagle and dolphin, invented by Cleoetas. He then gives the rival explanations of the Taraxippus, the 'terror of the horses', which he himself takes to be a surname of Poseidon Hippius.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.6.1–7Sicyon: Epopeus and Antiope, and the later kings of SicyonPausanias relates how Epopeus carried off Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, and how Lycus and Lamedon settled the quarrel, with Antiope giving birth to Zethus and Amphion at Eleutherae. He continues the Sicyonian kings, including Sicyon himself, Polybus and Adrastus, Phaestus, Zeuxippus, Hippolytus under Agamemnon and Lacestades, whose rule was shared with the Dorian Phalces.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.21.1–10Argos: the market-place, the death of Pyrrhus and the head of MedusaIn and around the Argive market-place Pausanias notes the tomb of Cerdo, a temple of Asclepius, the tomb of Hypermnestra, the sanctuary of Trumpet Athena and the grave of Epimenides. He describes the marble building where Pyrrhus was cremated, the mound said to hold the Gorgon’s head with two rationalising accounts of Medusa, and the grave of Gorgophone. He ends with the stone trophy over the tyrant Laphaes and the sanctuary of Latona with the story of Chloris.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.3.1–16Olympia: victor statues and the statue of LysanderPausanias continues along the statues at Olympia with athletes from Sicyon, Elis, Lepreus, Aegira and Caulonia, naming the sculptors and their teachers. He discusses the date of the victor Oebotas and the Greek tradition that he fought at Plataea, which Pausanias reports without believing. The section ends with the statue of the Spartan Lysander dedicated by the Samians, with its two inscriptions, and a remark on how the Ionians flattered whoever held power.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.8.1–7Thebes: Potniae, the seven gates and CapaneusPausanias describes the ruins of Potniae, with a grove of Demeter and the Maid where sucking pigs are thrown into the megara, and the temple of Dionysus the Goat-shooter, whose rite replaced a human sacrifice with a goat. He notes the enclosure where the earth is said to have swallowed Amphiaraus. He lists the seven gates of Thebes, named Electran, Proetidian, Neistan, Crenaean, Hypsistan, Ogygian and Homoloidian, with the stories of their names, and the place where Capaneus was struck by lightning at the Electran gate.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.16.1–7Thebes: temples of Ammon, Fortune, Aphrodite and Dionysus, and the tombs of Amphion's childrenPausanias describes the temple of Ammon at Thebes with its image dedicated by Pindar, the observatory of Tiresias and the sanctuary of Fortune carrying the child Wealth. He lists the ancient wooden images of Aphrodite, with the three surnames Harmonia gave her, the sanctuary of Lawgiver Demeter and the theatre with the temple of Dionysus the Deliverer. He mentions the house of Lycus, Semele's tomb and the tombs of the children of Amphion.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.36.1–8Orchomenus: Phlegyas, Minyas and his treasury, and HyettusPausanias continues the kings of Orchomenus: Chryse's son Phlegyas, whose warlike Phlegyans raided Delphi and were destroyed by the god, then Chryses and Minyas, who built the first treasury. He says Greek historians neglected the treasury of Minyas in favour of the Egyptian pyramids. He recounts the reign of Orchomenus, the arrival of the exile Hyettus from Argos and the marriage of Chloris, daughter of Amphion, to Neleus.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 25.380–480Book 25: The shield of Dionysos: the heavens, Thebes, Ganymede and TylosDionysos rejoins the Bacchants with the new shield, and the poet describes its scenes: earth, sea and the constellations, the building of Thebes to Amphion's lyre, and Ganymede carried off by the eagle. It also shows the Lydian story of Tylos, killed by a serpent on the bank of the Hermos.