Κόρακος δὲ ἀποθανόντος ἄπαιδος ὑπὸ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν Ἐπωπεὺς ἀφικόμενος ἐκ Θεσσαλίας ἔσχε τὴν ἀρχήν. ἐπὶ τούτου βασιλεύοντος στρατόν σφισι πολέμιον λέγουσιν ἐς τὴν χώραν τότε ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον, τὰ πρὸ τοῦ πάντα τὸν χρόνον διατελέσασιν ἐν εἰρήνῃ. αἰτία δὲ ἥδε· Ἀντιόπης ἐν Ἕλλησι τῆς Νυκτέως ὄνομα ἦν ἐπὶ κάλλει, καί οἱ καὶ φήμη προσῆν Ἀσωποῦ θυγατέρα, ὃς τὴν Θηβαΐδα καὶ Πλαταιίδα ὁρίζει, καὶ οὐ Νυκτέως εἶναι.
ταύτην οὐκ οἶδα εἴτε γυναῖκα αἰτήσας εἴτε θρασύτερα ἐξ ἀρχῆς βουλευσάμενος Ἐπωπεὺς ἁρπάζει· ὡς δὲ οἱ Θηβαῖοι σὺν ὅπλοις ἦλθον, ἐνταῦθα τιτρώσκεται μὲν Νυκτεύς, ἐτρώθη δὲ κρατῶν τῇ μάχῃ καὶ Ἐπωπεύς. Νυκτέα μὲν δὴ κάμνοντα ὀπίσω κομίζουσιν ἐς Θήβας, καὶ ὡς ἔμελλε τελευτᾶν, Λύκον ἀδελφὸν ὄντα παραδίδωσι Θηβαίων ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἄρχειν· Λάβδακον γὰρ τὸν Πολυδώρου τοῦ Κάδμου παῖδα ἔτι αὐτός τε ἐπετρόπευεν ὁ Νυκτεὺς καὶ τότε ἀπέλιπεν ἐπιτροπεύειν ἐκείνῳ. τοῦτον οὖν τὸν Λύκον ἱκέτευσε στρατῷ μείζονι ἐπὶ τὴν Αἰγιάλειαν ἐλάσαντα τιμωρήσασθαι μὲν Ἐπωπέα, κακοῦν δὲ εἰ λάβοι καὶ αὐτὴν Ἀντιόπην.
Ἐπωπεὺς δὲ τὸ μὲν παραυτίκα ἐπινίκια ἔθυε καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ᾠκοδόμει ναόν, ἐπʼ ἐξειργασμένῳ δὲ εὔξατο ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν θεὸν εἴ οἱ τετελεσμένος ἐστὶν ὁ ναὸς κατὰ γνώμην· μετὰ δὲ τὴν εὐχὴν ἔλαιον λέγουσι ῥυῆναι πρὸ τοῦ ναοῦ. ὕστερον δὲ καὶ Ἐπωπέα κατέλαβεν ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ τραύματος ἀμεληθέντος κατʼ ἀρχάς, ὡς μηδὲν ἔτι Λύκῳ δεῆσαι πολέμου· Λαμέδων γὰρ ὁ Κορώνου βασιλεύσας μετὰ Ἐπωπέα ἐξέδωκεν Ἀντιόπην. ἡ δὲ ὡς ἐς Θήβας ἤγετο τὴν ἐπʼ Ἐλευθερῶν, ἐνταῦθα καθʼ ὁδὸν τίκτει.
καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ πεποίηκεν Ἄσιος ὁ Ἀμφιπτολέμου· Ἀντιόπη δʼ ἔτεκε Ζῆθον καὶ Ἀμφίονα δῖον / Ἀσωποῦ κούρη ποταμοῦ βαθυδινήεντος, / Ζηνί τε κυσαμένη καὶ Ἐπωπέι ποιμένι λαῶν. / Ὅμηρος δὲ σφᾶς ἀνήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνότερον τοῦ γένους καὶ Θήβας φησὶν οἰκίσαι πρώτους, ἀποκρίνων τὴν κάτω πόλιν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς Καδμείας.
Λαμέδων δὲ βασιλεύσας ἔγημεν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν γυναῖκα Φηνὼ Κλυτίου· καὶ ὕστερον γενομένου οἱ πολέμου πρὸς Ἄρχανδρον καὶ Ἀρχιτέλην τοὺς Ἀχαιοῦ συμμαχήσοντα ἐπηγάγετο Σικυῶνα ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, καὶ θυγατέρα τε συνῴκισεν αὐτῷ Ζευξίππην καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου βασιλεύσαντος ἡ γῆ Σικυωνία καὶ Σικυὼν ἀντὶ Αἰγιάλης ἡ πόλις ὠνομάσθη. Σικυῶνα δὲ οὐ Μαραθῶνος τοῦ Ἐπωπέως, Μητίονος δὲ εἶναι τοῦ Ἐρεχθέως φασίν. ὁμολογεῖ δέ σφισι καὶ Ἄσιος, ἐπεὶ Ἡσίοδός γε καὶ Ἴβυκος, ὁ μὲν ἐποίησεν ὡς Ἐρεχθέως εἴη Σικυών, Ἴβυκος δὲ εἶναι Πέλοπός φησιν αὐτόν.
Σικυῶνος δὲ γίνεται Χθονοφύλη, Χθονοφύλης δὲ καὶ Ἑρμοῦ Πόλυβον γενέσθαι λέγουσιν· ὕστερον δὲ αὐτὴν Φλίας ὁ Διονύσου γαμεῖ, καί οἱ παῖς Ἀνδροδάμας γίνεται. Πόλυβος δὲ Ταλαῷ τῷ Βίαντος βασιλεύοντι Ἀργείων Λυσιάνασσαν τὴν θυγατέρα ἔδωκε· καὶ ὅτε Ἄδραστος ἔφευγεν ἐξ Ἄργους, παρὰ Πόλυβον ἦλθεν ἐς Σικυῶνα καὶ ὕστερον ἀποθανόντος Πολύβου τὴν ἐν Σικυῶνι ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν. Ἀδράστου δὲ ἐς Ἄργος κατελθόντος Ἰανίσκος ἀπόγονος Κλυτίου τοῦ Λαμέδοντι κηδεύσαντος ἐλθὼν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀποθανόντος δὲ Ἰανίσκου Φαῖστος τῶν Ἡρακλέους λεγόμενος παίδων καὶ οὗτος εἶναι.
Φαίστου δὲ κατὰ μαντείαν μετοικήσαντος ἐς Κρήτην βασιλεῦσαι λέγεται Ζεύξιππος Ἀπόλλωνος υἱὸς καὶ νύμφης Συλλίδος. μετὰ δὲ Ζεύξιππον τελευτήσαντα Ἀγαμέμνων στρατὸν ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ Σικυῶνα καὶ τὸν βασιλέα Ἱππόλυτον Ῥοπάλου παῖδα τοῦ Φαίστου· δείσας δὲ τὸν στρατὸν ἐπιόντα Ἱππόλυτος συνεχώρησεν Ἀγαμέμνονος κατήκοος καὶ Μυκηναίων εἶναι. Ἱππολύτου δὲ ἦν τούτου Λακεστάδης. Φάλκης δὲ ὁ Τημένου καταλαβὼν νύκτωρ Σικυῶνα σὺν Δωριεῦσι κακὸν μὲν ἅτε Ἡρακλείδην καὶ αὐτὸν ἐποίησεν οὐδέν, κοινωνὸν δὲ ἔσχε τῆς ἀρχῆς.
Corax died childless, and just about that time Epopeus came from Thessaly and obtained the kingdom. It was in his reign, they say, that a hostile army first invaded the land, which hitherto had always remained at peace.
The cause of the invasion was this. Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, was famous in Greece for her beauty, and rumour said that her father was not Nycteus at all, but the river Asopus, which divides the lands of Thebes and Plataea. Now, whether Epopeus had proposed for her hand, or whether from the first he had harboured a more audacious design, I know not; but certain it is he carried off the maid. The Thebans came in arms, and in the fight Nycteus and Epopeus were both wounded, but the victory was with Epopeus. They carried the wounded Nycteus back to Thebes, and on his deathbed he committed the regency of Thebes to his brother Lycus. For Nycteus himself was merely regent on behalf of the boy Labdacus, the son of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus. Thus Nycteus bequeathed the regency to Lycus, and besought him to march with a greater army against Aegialea, to take vengeance on Epopeus, and to do a mischief to Antiope herself if he caught her. Meanwhile Epopeus straightway offered a thank-offering for his victory, and built a temple of Athena. When it was completed he prayed that the goddess would show him by a sign whether the temple was finished to her mind ; and they say that after his prayer olive oil flowed in front of the temple. But afterwards Epopeus also died of his hurt, which had been neglected at first. So Lycus needed not to go to war, for Lamedon, son of Coronus, who succeeded Epopeus on the throne, surrendered Antiope. As they were taking her to Thebes by way of Eleutherae, she was there delivered of a child beside the road. Of this event the poet Asius, son of Amphiptolemus, has said:— And Antiope bore Zethus and divine Amphion, She the daughter of Asopus, the deep-eddying river, Having conceived by Zeus and by Epopeus, shepherd of peoples, Homer has given them a grander lineage, and says that they founded Thebes, thereby distinguishing, as I conceive him, the lower city from the Cadmea. When Lamedon came to the throne he married an Athenian wife, Pheno, daughter of Clytius. Afterwards, having gone to war with Archander and Architeles, sons of Achaeus, he induced Sicyon to come from Attica to fight for him, and gave him his daughter Zeuxippe to wife. Then when Sicyon came to the throne the country was called Sicyonia after him, and the city was named Sicyon instead of Aegialea.
They say that Sicyon was the son, not of Marathon, son of Epopeus, but of Metion son of Erechtheus. Asius agrees with them; but Hesiod says that Sicyon was a son of Erechtheus, and Ibycus says that he was a son of Pelops. Sicyon had a daughter Chthonophyle, who, they say, bore a son Polybus to Hermes. Afterwards Phlias, son of Dionysus, married her, and she had a son Androdamas. Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa in marriage to the king of Argos, Talaus the son of Bias; and when Adrastus fled from Argos, he came to Polybus at Sicyon; and afterwards, when Polybus died, Adrastus sat on the throne of Sicyon. When Adrastus was restored to Argos, Ianiscus, a descendant of Clytius, the father-in-law of Lamedon, came from Attica and became king. And when Ianiscus died, Phaestus, who is said to have been one of the sons of Hercules, reigned in his stead ; but when Phaestus, in obedience to an oracle, migrated to Crete, Zeuxippus, son of Apollo and of the nymph Syllis, is said to have succeeded to the throne.
After the death of Zeuxippus, Agamemnon led an army against Sicyon and against its king Hippolytus, son of Rhopalus, son of Phaestus. Alarmed at the advance of the army, Hippolytus agreed to be subject to Agamemnon and to Mycenae. This Hippolytus was the father of Lacestades. But Phalces, son of Temenus, with his Dorians seized Sicyon by night; however, as Lacestades was also an Heraclid, Phalces did him no harm, and shared the government with him.
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