Editing Amphion and Zethus (section)

== Mythology ==
===Childhood===
[[File:Zetoyanfion.jpg|thumb|Dirce's punishment - Roman wall painting in House of the Vettii, Pompeii.]]Amphion and Zethus were the sons of [[Antiope (mother of Amphion)|Antiope]], who fled in shame to [[Sicyon]] after Zeus raped her, and married King [[Epopeus]] there. However, either [[Nycteus]] or [[Lycus (brother of Nycteus)|Lycus]] attacked Sicyon in order to carry her back to Thebes and punish her.  On the way back, she gave birth to the twins and was forced to expose them on [[Mount Cithaeron]].  Lycus gave her to his wife, [[Dirce]], who treated her very cruelly for many years.<ref name="Apollodorus, Library, 3.5.5">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.5.5</ref>

Antiope eventually escaped and found her sons living near Mount Cithaeron. After they were convinced that she was their mother, they killed Dirce by tying her to the horns of a bull, gathered an army, and conquered Thebes, becoming its joint rulers.<ref name="Apollodorus, Library, 3.5.5"/> They also either killed Lycus or forced him to give up his throne.<ref name=":0">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=58}} </ref>

===Rule of Thebes===
Amphion became a great singer and musician after his lover [[Hermes]] taught him to play and gave him a golden lyre. Zethus became a hunter and herdsman, with a great interest in cattle breeding. As Zethus was associated with agriculture and the hunt, his attribute was the hunting dog, while Amphion’s - the lyre.<ref name=":0" /> Amphion and Zethus built the fortifications of Thebes.<ref name=":0" /> They built the walls around the [[Cadmea]], the [[citadel]] of Thebes, at the command of [[Apollo]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 9</ref> While Zethus struggled to carry his stones, Amphion played his lyre and his stones followed after him and gently glided into place.<ref name="Tripp">Tripp, Edward. ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology''. New York: Thomas Crowell Company, 1970, p. 44. Original, less elaborate, account in [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D20%3Asection%3D18 ''Graeciae Descriptio'' 6.20.18]</ref>

Amphion married [[Niobe]], the daughter of [[Tantalus]], the [[Lydia]]n king. Because of this, he learned to play his lyre in the Lydian mode and added three strings to it.<ref>Tripp, Edward. ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology''.  New York: Thomas Crowell Company, 1970, p. 43</ref>  Zethus married [[Thebe (Greek myth)|Thebe]], after whom the city of Thebes was named.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.5.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.5.6]</ref> Otherwise, the kingdom was named in honour of their supposed father Theobus.<ref>[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#13 ''Chiliades'' 1.13 line 322]</ref>[[File:Woodcut illustration of Niobe, Amphion and their dead sons - Penn Provenance Project.jpg|thumb|Woodcut illustration of Niobe, Amphion and their dead sons, printed by Johannes Zainer (ca. 1474)]]

===Later misfortunes===
Amphion's wife Niobe had many children, but had become arrogant and because of this she insulted the goddess [[Leto]], who had only two children, [[Artemis]] and Apollo. Leto's children killed Niobe's children in retaliation (see [[Niobe]]). Niobe’s overweening pride in her children, offending Apollo and Artemis, brought about her children’s deaths.<ref name=":0" /> In [[Ovid]], Amphion commits [[suicide]] out of grief; according to [[Telesilla]], Artemis and Apollo murder him along with his children. [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], however, writes that in his madness he tried to attack the temple of Apollo, and was killed by the god's arrows.<ref>Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, p. 539</ref>

Zethus had only one son, who died through a mistake of his mother Thebe, causing Zethus to kill himself.<ref name="Tripp"/>  In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', however, Zethus's wife is called [[Aëdon]], a daughter of [[Pandareus]] in book 19, who killed her son [[Itylus]] in a fit of madness and became a nightingale.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' Trans. Richmond Lattimore.  New York: Harper Collins, 1967, p. 295</ref> Later authors would clarify that Aëdon tried to kill Niobe and Amphion's firstborn [[Amaleus]] out of jealousy that Niobe had borne many children, while she and Zethus only had one.{{sfn|Pimentel|Simoes Rodrigues|2019|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DeayEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 201]}}{{sfn|Fowler|2000|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA341 341]}} However in the dark of the night, Aëdon by mistake killed Itylus, and in her mourning she was transformed into a nightingale by her father-in-law Zeus<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica]], ''On Homer's Odyssey'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP4NAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA215 19.710]</ref>{{sfn|Hansen|2002|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ezDlXl7gP9oC&pg=PA303 303]}} when Zethus began to chase her down in rage for murdering their son.<ref>[[Scholia]]st on the ''Odyssey'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=GBlgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA517 19.518]</ref> Alternatively, Aëdon was afraid that her husband (here, mistakenly perhaps, spelled [[Boreads|Zetes]]) was having an affair with a nymph, and that Itylus was assisting his father in his infidelity, so she killed him.<ref>[[Photios I of Constantinople]], ''[[Myriobiblon]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=HKUw3Ry7D0oC&pg=PA1583 Helladius Chrestomathia]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://mythandreligion.upatras.gr/english/m-r-wright-a-dictionary-of-classical-mythology/ | website = mythandreligion.upatras.gr | publisher = [[University of Patras]] | first = Rosemary M. | last = Wright | access-date = March 15, 2023 | title = A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Summary of Transformations}}</ref>

After the deaths of Amphion and Zethus, [[Laius]] returned to Thebes and became king.

Compare with [[Castor and Polydeuces]] (the [[Dioscuri]]) of Greece, and with [[Romulus and Remus]] of Rome.