Editing Amphitryon (section)

== Mythology ==
Born—according to tradition—in [[Tiryns]],<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Bernstein
 |first1               = Neil
 |year                 = 2017
 |chapter              = Major Themes in ''Hercules Furens''
 |title                = Seneca: ''Hercules Furens''
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=RpjmDQAAQBAJ
 |series               = Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy
 |publisher            = Bloomsbury Publishing
 |page                 = 32
 |isbn                 = 9781474254915
 |access-date          = 30 March 2023
 |quote                = [...] Amphitryon was born in Tiryns [...].
}} 
</ref>
in [[Argolis]] in the eastern part of the Peloponnese, Amphitryon became King of [[Troezen]]<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Flaum
 |first1               = Eric
 |author-link1         = Eric Flaum
 |last2                = Pandy
 |first2               = David
 |year                 = 1993
 |chapter              = Amphitryon
 |title                = The Encyclopedia of Mythology: Gods, Heroes, and Legends of the Greeks and Romans
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=QX8rAQAAMAAJ
 |location             = Philadelphia
 |publisher            = Courage Books
 |page                 = 29
 |isbn                 = 9781561382316
 |access-date          = 31 March 2023
 |quote                = The nephew of Electryon, the King of Troezen, Amphitryon served as regent in Mycenae while Electryon was off in battle. (Amphitryon was also engaged to Electryon's daughter Alcmena at that time.)
}} 
</ref>
and regent of [[Mycenae]].<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Graves
 |first1               = Robert
 |author-link1         = Robert Graves
 |year                 = 1960
 |orig-date            = 1955
 |chapter              = 118: The Birth of Heracles
 |title                = The Greek Myths
 |volume               = 2
 |edition              = revised
 |location             = Harmondsworth
 |publisher            = Penguin Books Limited
 |page                 = 84
 |quote                = Electryon, son of Perseus, High King of Mycenae [...], marched vengefully against the Paphians and Teleboans. [...] While he was away, his nephew King Amphitryon of Troezen acted as regent. 'Rule well, and when I return victorious, you shall marry my daughter Alcmene,' Electryon cried in farewell.
}} 
</ref>
He was a friend of [[Panopeus (mythology)|Panopeus]].

Having accidentally killed his prospective father-in-law, Electryon, king of [[Mycenae]], Amphitryon was driven out of Mycenae by Electryon's brother, [[Sthenelus (son of Andromeda and Perseus)|Sthenelus]]. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Apollodorus |title=The library of Greek mythology |last2=Hard |first2=Robin |last3=Apollodorus |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-953632-0 |series=Oxford world's classics |location=Oxford |pages=69}}</ref> However, there is an earlier tradition that Amphitryon killed Electryon in a fit of anger over some cattle. <ref>Hesiod, ''The Shield of Heracles,'' 11 f. and 82</ref> He fled with Alcmene to [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], where he was cleansed from the guilt of blood by [[Creon of Thebes|Creon]], king of Thebes.

Alcmene, who was pregnant and had been betrothed to Amphitryon by her father, refused to marry him until he had avenged the deaths of her brothers, all but one of whom had fallen in battle against the [[Taphian]]s. (It was on his return from this expedition that Electryon had been killed.) Amphitryon accordingly took the field against the Taphians, accompanied by Creon, who had agreed to assist him on condition that he slew the [[Teumessian fox]] which had been sent by [[Dionysus]] to ravage the Theban countryside.

The Taphians, however, remained invincible until [[Comaetho]], the king's daughter, out of love for Amphitryon, plucked out the single golden hair of her father, [[Pterelaus (son of Taphius)|Pterelaos]], the possession of which had rendered him immortal. Having defeated the enemy, Amphitryon put Comaetho to death and handed over the kingdom of the Taphians to [[Cephalus (son of Deione/Deioneus)|Cephalus]]. On his return to Thebes he married Alcmene, who gave birth to twin sons, [[Iphicles]] and [[Heracles]]. Only Iphicles was the son of Amphitryon - in a case of heteropaternal [[superfecundation]], Heracles was the son of [[Zeus]], who had visited Alcmene during Amphitryon's absence. Zeus, disguised as Amphitryon, described the victory over the sons of Pterelaus in such convincing detail that Alcmene accepted him as her betrothed.<ref name=":0" /> Amphitryon and Alcmene also had a daughter named [[Laonome]].

Amphitryon fell in battle against the [[Minyans]], against whom he had undertaken an expedition, accompanied by the youthful Heracles, to deliver Thebes from a disgraceful tribute. In the play [[Heracles (Euripides)|''Heracles'']] by [[Euripides]], Amphitryon survives to witness the murders of Heracles' children and [[Megara (wife of Heracles)|wife]].