Editing Trophonius (section)

==Mythology==
[[File:Trophonius.jpg|thumb|Trofonio (Trophonius (Τροφώνιος), ''Historia Deorum Fatidicorum'', Geneva, 1675.]]

=== Temple of Apollo ===
According to the [[Homer]]ic Hymn to [[Apollo]], he built Apollo's temple at the [[oracle]] at [[Delphi]] with [[Agamedes]]. [[Pindar]] relates how, once finished, the oracle told the brothers to do whatsoever they wished for six days and, on the seventh, they would get their reward. They did and were found dead on the seventh day.<ref>[[Pindar]] according to [[Plutarch]] ''Consolation to Apollonius'' 14.</ref> Cicero mentions the same story, only shortening the number of days to three.<ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[Tusculanae Quaestiones]]'' 1.47.</ref> The maxim by Menander, "those whom the gods love die young", may have come from this story.<ref name="Graves1990">{{cite book|author=Robert Graves|title=The Greek Myths|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PuXnAe6STUYC&dq=%22those+whom+the+gods+love+die+young%22+%22trophonius%22&pg=PT450|volume=1|date=1 December 1990|publisher=Penguin Group US|isbn=978-1-101-55498-2|page=450|chapter=Cleobas and Briton}}</ref>

=== Treasury of King Hyrieus ===
Alternatively, according to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] they built a [[treasure]] chamber (with a secret entrance only they knew about) for King [[Hyrieus]] of [[Boeotia]]. Using the secret entrance, they stole Hyrieus' fortune. The king was aware but did not know who the thief was; he laid a snare. Agamedes was trapped in it; Trophonius cut off his head so that Hyrieus would not know whose body it was. He was then immediately swallowed up by the earth and was turned into an immortal subterranean god.<ref>Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.39.4 9.39.4].</ref>

The cave of Trophonius was not discovered again until the Lebadaeans suffered a plague and consulted the [[Delphic Oracle]]. The [[Pythia]] advised them that an unnamed hero was angry at being neglected, and that they should find his grave and offer him worship forthwith. Several unsuccessful searches followed, and the plague continued unabated until a shepherd boy followed a trail of bees into a hole in the ground. Instead of honey, he found a ''daimon'', and Lebadaea lost its plague while gaining a popular oracle.

=== Other myths ===
The childless [[Xuthus]] in [[Euripides]]'s ''Ion'' consults Trophonius on his way to [[Delphi]].

[[Apollonius of Tyana]], a legendary wise man and seer of [[Late Antiquity]], once visited the shrine and found that, when it came to philosophy, Trophonius was a proponent of sound [[Pythagoras|Pythagorean]] doctrines.

[[Plutarch]]'s ''De Genio Socratis'' relates an elaborate dream-vision concerning the cosmos and the afterlife that was supposedly received at Trophonius' oracle.