Editing Eriphyle

{{Short description|Figure in Greek mythology}}
[[File:Polynices Eriphyle Louvre G442.jpg|thumb|right|[[Polynices]] offers Eriphyle the [[necklace of Harmonia]], [[red-figure]] [[oinochoe]] by the Mannheim Painter, ca. 450–440 BC, [[Louvre Museum]].]]

'''Eriphyle''' ({{IPAc-en|ɛr|ᵻ|'|f|aɪ|l|iː}}; {{langx|grc|Ἐριφύλη|Eriphúlē}}) was a figure in [[Greek mythology]] who, in exchange for the [[necklace of Harmonia]] (also called the necklace of Eriphyle) given to her by [[Polynices]], persuaded her husband [[Amphiaraus]] to join the expedition of the [[Seven against Thebes]]. She was then slain by her son [[Alcmaeon (mythology)|Alcmaeon]]. In [[Jean Racine]]'s [[Iphigénie|1674 retelling]] of ''[[Iphigenia at Aulis]]'', she is an [[orphan]] whose real name turns out to be Iphigenia as well; despite her many misdeeds, she rescues [[Iphigenia]] the daughter of [[Agamemnon]].

==Myths==
Eriphyle, daughter of [[Talaus]], was the mother of [[Alcmaeon (mythology)|Alcmaeon]] and the wife of [[Amphiaraus]]. Eriphyle persuaded Amphiaraus to take part in the expedition of the [[Seven against Thebes]], though she knew he would die.  She had been persuaded by [[Polynices]], who offered her the [[necklace of Harmonia]] for her assistance.

Dying Amphiaraus charged his sons Alcmaeon and [[Amphilochus (brother of Alcmaeon)|Amphilochus]] with avenging his death and, after Amphiaraus died, fulfilling the prophecy, Alcmaeon killed his mother.  He was pursued by the [[Erinyes]] as he fled across Greece, eventually reaching the court of King [[Phegeus]], who gave him his daughter [[Alphesiboea of Psophis|Alphesiboea]] in marriage.  Exhausted, Alcmaeon asked an [[oracle]] how to assuage the Erinyes and was told that he needed to stop where the sun was not shining when he killed his mother.  That was at the mouth of the river [[Achelous]], which had become silted up.  Achelous, the god of that river, offered him his daughter [[Achelous|Callirrhoe]] in marriage if Alcmaeon would retrieve the necklace and clothes that Eriphyle had worn when she persuaded Amphiaraus to take part in the battle.  Alcmaeon had given these jewels to Phegeus, who had his sons kill Alcmaeon when he discovered Alcmaeon's plan:  lest the curse be transmitted to a next-generation it was dedicated to Aphrodite at [[Amathus]] in Cyprus.<ref>See [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], below.</ref>

Eriphyle is seen in Hades in [[Vergil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', still bearing wounds inflicted by her son. She also plays a role in [[Statius]]'s ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'',<ref>Statius, '[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' 2.265-305, 4.188-213</ref> in which her desire to attain the necklace of Harmonia is one of the catalysts for the war between Argos and Thebes. In this version of the myth, however, [[Argia]], [[Polynices]]'s wife, persuades her husband to give the necklace to Eriphyle so that Amphiaraus will join the war effort.

==Necklace==
{{main|Necklace of Harmonia}}
The [[Necklace of Harmonia]] was a gift to [[Cadmus]] when 
:Zeus gave him to wife Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. And all the gods quitted the sky, and feasting in the [[Cadmea]] celebrated the marriage with hymns. Cadmus gave her a robe and the necklace wrought by Hephaestus, which some say was given to Cadmus by Hephaestus, but [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] says that it was given by Europa, who had received it from Zeus.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' iii.4.2</ref>

A relic was being shown in [[Amathus]] in Cyprus, in the time of [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (2nd century CE):
:In Cyprus is a city Amathus, in which is an old sanctuary of [[Adonis]] and [[Aphrodite]]. Here they say is dedicated a necklace given originally to Harmonia, but called the necklace of Eriphyle, because it was the bribe she took to betray her husband. It was dedicated at [[Delphi]] by the sons of Phegeus (how they got it I have already related in my history of Arcadia), but it was carried off by the tyrants of Phocis.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' ix.41.2</ref>

The necklace that Pausanias was shown was of green stones with gold, which made him skeptical of its being the one mentioned by [[Homer]] (''[[Odyssey]]'' xi.327), for he noted other occasions in the ''Odyssey'' where necklaces made of gold and stones mention the stones.

==See also==
* [[Jean Racine]]'s ''[[Iphigénie]]'' 
* [[William Makepeace Thackeray]]'s ''[[Vanity Fair (novel)|Vanity Fair]]''
* [[Voltaire|Voltaire's]] ''[[Ériphyle (tragedy)|Ériphyle]]''

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
*[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus%2e+9%2e41%2e2%2d5 Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' ix.41.2]
*[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Apollod%2e+3%2e4%2e2 Apollodorus, ''Biibliotheke'' iii.4.2]

[[Category:Women in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Characters in Book VI of the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Mythological Argives]]