Amphictyon
- For the Amphictyony, an ancient Greek religious organization, see Amphictyonic League.
Amphictyon or Amphiktyon (/æmˈfɪkti.ɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφικτύων), in Greek mythology, was a king of Thermopylae and later Athens.
Etymology[]
The name of Amphictyon has a back-formation from Amphictyons, plural, from Latin Amphictyones, from Greek Amphiktyones, Amphiktiones, literally, "neighbors" or "those dwelling around" from amphi- + -ktyones, -ktiones (from ktizein to found); akin to Sanskrit kṣeti he dwells, kṣiti abode, Avestan shitish dwelling, Armenian šen inhabited, cultivated.[1]
Family[]
Amphictyon was the second son of Deucalion and Pyrrha,[2][3] although there was also a tradition that he was autochthonous (born from the earth);[4] he is also said to be a son of Hellen son of Deucalion and Pyrrha.[5] Amphictyon was king of Thermopylae and married a daughter of Cranaus of Athens.[6] According to some accounts this daughter was named Atthis[citation needed], although this conflicts with other accounts which relate that she died young as an unmarried virgin.[7] Amphictyon eventually deposed Cranaus, proclaiming himself king of Athens.[4][6]
Amphictyon had a son, Itonus, who in his turn became the father of Boeotus, Iodame and Chromia by Melanippe.[8][9][10] He also had a daughter, never mentioned by name, who became the mother of Cercyon by Poseidon, and of Triptolemus by Rarus.[11] Some add that Amphictyon had another son, Physcus, by Chthonopatra,[12] daughter of his brother Hellen.[13] others, however, state that Physcus was the grandson of Amphictyon through Aetolus.[14][15]
Reign[]
Amphictyon ruled Athens for ten, or in some accounts, twelve years and founded the Amphictyonic League, which traditionally met at Thermopylae in historical times.[16][17] During his reign, Dionysus was supposed to have visited Amphictyon in Athens and taught him how to mix water with wine in the proper proportions.[18] Amphictyon was deposed by Erichthonius, another autochthonous king of Athens.[4]
Notes[]
- ^ Merriam-Webster sv. Amphictyon.
- ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.7.2
- ^ Gantz, Timothy (1993). Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Ancient Sources. London: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 167. ISBN 0-8018-4410-X.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.6
- ^ Smith, citing Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 4.25.3
- ^ Jump up to: a b Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.2.6
- ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.5
- ^ Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.1.1. & 9.34.1
- ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, Alexandra 1206
- ^ Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 5.1.4
- ^ Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.14.3
- ^ Eustathius on Homer, p. 277
- ^ Hellanicus in scholia on Plato, Symposium 208 p. 376
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Physkos
- ^ Pseudo-Scymnus, Circuit of the Earth 587 ff.
- ^ Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 10.8.1
- ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 4.25.3
- ^ Eustathius on Homer, p. 1815
References[]
Primary sources[]
- Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937-1950. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, Vol I-IV. . Karl Jacoby. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1885. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Secondary sources[]
- Kings of Athens
- Kings in Greek mythology
- Autochthons of classical mythology
- Deucalionids
- Characters in Greek mythology
- Delphic amphictyony
- Attic mythology