Amphictyon

Amphictyon or Amphiktyon (/æmˈfɪkti.ɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφικτύων), in Greek mythology, was a king of Thermopylae and later Athens.

Etymology

The name of Amphictyon is 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] although there was also a tradition that he was autochthonous (born from the earth);[3] he is also said to be a son of Hellen son of Deucalion and Pyrrha.[4] Amphictyon was king of Thermopylae and married a daughter of Cranaus of Athens.[5] According to some accounts this daughter was named Atthis, although this conflicts with other accounts which relate that she died young as an unmarried virgin.[6] Amphictyon eventually deposed Cranaus, proclaiming himself king of Athens.[3][5]

Amphictyon had a son, Itonus, who in his turn became the father of Boeotus, Iodame and Chromia by Melanippe.[7] He also had a daughter, never mentioned by name, who became the mother of Cercyon by Poseidon, and of Triptolemus by Rarus.[8] Some add that Amphictyon had another son, Physcus, by Chthonopatra,[9] daughter of his brother Hellen.[10] others, however, state that Physcus was the grandson of Amphictyon through Aetolus.[11][12]

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.[13][14] 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.[15] Amphictyon was deposed by Erichthonius, another autochthonous king of Athens.[3]

See also

Notes
  1. Merriam-Webster sv. Amphictyon.
  2. Apollodorus, 1.7.2; Gantz, p. 167.
  3. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.6
  4. Smith, citing Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 4.25.3
  5. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.2.6.
  6. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.5
  7. Pausanias, 5.1.4, 9.1.1, 9.34.1; Tzetzes on Lycophron, Alexandra 1206.
  8. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.14.3
  9. Eustathius on Homer, p. 277
  10. Hellanicus in scholia on Plato, Symposium 208 p. 376
  11. Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Physkos
  12. Pseudo-Scymnus, Circuit of the Earth 587 ff.
  13. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 10.8.1
  14. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 4.25.3
  15. 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
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