Amphitryon- Greek FigureMortal"King of Tiryns"

Exile from Mycenae

Amphitryon was the son of Alcaeus and grandson of Perseus. He was betrothed to Alcmene, daughter of King Electryon of Mycenae, but the marriage went wrong before it was consummated. While helping recover cattle stolen by the Taphians, Amphitryon threw a club at a stray cow. It ricocheted and struck Electryon dead. Banished from the Argolid, he fled with Alcmene to Thebes, where King Creon purified him of the bloodguilt and received him as an ally.

The Night of Deception

Alcmene set a condition: Amphitryon must first avenge her brothers, killed by the Taphians. He raised an expedition with Creon's aid and defeated them. But on the night before his return to Thebes, Zeus descended in Amphitryon's form and lay with Alcmene. He held back the dawn and stretched the night to three times its normal length. When the real Amphitryon arrived and climbed into bed beside his wife, she was confused. She thought he had already come home.

The Twin Sons

The double conception produced twin boys: Heracles, sired by Zeus, and Iphicles, sired by Amphitryon. The truth emerged when Hera sent two enormous serpents into the infants' cradle. Baby Heracles strangled them with his bare hands while Iphicles screamed in terror. Amphitryon summoned the blind seer Tiresias, who revealed the divine paternity.

Amphitryon raised both boys. Apollodorus records that he died fighting alongside Heracles against Erginus and the Minyans of Orchomenus, a war the young Heracles waged to free Thebes from tribute.