Antiope- Greek FigureMortal"Princess of Thebes"

Flight and Captivity

Antiope was a princess of Thebes, daughter of Nycteus — or in some accounts, the river god Asopus. Zeus came to her in the form of a satyr while she slept on Mount Cithaeron, and from this union she conceived twins. When her pregnancy became known, Antiope fled Thebes to escape her father's wrath and found refuge with Epopeus, king of Sicyon, who married her.

Her uncle Lycus attacked Sicyon to bring her back. Epopeus was killed in the fighting, and Antiope was dragged to Thebes as a captive. On the journey, she gave birth to twin sons on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron. The infants were exposed on the mountainside but rescued by shepherds who raised them — the boys would become Amphion and Zethus. Antiope was given to Dirce, wife of Lycus, who tormented her for years.

The Sons' Revenge

After long years of abuse, Antiope escaped and fled to Mount Cithaeron. There she encountered her sons, now grown men — Amphion a gifted musician, Zethus a strong herdsman. When Dirce arrived hunting for the escaped slave, intending to have her torn apart by a bull, the brothers learned the truth of their parentage. They seized Dirce instead and tied her to the wild bull. The animal bolted and dragged her over the rocks of Cithaeron until she was dead.

Madness and Cure

Dirce had been a devotee of Dionysus, and the god punished Antiope for her role in his follower's death by driving her mad. She wandered through Greece in her insanity, homeless and wretched, until she came to Phocis. There Phocus, a son of Ornytion, cured her madness and made her his wife. She was buried beside him in a shared tomb at Tithorea, which Pausanias records the locals tended with annual rites.