Mount Cithaeron- Greek LocationLocation · Landmark
Also known as: Cithaeron, Kithairon, and Κιθαιρών
Description
On Cithaeron's slopes the infant Oedipus was pierced and left to die, and the king Pentheus was torn apart by his own mother while spying on the Bacchic rites — the mountain between Boeotia and Attica where Dionysus held his revels.
Mythology & Lore
Sacred Mountain of Dionysus
Mount Cithaeron rises between Boeotia and Attica, a rugged range of forested slopes and deep ravines. The mountain was sacred to Dionysus. When the god arrived at Thebes to establish his cult, he led the city's women up to Cithaeron to celebrate his rites, dancing and hunting with supernatural strength.
The Exposure of Oedipus
When the Delphic oracle warned King Laius that his son would kill him and marry his wife Jocasta, the parents ordered a shepherd to expose the baby on Cithaeron with his ankles pierced and bound. The shepherd, taking pity, gave the child instead to a Corinthian herdsman he met on the mountain. This act of mercy on Cithaeron's slopes ensured the prophecy's fulfillment — Oedipus survived to unknowingly kill his father at the crossroads and wed his mother at Thebes.
The Death of Pentheus
Pentheus, king of Thebes, denied Dionysus's divinity and forbade his worship. He was lured to the mountain disguised as a woman to spy on the Bacchic rites. Dionysus seated him high in a pine tree, then revealed him to the frenzied maenads below. Led by Pentheus's own mother Agave, the women uprooted the tree and tore the king apart with their bare hands. Agave carried her son's head back to Thebes impaled on her thyrsus, believing it to be a lion's head until the madness lifted.
Actaeon's Fate
While hunting on the mountain with his hounds, Actaeon stumbled upon the goddess Artemis bathing in a secluded spring. Enraged at being seen naked by a mortal, Artemis splashed water upon him and transformed him into a stag. His own hunting dogs, no longer recognizing their master, pursued and killed him on the mountainside.
Antiope and the Twins
Antiope, daughter of the river god Asopus, gave birth to twin sons Amphion and Zethus on Mount Cithaeron after fleeing Thebes. Like Oedipus before them, the infants were exposed on the mountain's slopes but rescued and raised by local shepherds. The brothers later returned to Thebes to avenge their mother's mistreatment and overthrow King Lycus.