Amphion and Zethus
Amphion ("native of two lands") and Zethus, in ancient
Greek mythology, were the twin
sons of
Zeus by
Antiope. When children, they were exposed
on Mount Cithaeron, but were found and brought up by a
shepherd. Their mother had abandoned them when she fled in shame because of her pregnancy to a man other than her husband (who was either King
Nycteus of
Thebes or the river god
Asopus). She married
Epopeus, King of
Sicyon. Nycteus, unable to retrieve his wife, sent his brother
Lycus to take her. He did so and gave her as a slave to his own wife,
Dirce.
Amphion became a great singer and musician after Hermes taught him to play and gave him a golden lyre, Zethus
a hunter and herdsman. They punished King
Lycus and Queen Dirce for cruel treatment of Antiope, their mother, whom was treated as a slave. Dirce was tied to the horns of a bull as revenge. They built and fortified Thebes, huge blocks of stone forming
themselves into walls at the sound of Amphion's lyre. Amphion married Niobe, and killed himself after the loss of his wife and children at the hands of Apollo and Artemis (see Niobe). Zethus married Aedon, or sometimes Thebe. The brothers were buried in one grave.
- (from an old encyclopedia)
Compare with
Castor and Polydeuces (the
Dioscuri) of
Greece, and with
Romulus and Remus of
Rome.
Alternative: Zethos