Amphion and Zethus were, in ancient Greek mythology, the twin sons of Zeus by Antiope. They are important characters in one of the two founding myths of the city of Thebes, because they constructed the city's walls. Zethus or Amphion had a daughter who was called Neis (Νηίς), the Neitian gate at Thebes was believed to have derived its name from her.
Amphion and Zethus
Dirce's punishment - Roman wall painting in House of the Vettii, Pompeii.
Woodcut illustration of Niobe, Amphion and their dead sons, printed by Johannes Zainer (ca. 1474)
Amphion, son of Zeus and Antiope, and twin brother of Zethus
Antiope (mother of Amphion)
In Greek mythology, Antiope was the daughter of the Boeotian river god Asopus, according to Homer; in later sources she is called the daughter of the "nocturnal" king Nycteus of Thebes or, in the Cypria, of Lycurgus, but for Homer her site is purely Boeotian. She was the mother of Amphion and Zethus.
Dirce, bound to the horns of a wild bull by Amphion and Zethus (in the presence of their mother Antiope), is punished for having mistreated Antiope. Antique fresco from Pompeii.
Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Jupiter and Antiope (c. 1780).
Jupiter and Antiope, by Antoine Watteau (c. 1714–1719).
Jupiter and Antiope, by Bartholomeus Spranger.
