thumb|[[Book frontispiece|Frontispiece of the 1682 edition of Molière's highly successful comedy Amphitryon, based on a Plautine comic treatment of the myth of the eponymous hero: the gods Jupiter (Zeus), disguised as Amphitryon and mounted upon an eagle, and Mercury (Hermes) descend from Olympus to meddle in the affairs of the play's human characters.]]

Amphitryon (; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιτρύων, gen.: Ἀμφιτρύωνος; usually interpreted as "harassing either side", Latin: Amphitruo), in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis. His mother was named either Astydameia, the daughter of Pelops and Hippodamia, or Laonome, daughter of Guneus, or else Hipponome, daughter of Menoeceus. Amphitryon was the brother of Anaxo (wife of Electryon), and Perimede, wife of Licymnius. He was a husband of Alcmene, Electryon's daughter, and stepfather of the Greek hero Heracles.

Mythology

Born—according to tradition—in Tiryns,

in Argolis in the eastern part of the Peloponnese, Amphitryon became King of Troezen

and regent of Mycenae.

He was a friend of Panopeus.

Having accidentally killed his prospective father-in-law, Electryon, king of Mycenae, Amphitryon was driven out of Mycenae by Electryon's brother, Sthenelus. However, there is an earlier tradition that Amphitryon killed Electryon in a fit of anger over some cattle. He fled with Alcmene to Thebes, where he was cleansed from the guilt of blood by Creon, king of Thebes.

Alcmene, who was pregnant and had been betrothed to Amphitryon by her father, refused to marry him until he had avenged the deaths of her brothers, all but one of whom had fallen in battle against the Taphians. (It was on his return from this expedition that Electryon had been killed.) Amphitryon accordingly took the field against the Taphians, accompanied by Creon, who had agreed to assist him on condition that he slew the Teumessian fox which had been sent by Dionysus to ravage the Theban countryside.

The Taphians, however, remained invincible until Comaetho, the king's daughter, out of love for Amphitryon, plucked out the single golden hair of her father, Pterelaos, the possession of which had rendered him immortal. Having defeated the enemy, Amphitryon put Comaetho to death and handed over the kingdom of the Taphians to Cephalus. On his return to Thebes he married Alcmene, who gave birth to twin sons, Iphicles and Heracles. Only Iphicles was the son of Amphitryon - in a case of heteropaternal superfecundation, Heracles was the son of Zeus, who had visited Alcmene during Amphitryon's absence. Zeus, disguised as Amphitryon, described the victory over the sons of Pterelaus in such convincing detail that Alcmene accepted him as her betrothed. In 1991 it was the basis for the Jean-Luc Godard film Hélas pour moi.

  • The classic 1935 Nazi-era but anti-Nazi film version, Amphitryon, was based on Kleist.
  • The comic opera Amfitrion by the Croatia composer Boris Papandopulo (composed in 1937) which premiered in 1940.
  • The musical Olympus on My Mind is based on Kleist's adaptation of the play.
  • Irish author John Banville's play God's Gift (Gallery Books, 2000) is a version of Kleist's Amphitryon.
  • The late Mexican writer Ignacio Padilla's novel Amphitryon (2000), is a loose retelling of the ancient myth set in Nazi Germany and Europe, largely exploring the complex subjects of identity, time, and memory. The English translation is titled Shadow Without a Name (2003).

Notes

References

  • Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
  • Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Plautus' Amphitruo, DM Christenson - 2000 - Cambridge University Press. Book reviews: [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2002/2002-09-17.html] [https://web.archive.org/web/20060924074942/http://www.classics.und.ac.za/reviews/2002.htm]
  • Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.