Chapter 14: Thebes
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♦ Berlin, Antikensammlung 4841: Attic black-figure Tyrrhenian amphora with murder of Eriphyle, who slumps over grave mound while serpent rises from behind it and threatens Alkmaion; he flees to right, stepping onto his chariot
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 8 (1893) pl. 1
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
♠ Thebais fr 4 PEG – Poetae Epici Graeci 1, p. 25, ed. A. Bernabé. Leipzig, 1987.
♠ Hes fr 279 MW – Hesiod, Melampodia – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 138, ed. R. Merkelbach and M.L. West. Oxford 1967.
Strabo xiv. 5. 16-17 p. 675-6
Nearby there is also Mallos . . ., a city founded by Amphilochos and Mopsos who was the son of Apollos and Manto about whom many stories are told; and indeed I myself have mentioned them in my accounts of Kalchas and the quarrel in which Kalchas and Mopsos contented about the art of divination (Strab. iv. 1. 27, supra fr. 278) . . . They say that the quarrel concerned not only the art of divination, but also sovereignty. For they say that Mopsos and Amphilochos, having left from Troy, founded Mallos; then Amphilochos went to Argos, but being displeased with matters there, he returned to Mallos; and having been cut off from a share in the government, he engaged in a single battle against Mopsos, and after they both fell, they were buried so that they would not see each other. . . . The Aleïan Plain is situated above this coastland . . . but Hesiod says that Amphilochon was slain by Apollo in Soli, while some say that he was slain around the Aleïan Plain, and others in Syria as he was leaving the Aleïan Plain because of the quarrel. (Transl. E. Bianchelli)
♠ Str 14.5.16 – Strabo, Geographia
After the Cydnus River one comes to the Pyramus River, which flows from Cataonia, a river which I have mentioned before. According to Artemidorus, the distance thence to Soli in a straight voyage is five hundred stadia. Near by, also, is Mallus, situated on a height, founded by Amphilochus and Mopsus, the latter the son of Apollo and Manto, concerning whom many myths are told….
For they say that Mopsus and Amphilochus went from Troy and founded Mallus, and that Amphilochus then went away to Argos, and, being dissatisfied with affairs there, returned to Mallus, but that, being excluded from a share in the government there, he fought a duel with Mopsus, and that both fell in the duel and were buried in places that were not in sight of one another. Greek Text
♠ Lyk 439-46 – Lykophron, Alexandra
And two by the mouth of the streams of Pyramus, hounds of Deraenus, shall be slain by mutual slaughter, and fight their last battle at the foot of the towers of the daughter of Pamphylus. And a steep sea-bitten fortress, even Mabarsus, shall stand between their holy cairns, so that even when they have gone down to the habitations of the dead, they may not behold each other’s tombs, bathed in blood. Greek Text
♠ Str 3.4.3 – Strabo, Geography
And some of those who made the expedition with Teucer lived in Callaicia, and there were once two cities there, of which one was called Hellenes, and the other, Amphilochi; for not only did Amphilochus die at the place, but his companions wandered as far as the interior of the country. Greek Text
♠ ApE 6.2 – Apollodoros, Epitome
But Amphilochus, and Calchas, and Leonteus, and Podalirius, and Polypoetes left their ships in Ilium and journeyed by land to Colophon, and there buried Calchas the diviner; for it was foretold him that he would die if he met with a wiser diviner than himself. Greek Text
♠ ApE 6.19 – Apollodoros, Epitome
Amphilochus son of Alcmaeon, who, according to some, arrived later at Troy, was driven in the storm to the home of Mopsus; and, as some say, they fought a single combat for the kingdom, and slew each other. Greek Text
♠ ApB 3.7.5 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
After the capture of Thebes, when Alcmaeon learned that his mother Eriphyle had been bribed to his undoing also, he was more incensed than ever, and in accordance with an oracle given to him by Apollo he killed his mother. Some say that he killed her in conjunction with his brother Amphilochus, others that he did it alone. Greek Text
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Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, University of Georgia, March 2020
