Antiope
A nymph or princess loved by Zeus, who bore the twins Amphion and Zethus, builders of Thebes' walls.
The Myth of Antiope
Antiope was the daughter of the river god Asopus — or, in other accounts, of King Nycteus of Thebes. Zeus came to her in the form of a satyr and she conceived twins. When her pregnancy was discovered, she fled to Sicyon to escape her father's wrath, marrying King Epopeus there.
Her uncle Lycus eventually dragged her back to Thebes, where his wife Dirce treated Antiope with vicious cruelty, keeping her imprisoned for years. Antiope gave birth to her sons Amphion and Zethus in captivity, but they were exposed on Mount Cithaeron and raised by shepherds. When the twins grew to manhood and learned their mother's fate, they returned to Thebes, killed Lycus, and tied Dirce to a wild bull as punishment for her cruelty.
Amphion became a legendary musician whose lyre-playing moved the very stones to build Thebes' walls, while Zethus became a man of action and cattle. Their mother's suffering had produced the founders of one of Greece's greatest cities.
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