BARON
University of Notre Dame
Mythical, a grandson of PERSEUS. Amphitryon married his cousin ALCMENE, but she refused to consummate the MARRIAGE until he avenged her brothers’ deaths at the hands of the TELEBOANS (Apollod. Bibl. 2.4.6–7). On the night before Amphitryon’s return from completing his mission, ZEUS appeared to Alcmene disguised as Amphitryon; she then gave birth to HERACLES (and, in some accounts, a fully mortal twin, Iphicles: Gantz, EGM 374–78). However, Herodotus refers to Heracles consistently as the son of Amphitryon, not Zeus (2.43.2, 44.4, 146.1; 6.53.2).
Herodotus employs the fact that Perseus was of Egyptian descent (2.91.5) in his argument that the Greeks took the name of Heracles from the Egyptians, rather than vice versa (2.43.2). He also quotes an INSCRIPTION in “Cadmeian letters” on a TRIPOD claiming to have been dedicated by Amphitryon in the temple of Ismenian APOLLO at Boeotian THEBES after his destruction of the Teleboans (5.59). Herodotus notes that this would be contemporary with LAÏUS (the father of OEDIPUS); other sources relate that Amphitryon sought purification from Creon (Laïus’ brother‐in‐law) at Thebes after he accidentally killed his uncle (and father‐in‐law) Electryon. A supposed tomb of Amphitryon at Thebes is mentioned by PINDAR (Nem. 4.19–22).
SEE ALSO: Chronology; Dedications; Myth; Proof; Writing
FURTHER READING
1 Fowler, Robert L. 2013. Early Greek Mythography. Vol. 2, Commentary, 260–67. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Schachter, Albert. 1981. Cults of Boiotia. Vol. 1, 30–31. London: Institute of Classical Studies.
AMUN (Ἀμοῦν, ὁ)
JOACHIM FRIEDRICH QUACK
Heidelberg University
Egyptian god, venerated at many places but especially Egyptian THEBES. Originally, Amun seems to have been linked specifically with the wind, but especially in the compound Amun‐Re, he became a solar and creator god. He became EGYPT’s supreme god with the rise of Thebes as capital, and during the New Kingdom his temple was the best‐endowed in all of Egypt. His sacred animals are the NILE goose and the ram. Herodotus identifies the Theban Amun with ZEUS (2.42.5). This is likely based on the fact that Amun was considered the king of the gods in Egypt. It is to be noted that for the Theban god, Herodotus uses the form “Amun” (Ἀμοῦν) which accords with contemporary pronunciation in the Nile valley, while for the god of Sîwa OASIS, he uses the form “AMMON” ( Ἄμμων) which might reflect a local dialect of the western desert.
SEE ALSO: Gods and the Divine; Religion, Herodotus’ Views on
FURTHER READING
1 Assmann, Jan. 2012. Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom: Re, Amun and the Crisis of Polytheism, translated by Anthony Alcock [first German edition 1983]. Hoboken, NJ: Taylor & Francis.
2 Guermeur, Ivan. 2005. Les cultes d’Amon hors de Thèbes: recherches de géographie religieuse. Turnhout: Brepols.
3 Sethe, Kurt. 1929. Amun und die acht Urgötter von Hermopolis. Eine Untersuchung über Ursprung und Wesen des ägyptischen Götterkönigs. Berlin: Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
AMYNTAS I (Ἀμύντης, ὁ) son of Alcetas
IOANNIS XYDOPOULOS
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Amyntas is the first historically attested king of MACEDONIA (Borza 1990, 98–103), though his role in the Histories is secondary compared with that of his son, ALEXANDER I. Amyntas became a Persian vassal as early as 513/12 BCE, giving EARTH AND WATER to Persian envoys (5.18.1; Hornblower 2013, 109–11). Herodotus has Alexander, in a short speech to those envoys, describe Amyntas as DARIUS I’s hyparchos (a man ruling over the Macedonians, 5.20.4; cf. Tripodi 2007), an indication perhaps of a more intense Persian military presence in Macedonia, implied by Herodotus elsewhere (6.44; 7.108.1). As a client king of PERSIA, Amyntas must have taken advantage of the weakening of the PAEONIANS by Megabazus’ Persian army to expand Macedonian power along his eastern border. His offer of ANTHEMUS to HIPPIAS, who had been driven out of ATHENS in 510, is evidence of this, though it may also indicate that Amyntas was not able to control the area fully (5.94.1; Xydopoulos 2012, with further bibliography). Amyntas’ offer to Hippias illuminates perhaps his policy of creating interpersonal relationships with the PEISISTRATIDAE as well as with the Persians. Amyntas was in this way clearly showing his loyalty to PERSIA—confirmed also by the fact that he gave his daughter, GYGAEA, in marriage to the Persian BUBARES (5.21; 8.136.1)—hoping to get the maximum benefit for his kingdom, a policy followed successfully by his son and successor.
SEE ALSO: Alcetas; Amyntas son of Bubares; Megabazus the Persian; Satrapies
REFERENCES
1 Borza, Eugene N. 1990. In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
2 Hornblower, Simon, ed. 2013. Herodotus: Histories Book V. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3 Tripodi, Bruno. 2007. “Aminta I, Alessandro I e gli hyparchoi in Erodoto.” In Ancient Macedonia VII. Macedonia from the Iron Age to the Death of Philip II, 67–85. Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies.
4 Xydopoulos, Ι. Κ. 2012. “Anthemus and Hippias: The Policy of Amyntas I.” ICS 37: 21–37.
AMYNTAS (Ἀμύντης, ὁ) son of Bubares
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Son of the Persian nobleman BUBARES and the Macedonian princess GYGAEA (sister of ALEXANDER I). Herodotus reports (8.136.1) that Amyntas was given the Phrygian city of Alabanda by the Persian king (presumably XERXES). Possibly Amyntas, being both an ACHAEMENID and Macedonian royalty, was destined to succeed his uncle as “satrap‐king” of MACEDONIA until the Persians were driven out of EUROPE by the Greeks (Badian 1994, 115–16).
SEE ALSO: Alabanda in Phrygia; Amyntas son of Alcetas; Satrapies
REFERENCE
1 Badian, Ernst. 1994. “Herodotus on Alexander I of Macedon: A Study in Some Subtle Silences.” In Greek Historiography, edited by Simon Hornblower, 107–30. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
AMYRGIANS (Ἀμύργιοι, οἱ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Alternative name for the Scythian SACAE. Herodotus comments that although a group in XERXES’ invasion force were actually “Amyrgian Scythians,” the Persians called them Sacae, as they do all SCYTHIANS (7.64.2). Many scholars (e.g., Bryce 2012, 608; contra Narain 1987) identify the Amyrgians with the Sakā haumavargā attested in Old Persian INSCRIPTIONS (e.g., A?P §14). Their precise location is
