The Legend of Amphion

Author(s): Alexander H. Krappe

Source: The Classical Journal , Oct., 1925, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Oct., 1925), pp. 21-28
Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc. (CAMWS)

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 THE LEGEND OF AMPHION

By ALEXANDER H. KRAPPE
University of Minnesota

In the first book of the Argonautica Apollonius Rhodius na

rates the building of the walls of Thebes by the royal twins Am
phion and Zethos, sons of Antiope, in a passage which reads
follows:

I. 735-741.

,v S' Icav 'Avrt0'nrl 'AaoV 0S vEe SoLw,

'Ap4twyV KaL Z 0o3- a7r'pywuor S' 17tL ?fp3
KEtro 7rEX0, r f7 o~Le vEov LaXXovro 8oalov
t EvoLt ZO;Eso pv Vu'pa&?v -jepraCEv

ovpcou XL-q aroLO Kacdp, /OyEovrTL doLKW"

'AtuCt/WV 81 &ZL Ol XPt' T coP/6LtyyL XLycLl/WV
VqtEV3 r amq & uer' LcXv)a vft''X"r r7TEp?7.1

Very much the same story, though briefer, is repeated by

Apollodorus, who says: la
irapaXdf/ovre Se rjv 8vvaordLa rE v pn v EV 7rAoXLV ETeXtYaY, 7TeaKOXOV0Vpa&vrwv 7rp

'Ap~ lovos X'pt rGov XOwv . . .lb

Pausanias, in his description of Boeotia, likewise tells the legend
without noteworthy variants.2 His text reads:
1 In it, too, were the twin sons of Antiope, daughter of Asopos, Amphion
and Zethos, and Thebe still ungirt with towers was lying near, whose foun-
dations they were just then laying in eager haste. Zethos on his shoulders
was lifting the peak of a steep mountain, like a man toiling hard, and Am-
phion after him, singing loud and clear on his golden lyre, moved on, and a
rock twice as large followed his footsteps.
la Bibl. III. 5. 5.
lb Having succeeded to the sovereignty, they fortified the city, the stones
following Amphion's lyre.
2 Descr. Gr. IX. 5. 6-8.

21

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 22 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL

AV'Kov &ELtrporEVov1ro SEVTEpOV, Ka7lTaLv 'AlPLoWv KatL

pavTrE. Kat Adiov (EV rrEKKXErrov o(TLV OL 1v qWILCEXEs /

y&o/ % ro.b %7etra &v33vv/ov, AVKov SE o 7i 'AvnorTr

ToVOV (or 03 aWlX VTv, 7V rWiXLV TV KcVrW 7pOTKt

olaga3s ovoLa EEVTO ~ Kavar YvyyEVav TrV o?1)/flv paprvpdi SE tLOL( 7() XO/dyp Ka,
"Old-poe iv r^ '08voore "l
oL 7rpwOTro &t 37 E780 EKTLTcLV EiWrrXAoto

prrpyo v 7' rE v oV i/Ev arTpyWrdOV y" E- Vvro

vaLE/.eV e1PVXVPoVo & /3jv, KpaTepw` 7rep EOVTE.

OT S \ 'Atx'wv -S KaT r\ r^og 'eftpydCero irp k mv X\v paX , o 8'va EWroLTO

Xoyov i'v oTZ T E'raL Q 86'6av &E oyev 'Autwv v7 puovoU Try v Te &ppUOVaYV. 2a

Finally, there are allusions to the legend in the Latin poets

Propertius and Horace, which, however, do not add new facts.
They will here be cited for the sake of completeness.

Propertius I. 9. 8-10:
atque utinam posito dicar amore rudis:
quid tibi nunc misero prodest grave dicere carmen
aut Amphioniae mcenia flere lyre ?

IV. 2. 3 f.:

Saxa Cithaeronis Thebas agitata per artem

Sponte sua in muri membra coisse ferunt.
Horace, Odes, III. 11. 1-4:
Mercuri, nam te docilis magistro
Movit Amphion lapides canendo,
Tuque testudo resonare septem
Callida nervis,
2a It was during Lykeus' second guardianship that Amphion and Zethos
invaded the country with a band of men. And those who were anxious for
the continuance of Kadmos' race withdrew Laios, and Lykeus was defeated
in battle by the sons of Antiope. And during their reign they joined the lower
town to Kadmeia, and called it Thebes from their relationship to Thebe.
And I am borne out by the lines of Homer in the Odyssey: "Who first gave
its walls and seven gates to Thebes, for though they were strong, they
could not dwell in a spacious, unfortified Thebes." As to the legend of Am-
phion's singing and the walls being built as he played on his harp, Homer
has made no mention of it in his poems. But Amphion was famous for music.

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 THE LEGEND OF AMPHION 23

Ars Poetica, 394-6:

Dictus Amphion, Thebanae conditor urbis,
Saxa movere sono testudinis et prece blanda
Ducere quo vellet.

As can be seen from the passage of Pausanias,

of the twin brothers and their work, but he does
miraculous music of Amphion's lyre. Yet there
doubt that the legend is one of the oldest of Bc
in many respects one of the most interesting
legendary cycle.3
How did it originate? One of the oldest explan
symbolical, found apparently in Apollonius R
Zethos staggers under the load of rock, Amphio
drawing by his song and the music of his golde
twice the size after him. As Sir J. G. Frazer obs
"seems to have intended to suggest the feebl
strength by comparison with the power of genius.
However beautiful this interpretation appears fro
and especially the poetic and artistic standpoint
have been primitive, since allegory and symbolism
the products of a fairly sophisticated society. T
must be sought in a different direction.
The motive of the magic music or magic song is v
in the folk-lore of most peoples. Thus ancient Gree
of Orpheus "who practised minstrelsy and by h
stones and trees." 5 In the mythologies of the N
similar legends are not lacking. Thus in Sweden
the str6mkarl, is said to know a tune which m
benches, pitchers and glasses, old men and women,
the lame and even babies in the cradle hop a
Norwegian fossegrim teaches people, in return f
80. Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschi
1906, p. 88.
4 Apollodorus, The Library, London, 1921, I, 339.
5 Apollod. I. 3. 2; cf. also Apoll. Rhod. Argon. I. 26; Pomp. Mela, II. 2.

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24 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL

how to play so that trees begin to dance and th

falls stops running.6
Finnish legend relates of the god W~iinmim6inen
harp so wonderfully that all quadrupeds, birds and
in the water hasten to him to hear his music.' Th
his young in the nest. When Wipunen sings the
the dipper and the water stand still to listen to him
High German Kudrun sings of the divine art of
390 die tier in dem walde ir weide liezen stan,
die wiirme die da solten in dem grase gen,
die vische die da solten in dem wage vliezen,
die liezen ir geverte.
A similar power is given to dwarf maidens in
ballads: '

The first stroke on her gold harp she struck,

So sweetly she made it ring,
The wild beasts in the wood and field
They forgot whither they would spring.

The next stroke on her gold harp she struck,

So sweetly she made it ring,
The little gray hawk that sat on the bough,
He spread out both his wings.

The third stroke on her gold harp she struck,

So sweetly she made it ring,
The little fish that went in the stream,
He forgot whither he would swim.

Sometimes a mortal plays the magical harp, as Sir Peter in

the Swedish ballad:1?
He played the bark from off the high trees;
He played Little Kersten back on his knees.
6 J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, Berlin, 1875-8, I, 408; Th. Keightley,
The Fairy Mythology, London, 1892, p. 149.
7 Grimm, op. cit., II, 756.
8 Ibid., III, 276.
9 Keightley, op. cit., p. 97.
1o Ibid., p. 152.

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 THE LEGEND OF AMPHION 25

In Celtic lore, likewise, fairies have the gift of th

and by it lure mortals to their abodes, making the
earthly obligations.1"
Russian legend tells of the merchant-hero Sedko w
harp on the shore of Lake Ilmen; the first and s
waters of the lake become agitated; on the thir
the lake appears on the surface and makes hi
the same harp he can stir the sea to its depth a
wrecks and floods.'" In a White Russian tale the
reed-pipe so that the oxen stop grazing, the bi
and the frogs cease croaking. When he plays dol
forest and heath begin to weep and the sky sheds t
he plays gay tunes he makes the little children dan
horses, the bushes and the forest; even the stars
leap and laugh.'4
In a Modern Greek tale a flute is mentioned which makes the
mountains and woods dance." In Tartar heroic legend a girl
sings so wonderfully that the birds and animals of the forest
approach and listen.'" Mountain gnomes in Switzerland play a
magic song which makes animals and inanimate objects dance.-7
Ghosts haunting old buildings 1s and wild women of the forest "9
make peasants and herdsmen forget their duties and listen to
their song.
Above all, the motive of the magic music occurs in a widely
known Mdirchen type 20 whose hero is given an instrument
"1 Ibid., pp. 386, 399, 415; P. S'billot, Contes populaires de la Haute Bret-
agne, Paris, 1880, pp. 7 and 42.
12 A. Rambaud, La Russie Jpique, Paris, 1876, p. 145.
13 Ibid., p. 151.
14 Zeitschrift des Vereins fiir Volkskunde, XXII, 417.
15 J. G. v. Hahn, Griechische und albanesische Miirchen, Miinchen u. Berlin,
1918, I, 189.
16 E. L. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch im Spiegel der heidnischen
Vorzeit, Berlin, 1867, I, 259.
17 Henne-Am Rhyn, Die deutsche Volkssage im Verhiiltnis zu den Mythen
aller Zeiten und V1ilker, Wien u. Leipzig, 1879, p. 522.
18s W. Mannhardt, Wald- und Feldkulte, Berlin, 1904, I, 43.
19 Ibid., I, 101.
20 K. H. M. No. 110; A. Aarne, Verzeichnis der Miirchentypen, Helsinki,
1910, type 592.

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26 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL

The like was never known,

So full of mirth and mickle joy
That whenso'er it's blown
All living creatures that shall hear
The sweet and pleasant sound
Shall not be able to forbear
But dance and skip around.21

In all these versions the motive of the magic music is not con-
nected with the building of city walls. For such a connection
of two themes we must again turn to Ancient Greece.
On the akropolis of Megara there existed an Apollo cult center-
ing around the tradition that Apollo had built the walls of the
citadel. One stone was said to have retained musical qualities
because the god had placed on it his lyre during the work.22
The Megarians appear to have carried this cult and the legend
to their colony on the Golden Horn; here Apollo and Poseidon
were credited with the miraculous wall-building.23 Apollo and
Poseidon as wall-builders occur also in the legendary cycle of
Troy, though there is no mention made of the magic music.21
According to another Theban legend, the city walls were not
built by Amphion but by Kalydnos, that is, Beautiful Singer.
O. Gruppe justly remarks that Apollo at Troy and probably also
at Eutresis in Boeotia piled up the stones by the music of his
lyre.25
Gruppe suggests that Apollo as the deity personifying harmony
and civic order was said to have built city walls, because civic
order is the best protection and safeguard of a municipality.
This interpretation is merely the old symbolical explanation in
modified form. It does not account for the fact that in the
Theban legend Amphion, about whose functions as a divinity of
harmony and civic order nothing is known, takes the place of
Apollo. The problem must be considered from a different angle.
21 F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, Heilbronn, 1879, p. 484.
22 Pausanias, I. 42. 2; Ovid. Metam. VIII. 17.
23 Hesych. Mil. F. H. G. IV. 148. 12.
24 Gruppe, I, 305.
25 Ibid., I, 88.

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 THE LEGEND OF AMPHION 27

Amphion and Zethos are twins; that is, they p

same role as the Spartan founders of the royal
Romulus and Remus in Roman legend. As Dr.
conclusively proved, the legends of twin founders
and dynasties go back to ancient twin superstitions
tuaries which in due time became the refuge of set
various reasons had been obliged to leave their
Apollo then plays an important part in the trad
building, it is not on account of his functions
order, but because of his character as a twin or Dio
Furthermore, the Apollo cult in Greece was v
carried there by the Achaean immigrants coming fr
It is known soon to have replaced that of native tw
hence the likelihood that in the legends of Meg
Apollo's part is really a secondary development a
ally a twin couple resembling Amphion and Zeth
ponnesian twin couples was credited with the fou
cities and the erection of their walls. This theor
ated by the fact that generally two wall-builders a
Apollo being accompanied by Poseidon.
This solution would not, however, explain also
the magic music, the latter never being connect
know, with Disocurism, except in Greek legends
closely into the works of Greek writers, we me
facts which must be considered as related to the
Speaking of the rebuilding of Messene by the arm
nondas, Pausanias relates how the city walls we
under the flute-playing of the Boeotians and Argiv
Plutarch tells how the long walls of Athens were
Lysander at the sounding of music.30
These two instances clearly belong to a wide-sp
26 R. Harris, The Cult of the Heavenly Twins, Cambridg
ges, Cambridge, 1913.
27 Harris, Cult. p. 139; The Ascent of Olympus, Mancheste
8 Journ. of Hell. Stud. XXXV, 1915, p. 69. Folk-Lore, X
CLASSICAL JOURNAL, XVIII, 502 ff.
29 Pausanias, IV. 27. 7.
30 Vitae paral., Lysander, cap. 19.

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28 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL

that of the building-song of which many speci

preserved from all ages. Thus a Chinese buil
back to the twelfth century before our era, givin
picture of the construction of an imperial palace."
song, likewise Chinese, of the year 745 B.C. mo
general.32 In Palestine the friends and neighbor
with the professional masons in the construct
houses, singing rythmical stanzas. Accompanied
the work progresses very rapidly.33 In Asia Mi
tants used to be obliged by custom to work in t
of public enterprises, roads, bridges, barracks,
munity had to furnish a fixed number of workm
no pay. To keep these people in good humor
accompany their labor.34 It is probable than a
stone sculpture representing workmen at a constr
musicians with a third man holding a monkey
corvee. At any rate, it is certain that the custom
ate with the Turkish rule, but goes back to
Stone-carriers still sing in Egypt, India, the South
among the African negroes. Dalman, toward t
last century, heard songs which were sung by the
carried stones and built the walls of Jerusalem.36
These facts, especially the report of Pausanias
a historical event of the fourth century B.C., mak
clear that work-songs were common in Greece at
of fortresses and buildings. The legend of Amp
poetical rendering of this custom. "The tones
lyre built the walls of Thebes" was interpreted by
of the magic power of music, hence the myth
and a good example of how custom, if not ritua
and legend.
31 Karl Biicher, Arbeit und Rhythmus, Leipzig, 1902, p. 2
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid., p. 265.
84 J. van Lennep, Travels in the little known parts of As
1870, II, 138.
35 Biicher, op. cit., pp. 267-268.
36 G. H. Dalman, Paliistinischer Diwan. Leipzig, 1901, p

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