DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0828
738
Zeus paired with Antiope
Antiope's tomb at Tithorea was honoured when the sun was
in the sign of Taurus1. Her partner at Sikyon was Epopeus,
grandson of Helios2. Late authorities made her a priestess of
Helios3. Antiope, therefore, stood in some relation to the sun.
At Corinth that relation was much more clearly recognised. For
Eumelos in his Korinthiaka (c. 740 B.C.) represented Antiope, not
as wife of Helios' grandson, but as wife of Helios himself and
by him mother of Aloeus and Aietes4. Diophanes too, better
known as Diophantos, in his Pontic History (s. ill B.C.)5 made
Antiope the mother of Aietes6, and therefore presumably the wife
of Helios. Now if Antiope as early as the eighth century B.C. was
the wife of the Sun, it is reasonable to conjecture that she was
a moon-goddess. Antiope, as O. Gruppe observes7, is 'a highly
suitable appellation for the full moon, which at its rising exactly
faces the sun.' For Antiope means 'She who looks over against,
or faces' another ; and Nonnos, for example, speaks of—
Phaethon balancing the full-faced (antopis) Moon8.
W. H. Roscher0, who regards Antiope as a ' moon-heroine' or
' hypostasis of the moon-goddess/ draws attention to her rape
by Epopeus10, to her vaunted beauty11, to the names of her father
Nyktetts, the ' Nocturnal,' and his brother Lykos, the ' Light12,' to
I Supra p. 736 f. 2 Supra p. 737.
3 Kephalion frag. 6 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 628 Muller) ap. Io. Malal. chron. 2 p. 45
Dindorf.
4 Eumel. frag. 2 Kinkel ap. schol. Pind. 01. 13. 74, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 174, schol.
Eur. Med. arg. 3 (iv. 4 Dindorf).
5 E. Schwartz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 1051.
6 Diophantos frag. 1 (Frag. hist. Gr. iv. 397 Muller) ap. schol. Ap. Rhod. 3. 242,
Eudok. viol. 37. In both sources the MSS. read Aicxp&vTjs, not Aibcpavros.
7 Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 938 n. 2.
8 Nonn. Dion. 6. 76 /ecu Qaedcov iao/xoipos er\v aPT&iridi Mrjurj,
9 W. H. Roscher Uber Selene und Verwandtes Leipzig 1890 p. 146 ff. and in his
Lex. Myth. ii. 3197 ff.
10 Paus. 2. 6. 2 d/D7rdfet, Kypria ap. Prokl. chrestom. i (p. 18 Kinkel) <p9eLpas, etc.
On the rape of the moon-goddess see W. H. Roscher Uber Selene tmd Verwandtes
Leipzig 1890 p. 78 and in his Lex. Myth. ii. 3159.
II Ap. Rhod. 4. 1088 evuTuda (cp. Pind. 01. 10. 90 f. evdoiri.8os | 'SeXdvas, etc.), Paus.
2. 6. 1, Prop. 1. 4. 5, Hyg. fab. 8. On the beauty of the moon-goddess see W. H.
Roscher Uber Selene und Verwandtes Leipzig 1890 p. 22 f., id. Nachtrdge zu meiner
Schrifi uber Selene und Verwaitdtes Leipzig 1895 p. 21, id. in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii.
3131 f. or, better still, see herself.
12 Supra p. 65. S. Eitrem 'Die gottlichen Zwillinge bei den Griechen' in the
^Skrifter udgivne af Videnskabsselskabet i Christiania 1902 ii Historisk-filosofisk Klasse
Christiania 1903 no. 2 argues that in the original form of the myth the twins Amphion
and Zethos carried off Antiope and her sister Dirke from a second pair of twins, Lykos
(Lykourgos, Epopeus) and Nykteus. The myth would thus be parallel to that of the rape
Zeus paired with Antiope
Antiope's tomb at Tithorea was honoured when the sun was
in the sign of Taurus1. Her partner at Sikyon was Epopeus,
grandson of Helios2. Late authorities made her a priestess of
Helios3. Antiope, therefore, stood in some relation to the sun.
At Corinth that relation was much more clearly recognised. For
Eumelos in his Korinthiaka (c. 740 B.C.) represented Antiope, not
as wife of Helios' grandson, but as wife of Helios himself and
by him mother of Aloeus and Aietes4. Diophanes too, better
known as Diophantos, in his Pontic History (s. ill B.C.)5 made
Antiope the mother of Aietes6, and therefore presumably the wife
of Helios. Now if Antiope as early as the eighth century B.C. was
the wife of the Sun, it is reasonable to conjecture that she was
a moon-goddess. Antiope, as O. Gruppe observes7, is 'a highly
suitable appellation for the full moon, which at its rising exactly
faces the sun.' For Antiope means 'She who looks over against,
or faces' another ; and Nonnos, for example, speaks of—
Phaethon balancing the full-faced (antopis) Moon8.
W. H. Roscher0, who regards Antiope as a ' moon-heroine' or
' hypostasis of the moon-goddess/ draws attention to her rape
by Epopeus10, to her vaunted beauty11, to the names of her father
Nyktetts, the ' Nocturnal,' and his brother Lykos, the ' Light12,' to
I Supra p. 736 f. 2 Supra p. 737.
3 Kephalion frag. 6 {Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 628 Muller) ap. Io. Malal. chron. 2 p. 45
Dindorf.
4 Eumel. frag. 2 Kinkel ap. schol. Pind. 01. 13. 74, Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 174, schol.
Eur. Med. arg. 3 (iv. 4 Dindorf).
5 E. Schwartz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 1051.
6 Diophantos frag. 1 (Frag. hist. Gr. iv. 397 Muller) ap. schol. Ap. Rhod. 3. 242,
Eudok. viol. 37. In both sources the MSS. read Aicxp&vTjs, not Aibcpavros.
7 Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 938 n. 2.
8 Nonn. Dion. 6. 76 /ecu Qaedcov iao/xoipos er\v aPT&iridi Mrjurj,
9 W. H. Roscher Uber Selene und Verwandtes Leipzig 1890 p. 146 ff. and in his
Lex. Myth. ii. 3197 ff.
10 Paus. 2. 6. 2 d/D7rdfet, Kypria ap. Prokl. chrestom. i (p. 18 Kinkel) <p9eLpas, etc.
On the rape of the moon-goddess see W. H. Roscher Uber Selene tmd Verwandtes
Leipzig 1890 p. 78 and in his Lex. Myth. ii. 3159.
II Ap. Rhod. 4. 1088 evuTuda (cp. Pind. 01. 10. 90 f. evdoiri.8os | 'SeXdvas, etc.), Paus.
2. 6. 1, Prop. 1. 4. 5, Hyg. fab. 8. On the beauty of the moon-goddess see W. H.
Roscher Uber Selene und Verwandtes Leipzig 1890 p. 22 f., id. Nachtrdge zu meiner
Schrifi uber Selene und Verwaitdtes Leipzig 1895 p. 21, id. in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii.
3131 f. or, better still, see herself.
12 Supra p. 65. S. Eitrem 'Die gottlichen Zwillinge bei den Griechen' in the
^Skrifter udgivne af Videnskabsselskabet i Christiania 1902 ii Historisk-filosofisk Klasse
Christiania 1903 no. 2 argues that in the original form of the myth the twins Amphion
and Zethos carried off Antiope and her sister Dirke from a second pair of twins, Lykos
(Lykourgos, Epopeus) and Nykteus. The myth would thus be parallel to that of the rape