Niobe

This article is about the daughter of Tantalus. For other uses, see Niobe (disambiguation).

A 1772 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting Niobe attempting to shield her children from Artemis and Apollo

In Greek mythology, Niobe (/ˈnaɪ.ə.biː/; Greek: Νιόβη [ni.óbɛː]: Nióbē) was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione (as most frequently cited) or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa. Niobe was the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas.

She was mentioned by Achilles in Homer's Iliad, which relates her proud hubris, for which she was punished by Leto, who sent Apollo and Artemis to slay all of her children, after which her children lay unburied for nine days while she abstained from food.[1] Once the gods had interred the slain, Niobe retreated to her native Sipylus, "where Nymphs dance around the River Acheloos,[2] and though turned to stone, she broods over the sorrows sent by the Gods".[3] Later writers[4] asserted that Niobe was wedded to Amphion, one of the twin founders of Thebes, where there was a single sanctuary where the twin founders were venerated, but no shrine to Niobe.

  1. ^ Iliad 24.603–610 : "[...] the fair-haired Niobe bethought her of meat, albeit twelve children perished in her halls, six daughters and six lusty sons. The sons Apollo slew with shafts from his silver bow, being wroth against Niobe, and the daughters the archer Artemis, for that Niobe had matched her with fair-cheeked Leto, saying that the goddess had borne but twain, while herself was mother to many; wherefore they, for all they were but twain, destroyed them all. For nine days' space they lay in their blood, nor was there any to bury them, for the son of Cronos turned the folk to stones; howbeit on the tenth day the gods of heaven buried them; and Niobe bethought her of meat, for she was wearied with the shedding of tears."
  2. ^ The river Acheloos in Niobe's story should not confused with its much larger namesake, the Acheloos River in mainland Greece. The Acheloos mentioned by Homer could correspond to the modern-day Çaybaşı Stream which flows around the slopes of the Mount Sipylus in immediate proximity of the Weeping Rock associated with her. It is worth noting that the plain between the coast and the ancient city of Adramyttium was also called "Thebe" (the present-day Edremit Plain).
  3. ^ Iliad 24.602 ff.
  4. ^ Apollodorus, 3.5.6