Antiope

1. In Greek myth, daughter of Nycteus, king of Boeotia. Her story has come down to us chiefly through Euripides' tragedy Antiope, now lost. Antiope was seduced by Zeus and became the mother of the twin brothers Amphion and Zethus. To avoid her father's anger she fled to Sicyon. Nycteus in despair killed himself, but first charged his brother, Lycus, who was king of Thebes during the minority of Laius, to punish Antiope. Lycus captured Sicyon and imprisoned Antiope; her treatment was made more cruel by the jealousy of Dircē, the wife of Lycus. At last Antiope escaped and joined her sons, now grown to maturity. These revenged her by tying Dirce to the horns of a bull, so that she was dragged to death; and they killed or deposed Lycus. Amphion and Zethus now became rulers of Thebes and built its walls. (In Homer's Odyssey they are represented as the city's first founders.) Amphion was a harper of such skill that the stones were drawn into their places by his music. He married Niobē, and Zethus married the nymph Thebē, whence the name of Thebes.

2. Another name for Hippolytē, queen of the Amazons.