InGreek mythology,Amphilochus (Ancient Greek: ἈμφίλοχοςAmphílokhos) was anArgivehero and one of theEpigoni.
Amphilochus was the son ofAmphiaraus andEriphyle and the younger brother ofAlcmaeon.
Eriphyle, bribed byPolynices with the necklace of the goddessHarmonia, persuaded her husband Amphiaraus to join the expedition of theSeven against Thebes. Amphiaraus, knowing that he would die in the battle, reluctantly agreed to go but asked his two sons to avenge his foreseen death. At Thebes, Amphiaraus ended up in combat withPericlymenus, a demigod son ofPoseidon. He attempted to flee but the godZeus threw a bolt of lightning which opened the earth beneath him, swallowing the Argive and his chariot. Amphilochus's brother Alcmaeon then slew his mother and exiled himself from the kingdom.
As king ofArgos, Amphilochus was sometimes named amongHelen's suitors.[1][2]
After theTrojan War, he was generally said to have abandoned his former realm and to have eventually settled the territory along theAmbracian Gulf, which became known asAmphilochia in his honor. Its capital was a second Argos, which is distinguished as theAmphilochian Argos.[3] (Others credit this settlement tohis nephew.)[4] In fact, the area seems to have been a non-Greek settlement that was later Hellenized by itsAmbraciot neighbors.[citation needed]
Like his father before him, Amphilochus had a reputation as aseer and was also credited with founding severaloracles. The most important was atMallus inCilicia,[5] although this also seems to have been a pre-Greek settlement. Another was the oracle ofApollo atColophon inLydia, which Amphilochus was said to have founded with his half-brotherMopsus, the son of Amphiaraus andManto.Herodotus also credited Amphilochus with the establishment ofPosideium on Syria's Cilician border.[6]
Amphilochus was variously said to have been killed by Apollo or to have simultaneously killed and been killed by his half-brother Mopsus. Either story was also sometimes ascribed tohis nephew instead.[4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Amphilochus".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
