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Amphictyon
For the Amphictyony, an ancient Greek religious organization, see Amphictyonic League.

Amphictyon (; ), in Greek mythology, was the second son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, although there was also a tradition that he was autochthonous (born from the earth); he is also said to be a son of Hellen son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. Amphictyon was king of Thermopylae and married a daughter of Cranaus of Athens. According to some accounts this daughter was named Atthis, although this conflicts with other accounts which relate that she died young as an unmarried virgin. Amphictyon eventually deposed Cranaus, proclaiming himself king of Athens.

Amphictyon had a son, Itonus, who in his turn became the father of Boeotus, Iodame and Chromia by Melanippe. He also had a daughter, never mentioned by name, who became the mother of Cercyon by Poseidon, and of Triptolemus by Rarus. Some add that Amphictyon had another son, Physcus, by Chthonopatra; others, however, state that Physcus was the grandson of Amphictyon through Aetolus.

Amphictyon ruled Athens for ten, or in some accounts, twelve years and founded the Amphictyonic League, which traditionally met at Thermopylae in historical times. During his reign, Dionysus was supposed to have visited Amphictyon in Athens and taught him how to mix water with wine in the proper proportions. Amphictyon was deposed by Erichthonius, another autochthonous king of Athens.

Usage examples of "amphictyon".

Its members, who were called the Amphictyons, consisted of sacred deputies sent from twelve tribes, each of which contained several independent cities or states.

The Pythian games were celebrated in every third Olympic year, on the Cirrhaean plain in Phocis, under the superintendence of the Amphictyons.

He then occupied Delphi, where he assembled the Amphictyons to pronounce sentence upon those who bad been concerned in the sacrilege committed there.

The amphictyons had two sittings a year, one at Delphos the seat of the gods, the other at Thermopylae, the place of heroes.

The Amphictyons had two sessions a year, one at Delphi, place of the gods, the other at Thermopylæ, place of the heroes.

Greece was undone as soon as the kings of Macedon obtained a seat among the Amphictyons.

Towards the end of the second century, the churches of Greece and Asia adopted the useful institutions of provincial synods, ^* and they may justly be supposed to have borrowed the model of a representative council from the celebrated examples of their own country, the Amphictyons, the Achaean league, or the assemblies of the Ionian cities.

Towards the end of the second century, the churches of Greece and Asia adopted the useful institutions of provincial synods, ^* and they may justly be supposed to have borrowed the model of a representative council from the celebrated examples of their own country, the Amphictyons, the Achaean league, or the assemblies of the Ionian cities.