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Amaleus Ἀμαλεύς
Artemis and Apollo kill the fleeing Niobids, Roman fresco from Pompeii, 1st c. BC - 1st c. AD
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Title	Prince
Relatives	Niobe (mother) Amphion (father) Niobids (brothers and sisters)
Homeland	Thebes

In Greek mythology, Amaleus (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαλεύς, romanized: Amaleús) is the name of the eldest of the Niobids, the twelve or fourteen children of Amphion, king of Thebes, by his wife Queen Niobe. Although the Niobids are primarily notable for the myth of Niobe's blasphemous boast against the goddess Leto, Amaleus has a unique appearance of his own in myth, where an attempt on his life was made by his aunt, Aëdon, wife to his father's brother.

Etymology

The ancient Greek proper name Ἀμαλεύς might be connected to the Greek noun ἀμαλός (amalós), meaning 'soft'. A son of Amphion named Homoloeus (Ancient Greek: Ὁμολωεύς, romanized: Homolōeús) appears as an eponym in a scholium on Euripides.

Mythology

Aëdon

Amaleus had many siblings and only one cousin, Itylus, the son of his uncle Zethus by his wife, Aëdon. All the Niobids but especially Amaleus got along greatly with cousin Itylus; the two boys slept together in the same room and, in some accounts, bed. However Aëdon deeply resented Niobe for having borne so many children while she only had one, so she conceived a plan to kill Amaleus, who was the firstborn child. She instructed Itylus to sleep in the back of the room, or in the innermost position of the bed that night, but Itylus forgot about his mother's orders. So that night when Aëdon crept up into the room wielding a dagger and planning to murder the unsuspecting Amaleus, she ended up killing her own child Itylus instead. In another version Aëdon succeeded in killing Amaleus, but immediately took the life of her own son as well, in fear of Niobe's reaction.

Niobe's boast

Amaleus's mother Niobe was exceedingly proud of the vast progeny she had produced for her husband. In the most known narrative concerning Niobe and her children, she boasted of being a greater mother than the goddess Leto, for she had many children, while Leto only had two. Leto informed her two children, the archer gods Artemis and Apollo, and they took the matter in their own hands; they slew all the Niobids. It was said that the boys, whom Apollo slew, were killed while they were hunting in the woods. Their father, Amphion, committed suicide at the sight of the lifeless bodies of his sons, or was slain by Apollo while storming his temple in protest. Niobe herself would be transformed into rock following the slaying of the daughters. In a rarer version, Niobe's father, named Asson instead, fell in love with Niobe, but she would not yield to his incestuous embraces, so he invited all her children to a banquet and burnt them all to death in revenge.

See also

• Cassiopeia
• Telephus and Auge
• Itys

References

1. "Ἀμαλεύς". logeion.uchicago.edu. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
2. Hadjopoulos 2003, p. 40.
3. "ἀμαλός". morphologica_el.en-academic.com. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
4. ^ Thraemer 1894, s.v. Amaleus.
5. Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (2006). "Pandareus". referenceworks.brillonline.com/subjects. Brill's New Pauly. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
6. Wright, Rosemary M. "A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Summary of Transformations". mythandreligion.upatras.gr. University of Patras. Archived from the original on December 30, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
7. ^ Eustathius of Thessalonica, On Homer's Odyssey 19.710
8. Scholiast on the Odyssey 19.518
9. Levaniouk 2011, pp. 328–353.
10. Hansen 2002, p. 303.
11. Bell 1991, s.v. Aedon 1.
12. Stoll 1886, s.v. Amaleus.
13. Grimal 1987, p. 15.
14. Homer, Iliad 24.603
15. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.74.3
16. Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.146-6.255
17. Apollodorus 3.5.6
18. Hyginus, Fabulae 9
19. Pausanias 2.21.9
20. Parthenius, Suffering in Love 33

Bibliography

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. ISBN 9780874365818. Online version at Internet Archive.
• Diodorus Siculus (1939). Library of History. Loeb Classical Library 340. Vol. III: Books 4.59-8. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674993754.
• Eustathius (1825). Eustathii, archiepiscopi thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam. Vol. 1–2. sumptibus J. A. G. Weigel.
• Grimal, Pierre (1987). The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Translated by A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop. New York, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-13209-0.
• Hadjopoulos, Odysseus, ed. (2003). Euripides: Fragments (in Greek). Vol. 2: Antigone-Erechtheus. Translated by Cactus Philology Team. Athens, Greece: Cactus Editions. ISBN 960-382-515-8.
• Hansen, William F. (2002). Ariadne's Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature. UK, USA: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3670-2.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, The Myths of Hyginus. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
• Levaniouk, Olga (2011). "12: Aëdon". Eve of the Festival: Making Myth in Odyssey 19. Hellenic Studies Series 46. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Parthenius (2010). "Suffering in Love". In J. L. Lightfoot (ed.). Hellenistic Collection: Philitas. Alexander of Aetolia. Hermesianax. Euphorion. Parthenius. Loeb Classical Library 508. Translated by J. L. Lightfoot. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674996366.
• Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Stoll, Heinrich Wilhem (1886). Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (ed.). Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie [Detailed Lexicon of Greek and Roman Mythology] (in German). Vol. 1. Leipzig, Germany.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Thraemer, Eduard (1894). Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft [Real encyclopedia of classical ancient science] (in German). Vol. I, 2. Stuttgart, Germany.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• Media related to Amaleus at Wikimedia Commons

• Niobids