Amphitryon - Dramatic treatments

In Greek mythology, the husband of Alcmene. In his absence, Zeus took his shape and so became the father of Heracles.

Amphitryon, or Amphitrion, in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis.

Amphitryon ("harassing either side") was a Theban general, who was originally from Tiryns in the eastern part of the Peloponnese.

Having accidentally killed his uncle Electryon, king of Mycenae, Amphitryon was driven out by another uncle, Sthenelus.

Alcmene, who had been betrothed to Amphitryon by her father, refused to marry him until he had avenged the death of her brothers, all of whom except one had fallen in battle against the Taphians. Amphitryon accordingly took the field against the Taphians, accompanied by Creon, who had agreed to assist him on condition that he slew the Teumessian fox which had been sent by Dionysus to ravage the country.

The Taphians, however, remained invincible until Comaetho, the king's daughter, out of love for Amphitryon cut off her father's golden hair, the possession of which rendered him immortal. On his return to Thebes he married Alcmene, who gave birth to twin sons, Iphicles being the son of Amphitryon, Heracles of Zeus, who had visited her during Amphitryon's absence.

While Amphitryon was gone, Zeus came to Alcmene disguised as her husband. Later, Amphitryon and Alcmene had a son named Iphicles.

He fell in battle against the Minyans, against whom he had undertaken an expedition, accompanied by the youthful Heracles, to deliver Thebes from a disgraceful tribute.

Dramatic treatments

Amphitryon was the title of a lost tragedy of Sophocles, but most dramatic treatments are comic. From Molière's line "Le véritable Amphitryon est l'Amphitryon où l'on dîne," the name Amphitryon has come to be used in the sense of a generous entertainer, a good host;

John Dryden's 1690 Amphitryon is based on Moliere’s 1668 version as well as on Plautus.

In France, the myth was the subject of a play by Jean Giraudoux, Amphitryon 38 (1929), the number in the title being Giraudoux's whimsical approximation of how many times the story had been told onstage previously.