AMPHICTYON

a son of Deucalion and Pyrrha or according to others an autochthon, who after having married Cranae, the daughter of Cranaus, king of Attica, expelled his father-in-law from his kingdom and usurped his throne. He ruled for twelve years, and was then in turn expelled by Erichthomus.

According to Eustathius he was married to Chthonopatra, by whom he had a son, Physcus, the father of Locrus. According to Stephanus Byzantius, however, Aetolus was a son and Physcus a grandson of Amphictyon.

He was believed to have been the first who introduced the custom of mixing wine with water, and to have dedicated two altars to Dionysus Orthos and the nymphs.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who calls him a son of Hellen, Pausanias, and others, regard Amphictyon as the founder of the amphictyony of Thermopylae, and in consequence of this belief a sanctuary of Amphictyon was built in the village of Anthela on the Asopus, which was the most ancient place of meeting of this amphictyony. But this belief is without any foundation, and arose from the ancients assigning the establishment of their institutions to some mythical hero.