Antiope and Dirce. After being returned to Thebes by Lycus, Antiope was imprisoned and tormented by Lycus’s wife, Dirce. According to differing accounts, Antiope either escaped or was rescued by her sons, Amphion and Zethus, now grown. When Dirce tried to have Antiope tied to the horns of a raging bull, to be dragged to her death, the twins rescued her and visited that punishment on Dirce instead. Dirce was transformed into the stream (or spring) in Thebes that bears her name.
After killing or dethroning Lycus, Amphion and Zethus ruled Thebes in his stead. Later, Antiope was driven mad by Dionysus and wandered through Greece until she was purified by Phocus, who married her.
This part of Antiope’s story has been more popular on the stage than in the visual arts.
Classical Sources. Euripides, Antiope (lost). Pacuvius, Antiopa. Propertius, Elegies 3.i5.nff. Apollodorus, Biblioteca 3.5.5. Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.6.1-4, 9.17.6, 9.25.3. Hyginus, Fabulae 7, 8.