Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 333

MARGARET FOSTER

Indiana University

A legendary seer and ORACLE and the father of AMPHILOCHUS (3.91) and Alcmaeon (Hom. Od. 248). Amphiaraus belonged to the Melampodidae, the family of seers who claimed descent from MELAMPUS. As a warrior‐seer, Amphiaraus was one of the HEROES known as the “Seven Against Thebes.” Compelled by his wife Eriphyle, Amphiaraus took part in the doomed Argive expedition to THEBES, although he foresaw his own death there (Apollod. Bibl. 3.6.2). At Thebes, Amphiaraus was swallowed by the earth, thereby escaping death on the battlefield (Pind. Nem. 9.21–27). Herodotus alludes to this popular mythographic tradition when he reports that Croesus knew of Amphiaraus’ valor and suffering (1.52). The site of the seer’s engulfment became an oracle, the Amphiareion, whose exact location is contested. The Amphiareion is one of the seven oracular sanctuaries that CROESUS tests in order to ascertain their knowledge of the TRUTH (1.46). Of these seven, only the Amphiareion and DELPHI were determined to be truthful in the Lydian king’s estimation (1.49). After cataloguing the many gifts Croesus sent to Delphi, Herodotus adds that Croesus bestowed on Amphiaraus a shield and spear, both of solid GOLD, which he himself saw in the temple of Ismenian APOLLO at Thebes (1.52; see EPIGRAPHY). In recounting MYS’ consultation of the Amphiareion, Herodotus explains why the native Thebans were barred from consulting it: when Amphiaraus once gave them the choice of having him as their seer or military ally, the Thebans chose the latter (8.134).

SEE ALSO: Dedications; Divination; Myth; Temples and Sanctuaries