Amphictyon

The name of Amphictyon has a back-formation from Amphictyons, plural, from Latin Amphictyones, from Greek Amphiktyones, Amphiktiones, literally, "neighbors" or "those dwelling around" from amphi- + -ktyones, -ktiones (from ktizein to found); akin to Sanskrit kṣeti he dwells, kṣiti abode, Avestan shitish dwelling, Armenian šen inhabited, cultivated.[1]

Amphictyon was the second son of Deucalion and Pyrrha,[2][3] although there was also a tradition that he was autochthonous (born from the earth);[4] he is also said to be a son of Hellen son of Deucalion and Pyrrha.[5] Amphictyon was king of Thermopylae and married a daughter of Cranaus of Athens.[6] According to some accounts this daughter was named Atthis, although this conflicts with other accounts which relate that she died young as an unmarried virgin.[7] Amphictyon eventually deposed Cranaus, proclaiming himself king of Athens.[4][6]

Amphictyon had a son, Itonus, who in his turn became the father of Boeotus, Iodame and Chromia by Melanippe.[8][9][10] He also had a daughter, never mentioned by name, who became the mother of Cercyon by Poseidon, and of Triptolemus by Rarus.[11] Some add that Amphictyon had another son, Physcus, by Chthonopatra,[12] daughter of his brother Hellen.[13] others, however, state that Physcus was the grandson of Amphictyon through Aetolus.[14][15]

Amphictyon ruled Athens for ten, or in some accounts, twelve years and founded the Amphictyonic League, which traditionally met at Thermopylae in historical times.[16][17] During his reign, Dionysus was supposed to have visited Amphictyon in Athens and taught him how to mix water with wine in the proper proportions.[18] Amphictyon was deposed by Erichthonius, another autochthonous king of Athens.[4]

• Amphictyonic league, or Amphictyony, an ancient religious association of tribes