View source for Dirce

{{Short description|Greek mythological Theban princess}}
{{for|the geometer moth genus|Dirce (moth){{!}}''Dirce'' (moth)}}
[[File:Zetoyanfion.jpg|thumb|Amphion and Zethus subject Dirce to the bull (from the [[House of the Vettii]], [[Pompeii]])]]
'''Dirce''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɜr|s|iː}}; {{Langx|grc|Δίρκη}}, {{IPA|el|dírkɛː|pron}}, modern Greek {{IPA|el|ˈðirci|}}, meaning "double" or "cleft") was a queen of Thebes as the wife of [[Lycus (brother of Nycteus)|Lycus]] in [[Greek mythology]].

== Family ==
Dirce was a daughter of the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river-gods]] [[Achelous]]<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Bacchae|Bacchae]]'' 519</ref> or [[Ismenus]],<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn 4 to Delos'' 77; Euripides, ''[[Heracles]]'' 784; [[Nonnus]], 44.10;</ref> or of [[Helios]].<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/168/mode/2up?view=theater Dirce (1)]</ref>

== Mythology ==
[[File:Wall painting - punishment of Dirke - Pompeii (VII 4 56) - Napoli MAN 9042 - 01.jpg|thumb|left|Dirce is bound to the horns of a wild bull by Amphion and Zethus for having mistreated their mother, Antiope, who watches (fresco from Pompeii)]]

After [[Zeus]] impregnated Dirce's niece-by-marriage [[Antiope (mother of Amphion)|Antiope]], the latter fled in shame to King [[Epopeus]] of [[Sicyon]], but was brought back by Lycus through force, giving birth to the twins [[Amphion and Zethus]] on the way. Lycus gave Antiope to Dirce. Dirce hated Antiope and treated her cruelly, until Antiope, after many years, escaped.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.5.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.5.5]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.25.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 9.25.3]</ref>

In [[Euripides]]'s lost play ''Antiope'', Antiope flees back to the cave where she gave birth to Amphion and Zethus; they are now living there as young men. They disbelieve her claim to be their mother and refuse her pleas for sanctuary, but when Dirce comes to find Antiope and orders her to be killed, the twins are convinced by the shepherd who raised them that Antiope is their mother. They kill Dirce by tying her to the horns of a bull.

Dirce was devoted to the god [[Dionysus]], who caused a spring to flow where she died, either at [[Mount Cithaeron]] or at [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], and it was a local tradition for the outgoing Theban [[hipparch]] to swear in his successor at her tomb.<ref>Tripp, p. 213.</ref> In [[Statius]]'s ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'', the spring is a symbol of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], and its name is often used metonymically to refer to the city itself.

==In Roman culture==
[[File:Farnese Bull MAN Napoli Inv6002 n07.jpg|thumb|right|The Farnese Bull]]

The death of Dirce is depicted in a marble statue known as the [[Farnese Bull]], which is now in the collections of the [[Naples National Archaeological Museum|National Archaeological Museum]] in [[Naples]]. The colossal piece, a first-century-AD Roman copy of a second-century-BC [[Hellenistic]] Greek original, was first excavated in the 16th century in the [[Baths of Caracalla]]. Some scholars identify it with the statue group mentioned in Pliny's ''Natural History'', but this is disputed.

[[File:Siemiradzki Christian Dirce.jpg|thumb|''A Christian Dirce'', by [[Henryk Siemiradzki]].]]
This scene was recreated in spectacles in the Roman arena.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
*[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Callimachus]], ''Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair'', London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive
*Callimachus, ''Works''. A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0481 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Euripides]], ''The Tragedies of Euripides'' translated by T. A. Buckley. Bacchae. London. Henry G. Bohn. 1850. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0092 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Euripides, ''Euripidis Fabulae.'' ''vol. 3''. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0091 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*Euripides, ''[[Herakles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'', translated by E. P. Coleridge in ''The Complete Greek Drama'', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Volume 1. New York. Random House. 1938. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0102%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Euripides, ''Euripidis Fabulae.'' ''vol. 2''. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0101%3Acard%3D1 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*[[Nonnus|Nonnus of Panopolis]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.  [https://topostext.org/work/529 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0485 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Statius|Publius Papinius Statius]]'', [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|The Thebaid]]'' translated by John Henry Mozley. Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. [https://topostext.org/work/149 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*Publius Papinius Statius, ''The Thebaid. Vol I-II''. John Henry Mozley. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1928. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0498 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Tripp, Edward. ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology''. New York: Thomas Crowell Press, 1970.

==External links==
* Images of Dirce in the [http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=868 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025435/http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=868 |date=2016-03-04 }}

{{Metamorphoses in Greek mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Children of Greek river gods]]
[[Category:Mythological Thebans]]
[[Category:Children of Helios]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into bodies of water in Greek mythology]]