The Story of Niobe

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The Story of Niobe

• Lauren McGeorge

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Characters

• Niobe - Queen of Thebes has 14 children 7 sons
  and 7 daughters father is Tantalus
• Amphion Niobes husband and King of Thebes
  father is Jove
• Latona Mother of Apollo and Diana

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Niobes Pride

• Niobe is proud of her royal husbands talent,
  high birth, and power of place, and mostly of her
  children.
• She comes along a ceremony honoring the goddess
  Latona and breaks up the ceremony.
• She dared to suggest that she was more worthy of
  worship than Latona because she had 14 children,
  whereas Latona had only 2.

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Latonas Wrath

• Latona wants to punish Niobe and calls on her two
  children, Apollo and Diana.
• While Niobes sons are riding their horses,
  Apollo kills all seven with poisonous arrows.
• In response, Amphion drives a sword through his
  own heart.
• Niobe keeps insulting Latona by saying she is
  still the winner, even with her sons and husband
  dead
• All daughters are killed by Dianas arrows

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The Peoples Stories

• The people dreaded Latonas wrath and they were
  even more zealous in their worship
• Start telling stories of Latona
• Gave birth to twins, feared Juno, so she took her
  children with her to Lycia. She was very thirsty
  when she came to a pond, but wasnt allowed to
  drink from it. She turned the country people
  into frogs.
• Marsyas, the satyr who challenges Apollo to a
  flute-playing contest, whom Apollo flays as
  punishment when the satyr loses.

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After Effects

• Niobe lies weeping among killed family
• She turns to rock and is taken to her native
  mountains, where she still weeps.
• The people mourned the deaths of Amphion and
  children. They blamed it on Niobe.
• Only one man wept for her her brother Pelops
• The neighboring rulers came and offered
  consolation, all except Athens with war at her
  gates.

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Niobe

• Niobe became the symbol of eternal mourning,
  weeping even to this day.
• Carved on a rock cliff on Mt. Sipylus is the
  fading image of a female that the Greeks claim is
  Niobe
• Composed of porous limestone, the stone appears
  to weep as the water after a rain seeps through
  it.

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