Αμφιλοχος
The two characters of this name are not at all clearly distinguished in the different traditions.
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The first was the younger son of Amphiaraus and brother of Alcmaeon (Table 1). He was very young when his father left for Thebes and played a minor part, if any at all, in the murder of his mother Eriphyle and had little hand in the other revenge exacted by Amphiaraus. Also, unlike his brother, he was not pursued by the Furies. He is mentioned as one of the suitors of Helen and in virtue of this he took part in the expedition against Troy after his return from the war of the Epigoni against Thebes. His name, however, is not mentioned in the Iliad but had to be brought into the poems about the Homecomings. At Troy Amphilochus, who had inherited his father's gift, helped the seer Calchas and, with him, was said to have established a number of oracles on the coast of Asia Minor.
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The second Amphilochus was nephew of the first and son of Alcmaeon and Manto, who was herself the daughter of the Theban seer Tiresias. Many of the later accomplishments of the first Amphilochus are attributed to him. In addition this younger Amphilochus was the founder of Argos in Aetolia (not to be confused with the Argos in the Argolid, which was older and much more famous). He also went to Troy and, together with the seer Mopsus, founded the town of Mallos in Cilicia. Then, moved by a wish to revisit the town of Argos which he had founded he is supposed to have departed from Mallos, leaving it in the hands of Mopsus. But when he reached Argos he was dissatisfied with the state in which he found the town and returned to Mallos. On his arrival he asked Mopsus to return it to his control, but Mopsus refused. Thereupon the two seers engaged in single combat and both of them were killed.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Apollod. Bibl. 3, 6, 2; 3, 7, 2; 3, 10, 8
- Strabo 14, 5, 16. p. 675ff.
- Paus. 1, 34, 3; 2, 1, 1; 2, 18, 4f; 2, 20, 5; 3, 15, 8; 5, 17, 7; 10, 10, 4
- See also Amphiaraus; Alcmaeon.