Niobe

Niobe (nī`ōbē), in Greek mythology, queen of Thebes, wife of Amphion and daughter of Tantalus. The mother of six sons and six daughters, she boasted of her fruitfulness, saying that Leto had only two children. Apollo and Artemis, angry at this insult to their mother, killed all Niobe's children. Crying inconsolably, she fled to Mt. Sipylus. There Zeus turned her into a stone image that wept perpetually.

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Niobe

In Greek mythology, the prototype of the bereaved mother. The daughter of Tantalus, she married King Amphion of Thebes and bore him six sons and six daughters. She made the mistake of boasting of her fertility to the Titaness Leto, who had only two children, Apollo and Artemis. As punishment for her pride, Apollo killed all of Niobe's sons and Artemis all her daughters. Niobe was so overwhelmed with grief that the gods turned her into a rock on Mount Sipylus (near modern Izmir, Turkey), which weeps endlessly as the snow above it melts.

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Niobe

for boasting of superiority, her children are killed. [Gk. Myth.: Hall, 224; Rom. Lit.: Metamorphoses]

See : Arrogance

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Niobe

weeps when her children are slain, even after Zeus turns her to stone. [Gk. Myth.: RHDC]

See : Crying

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Niobe

weeps unceasingly for her murdered children. [Gk. Myth.: Wheeler, 259]

See : Grief

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Niobe

her children slain, she is turned to stone by Zeus at her own request. [Gk. Myth.: Benét, 717]

See : Transformation