Neis (mythology)

For other uses, see Neis.

In Greek mythology Neis (Ancient Greek: Νηίς, romanized: Nēís) is a princess from the city-kingdom of Thebes and the namesake of the Neitian Gate, one of the seven gates of Thebes. Neis is the daughter of either one of Thebes’ twin kings, Amphion and Zethus, by their wives Niobe or Aëdon respectively.

Family

Neis was a princess of Thebes. She was either the daughter of Queen Niobe and King Amphion (thus one of the numerous Niobids),^[1] or Queen Aëdon and King Zethus, Amphion's twin brother.^[2][3][4] Although the Aëdon-Zethus parentage is more common,^[2][5] usually Aëdon and Zethus have just one child, Itylus.^[6]

Mythology

The Theban princess Neis gave her name to the Neitian Gate of seven-gate Thebes.^[7] The traveller Pausanias also confirms the tale, but refers to Neis as a boy rather than a girl.^[8]

Neis' mother Aëdon was jealous of Niobe's vast progeny compared to her own, so she tried to kill Niobe's firstborn Amaleus, but accidentally killed her own son Itylus instead. In the versions where Neis is included in the family of Zethus, Aëdon is a direct parallel of the goddess Leto; both mothers of two children, a boy and a girl, who feel threatened by Niobe's many children and punish the queen by harming said children.^[9]

If a daughter of Niobe and Amphion, then she perished along with all her brothers and sisters when the Olympians Artemis and Apollo shot all the Niobids dead in punishment for their mother boasting that she was a better mother than Leto on account of the number of children she produced.^[10][11]

See also

• Mythology portal
• Ancient Greece portal

• Macaria
• Castalia
• Stentor