About Niobe     Daughter of Tantalus and Dione and wife of Amphion, king of Thebes, by whom she bore six sons and six daughters.  In her pride in her children she boasted herself the superior of Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, for only having had two children.  She refused to take part with the other women in the worship of Leto, so Leto sent her children to punish Niobe,  Apollo shot down Niobe's sons and Artemis shot down her daughters.  Zeus changed Niobe into a statue as she sat weeping in the midst of her dead children. Back to Family Tree Back to Literature Index