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Dirce

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Queen of Thebes who tormented Antiope out of jealousy. Amphion and Zethus, Antiope's sons, punished her by tying her to a wild bull that dragged her to death.

Detailed Definition
Dirce abused Antiope, mother of Amphion and Zethus, and was executed by being dragged to death by a bull. Her death is a famous artistic motif. Poets use Dirce to symbolize tyrannical cruelty, maternal vengeance, and poetic justice in tragic and choral contexts.
Example
Example in poetry:
Dirce, Theban spring where Antiope was tied by her sons, appears in Euripides and Statius; Poets use Dirce to symbolize cruel justice or watery retribution; “Dirce’s waters” might describe purification through suffering; In Theban cycles, her death avenges Antiope—ideal for reversal imagery; The spring embodies nature as witness to crime.
Additional Notes
Dirce’s punishment—tied to a bull by Amphion and Zethus—avenges her cruelty to their mother Antiope. The myth appears in Euripides’ lost Antiope and later art. It exemplifies poetic justice and the reversal of power. The spring Dirce in Thebes becomes a symbol of tyrannical abuse overturned—useful in tragedy studies or analyses of water as witness and retribution.
Also Known As
Dirce|Dirke
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