Quale Lykourgos sul Trono di Amicle? Un episodio del mito dei Sette a Tebe nella tradizione letteraria e in alcuni documenti figurativi arcaici

The paper discusses an enigmatic scene on the throne of Amyklai («Adrastos and Tydeus are putting an end to the armed clash between Amphiaraos and Lykourgos, son of Pronax»: Paus. III 18, 12). Narrative of the mythical episode does not survive in ancient literary sources, but it certainly features on other Archaic documents, a bronze shield band from Olympia (Kunze, OF II, IV 8, plates 12, 8 and 17, fig. 13) and a fragment of a Laconic cup in Cyrene (Stibbe, LV, nr. 221). The character named Lykourgos depicted on the Throne is usually identified with the father of Opheltes, the boy-hero of Nemea, but this identification must definitely be excluded: the Lykourgos of the Throne is – as implied by his patronymic in Pausanias – a relative of Adrastos and his clash with Amphiaraos is an outcome of the bloody tensions that, according to allusions in Pindar (Nem. 9, 13-5) and brief mentions in other authors (Menaichmos FGrH = BNJ 131 F 10; Schol. Pind. Nem. 9, 30b), exploded between the three Argive royal dynasties.