DIRCE

[Greek heroic] The wife of King Lycus. To fulfill his oath to his brother Nycteus, king of Thebes, to get his daughter Antiope back, Lycus and his army marched towards Sicyon, destroyed the city and killed Antiope's husband Epopeus. Lycus put Antiope in his wife's care, but Dirce mistreated Antiope severely, using her as a slave. Antiope managed to escape and was finally reunited with her sons Amphion and Zethus, her children with Zeus. Her twins exacted a terrible vengeance upon Dirce. They tied her to the horns of a wild bull and in that fashion she was killed.