Αμφισθενης

A Lacedaemonian, grandson of Agis and son of Amphicles. He had a son Irbus, whose two children Astrabacus and Alopecus discovered the statue of Artemis Orthia which had long been lost (the story goes that it was the one that Orestes and Iphigenia had brought from Tauris). The two children found it hidden in a thicket, and as punishment for having set eyes on the sacred statue they both went mad. This was the statue in front of which the young Spartans were beaten every year until their blood flowed.

{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}

Table of Sources:
- Paus. 3, 16, 9