Amphitryon

Amphitryon , in Greek mythology, son of Alcaeus. While betrothed to Alcmene, he accidentally killed her father, Electryon. Alcmene and Amphitryon fled to Thebes, but she demanded that he defeat Pterelaos, her father's enemy. This Amphitryon did, but on the night of his return Zeus took Amphitryon's form and came into Alcmene's bed. That night she conceived children by both Zeus and Amphitryon. Hercules was the son of Zeus, Iphicles the son of Amphitryon.

Amphitryon, a comedy by Dryden, produced and published 1690. Adapted from the comedies of Plautus and Molière on the same subject, it represents the story of Jupiter's seduction of Alcmena in the guise of her husband Amphitryon. The cruel abuse of mortal love by the gods is in striking contrast to the play's uninhibited eroticism. The story was adapted by Giraudoux (1929).

Giraudoux, [Hippolyte] Jean (1882–1944), playwright. Thanks to a number of fine productions, Giraudoux has been the most successful of the modern French playwrights in the American theatre. He met varying measures of popularity with four works: Amphitryon 38 (1937), The Madwoman of Chaillot (1948), Ondine (1954), and Tiger at the Gates (1955). His best works were felicitously witty mixtures of fantasy and realism.