Stheneboea
In Greek mythology, Stheneboea also called Antea in Homer, is the daughter of Iobates, king in Lycia. She was the queen consort of Proetus, joint-king in the Argolid along with Acrisius, having his seat at Tiryns.
According to early sources, Stheneboea was the daughter of Aphidas and sister of Aleus. Stheneboea desired the hero Bellerophon, but he spurned her advances, so she accused him of rape to her husband, setting in motion the events that would result in Bellerophon becoming one of the greatest ancient Greek heroes.
Etymology
Stheneboea is one of a number of female figures named for their role as "cattle queens"; they include Phereboia, and Polyboia. In archaic Greece cattle were a source of wealth and a demonstration of social pre-eminence; they also signified the numinous presence of Hera.Family
An early genealogy in Hesiod's Catalogue of Women has Stheneboea as the daughter of Aleus' father Apheidas but by the time of Euripides' lost tragedy Stheneboea her father is Iobates.By Proetus she had three daughters, Iphinoë, Iphianassa and Lysippe, collectively known as the Proetids.
Mythology
Stheneboea or Antea was married to king Proetus, who once welcomed the hero Bellerophon in his court. Stheneboea took a strong fancy to the gallant and handsome Bellerophon but was repulsed, for Bellerophon was of noble heart. The bitterly rejected Stheneboea testified falsely against Bellerophon, accusing him of rape to her husband, and urged Proetus to kill him. Proetus could not slay a guest, so he sent him to deliver a letter to Iobates with instructions for his father-in-law to kill the messenger. Iobates, also unwilling to kill a guest, sent Bellerophon on a deadly quest to slay the monstrous Chimera, in hopes that he would perish doing so, but Bellerophon triumphed and accoplished all the additional hard tasks the king gave him, until eventually Iobates gave up.Afterwards Iobates gave Stheneboea's sister's hand in marriage to Bellerophon, and consequently, this resulted in Stheneboea's suicide out of despair when she heard the news. In another version, after he was done with the Chimera and pretending to reciprocate her affections after all, Bellerophon took her up on Pergasus with the promise to take her away to the land of Caria, and threw her at the sea below near the island of Melos; fishermen found the body and returned it to Proetus.
Divine judgement was added to this tragic end, since Stheneboea's three daughters were overcome with madness, inflicted by either Hera or Dionysus, and took to ranging over the mountains as maenads, assaulting travelers.