Niobe

Greek The daughter of Tantalus; wife of Amphion, king of Thebes. She was the mother of 12 children and the personification of maternal sorrow. She was unwise enough to boast about her numerous children and was heard by the goddess Leto, who had only two children. Those children were the formidable twins Apollo and Artemis, however, and they punished Niobe by slaying all of her children. Niobe wept herself to death and was subsequently changed into a rock, from which water eternally flowed, symbolizing Niobe's tears. This story is told in Homer's Iliad.