Greek mythological champions who made war against Thebes
This article is about the seven champions who fought a war against Thebes. For the play by Aeschylus, see Seven Against Thebes.
The Seven against Thebes were seven champions in Greek mythology who made war on Thebes.[2] They were chosen by Adrastus, the king of Argos, to be the captains of an Argive army whose purpose was to restore Oedipus' son Polynices to the Theban throne. Adrastus, although always the leader of the expedition against Thebes, was not always counted as one of the Seven champions. Usually the Seven were Polynices, Tydeus, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, Parthenopaeus, Hippomedon, and Adrastus or Eteoclus, whenever Adrastus is excluded.[3] They tried and failed to take Thebes, and all but Adrastus died in the attempt.[4]
On their way to Thebes, the Seven stopped at Nemea, where they held funeral games for the infant Opheltes, which became the origin of the Nemean Games. Before arriving at Thebes, Adrastus sent Tydeus on ahead to resolve the dispute through negotiation, which failed. At Thebes, Capaneus was struck down by Zeus' thunderbolt while attempting to scale the city walls. Tydeus was mortally wounded, and although Athena intended to make him immortal, she let him die when she saw him eating the brains of his attacker. Polynices was killed by (and killed) his brother Eteocles, the seer Amphiaraus was swallowed up by the earth, and Adrastus escaped the battlefield on his divine horse Arion. The victorious Thebans refused to allow the burial of the Argive dead, but Theseus marched an Athenian army to Thebes and recovered the bodies of the fallen warriors.
The war of the Seven against Thebes occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War. According to Hesiod's Works and Days, these two wars were the two great events of the fourth age, the age of heroes.[5] The Seven's war against Thebes was the first of two Theban wars. The second Theban war was fought, and won, ten years later by the Seven's sons, the Epigoni.[6]
^Project Gutenberg, EBook #14949.
^For discussion of the Seven against Thebes see Hard, pp. 317–321; Gantz, pp. 510–519; Tripp, s.v. Seven against Thebes; Parada, s.v. SEVEN AGAINST THEBES.
^Hard, p. 317.
^Hard, pp. 319–321.
^Gantz, p. 510; West, p. 4; Hesiod, Works and Days 156–165.
^Hard, p. 325; West, pp. 4–5; Gantz, p. 522.
and 20 Related for: Seven against Thebes information
The SevenagainstThebes were seven champions in Greek mythology who made war on Thebes. They were chosen by Adrastus, the king of Argos, to be the captains...
Polynices (see SevenAgainstThebes) and daughters Antigone and Ismene. Many years later, a plague of infertility struck the city of Thebes, affecting crops...
city of Thebes in the war of the SevenagainstThebes. Both brothers were killed in the battle. King Creon, who has ascended to the throne of Thebes after...
and ninety plays to him. Only seven tragedies attributed to him have survived intact: The Persians, SevenAgainstThebes, The Suppliants, the trilogy known...
Polynices asks Adrastus to help him take back Thebes) and he organized the expedition of the SevenagainstThebes, and their army raised from Argolis (the...
the story of the "SevenAgainstThebes" is the fulfilment of that curse. Although the brothers had agreed to share the rule of Thebes, when it is time...
The war of the SevenagainstThebes resulted from a quarrel between Oedipus' sons Polynices and Eteocles over the kingship of Thebes, which left Eteocles...
Colonus and in Antigone. She also appears at the end of Aeschylus' SevenAgainstThebes. Ismene is not named, but is seen at the end of Oedipus Rex as her...
throne of Thebes. Adrastos promises to do so and to that end sets out to gather an expeditionary force to march againstThebes. He appoints seven individual...
the war of the SevenagainstThebes Amphictyon (Ἀμφικτύων), a king of Athens Amphion and Zethus, twin sons of Zeus and kings of Thebes, who constructed...
Ἐπίγονοι, meaning "offspring") are the sons of the Argive heroes, the SevenagainstThebes, who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject...
Μεγαρέας) or Menoeceus (Μενοικεύς) was a warrior of Thebes, who figures in the war of the SevenagainstThebes – the struggle between Eteocles and Polynices...
banished from Thebes. Polynices fled to the court of King Adrastus of Argos to raise an army, whose leaders were known as the SevenagainstThebes. In this...
the following minor characters: Aeolus, a defender of Thebes in the war of the SevenagainstThebes. He was killed by Parthenopaeus. Aeolus, a Trojan companion...
different theater groups each rehearsing a different Aeschylus play (SevenAgainstThebes and Prometheus Bound), and the film does not particularly privilege...