Seven Against Thebes -- June 27, 2020

Thebes: about an hour north of Athens on modern roads.

• a city in Boeotia: one of the regional units of Greece
• part of the region of Central Greece
• capital is Livadeia, but the largest city is Thebes
• Boeotia, southwest of Thessaly, was known as Aeolia 
• Boeotians may have been related to Thessaly
• said to have been dispossessed by the northwestern Thessalians two generations after the fall of Troy

Thebes: why it's important

• played an important role in Greek myths
• site of stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysis, Heracles, others
• clay tablets, Linear B script -- Bronze Age
• remember: fall of Troy: end of the Bronze Age
• largest city of the ancient region of Boeotia; leader of the Boeotian confederacy
• a major rival of Athens
• sided with the Persians during the 480 BC invasion under Xerxes
• Theban forces ended the power of Sparta, 371 BC
• elite Sacred Band of Thebes fell against Philip II and Alexander the Great, 335 BC

Diomedes:

• a hero in Greek mythology for role in Trojan War
• Iliad: Achilles at the top warrior, but the next three:
• Ajax the Great; Agamemnon; and Diomedes
• these three: the Aecheans want one of these three to fight Hector out of nine volunteers (included Odysseus and Ajax the Lesser)
• Argos
• maternal grandfather: Adrastus -- legendary king of Argos during the wars of the Seven Against Thebes
• parents: Tydeus (Aetolian) and Deipyle (Argive)
• Diomedes: becomes king of Argos following his maternal grandfather, Adrastus
• founded ten Italian cities
• after his death, worshipped as a god by both Greeks and Romans

Background:

• Tydeus expelled from his homeland, Thebes
• found refuge with his maternal grandfather, the king of Argos
• Argos agreed to help and gathered an expeditionary force to march against Thesbes
• this force made up up seven individual champions, each assigned to lead an assalt on one of the seven gates of the city
• Tydeus, Polynices and Adrastus were among them
• sort of foreshadowing the Trojan War
• these seven known as the "Seven Against Thebes"
• disastrous; all seven slain except Adrastus, escaped on his fast horse Arion
• Tydeus was slain
• Diomedes was four years old when his dad was killed
• the sons of the seven fallen vowed to vanquish Thebes in order to avenge their father; called the Epigoni -- they were born after everything has happened
• ten years later they march on Thebes
• the war of the Epigoni is remembered as the most important expedition in Greek mythology before the Trojan War
• a favorite topic for epics but all those epics have been lost
• the son of King Adrastus was killed in this battle; the only male heir left was Diomedes
• Diomedes made king; in order to secure the throne, he married the daughter of his brother princes Aegialia
• so, Diomedes was king of Argos

Now switching gears:

• Diomedes paternal grandfather, Oeneus put in jail -- Calydonian politics; Caldon, homeland of Tydeus

Now, back to Tydeus:

• an Aeolian hero of the generation before the Trojan War
• one of the seven against Thebes
• father of Diomedes, frequently known by the patronymic Tydides
• Tydeus: parents were Oeneus and either Periboea or Oeneus's daughter (incest)
• Tydeus: husband of Deipyle, the mother of Diomedes
• Adrastus, king of Argos
• housed Tydeus, who married daughter of Adrastus
• also housed Polynices (led the seven against Thebes)
• exiled son of Oedipus who had shared the rule of Thebes with brother Eteocles
• Tydeus and Polynices got into a brawl
• Tydeus (boar) and Polynices (lion)
• Adrastus wed his daughters to those two men
• so ultimately, Diomedes becomes king of Argos and heirs of Polynices are restored to Thebes

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Sophocles

Three Theban Plays

See "the three tragedians."

Sophocles "three Theban plays":

• Oedipus Rex
• Oedipus at Colonus
• Antigone

Parents -- King Laisu and Queen Jacosta: Thebes

Oedipus:

• daughter: Antigone was his guide after he blinded himself
• sons: Eteocles and Polynices, sharing the kingdom; ultimately leads to seven against Theses
• both Eteolcles and Polynices are killed (killed each other)
• a third brother, Creon, took the throne
• conflict between Antigone and Creon (different stories by Sophocles and Euripides

Apparently all three great Greek tragedians wrote about this story.

• Sophocles, already mentioned
• in Euripides' plays on the subject; Jocasta did not kill herself
• the blinding of Oedipus does not appear in sources earlier than Aeschylus