Adrastus- Greek HeroHero"King of Argos"

The Boar and the Lion

Adrastus was king of Argos. An early power struggle with the seer Amphiaraus ended when Adrastus gave him his sister Eriphyle in marriage, with the agreement that she would arbitrate any future dispute between them.

An oracle had also told Adrastus he would marry his daughters to a boar and a lion. One stormy night, two exiled princes arrived at his palace and fell to fighting: Polynices of Thebes and Tydeus of Calydon. One bore a boar on his shield, the other a lion. Adrastus recognized the oracle's hand. He gave Argeia to Polynices and Deipyle to Tydeus, and pledged to restore both men to their kingdoms.

The Seven against Thebes

Adrastus chose Polynices first. He assembled seven champions and marched on Thebes, where Eteocles refused to yield the throne he had promised to share.

The war destroyed them. Amphiaraus, bound by Eriphyle's word and knowing he would die, was swallowed alive when Zeus split the earth beneath his chariot. Polynices and Eteocles killed each other at the seventh gate. Of the seven captains, only Adrastus escaped, carried from the field by his divine horse Arion.

The Epigoni

Ten years later, Adrastus sent the sons of the fallen against Thebes again. The Epigoni succeeded where their fathers had failed. Thebes fell. But Adrastus's own son Aegialeus was the only champion killed, and the old king died of grief when he heard the news.

In Euripides's Suppliants, Adrastus kneels before Theseus in Athens, begging him to recover the bodies of the first Seven, left unburied by the Thebans. Theseus marches on Thebes and brings the dead home.