Capaneus- Greek HeroHero"The Blasphemer"

The Giant of Argos

Capaneus of Argos towered over the other warriors and feared nothing, least of all the gods. In Euripides's Suppliants, Adrastus remembers him as a man of simple wealth who shunned luxury and greeted every guest like a friend. His boasting he saved for battle. When Polynices came to Argos begging for an army to retake Thebes from his brother Eteocles, Capaneus joined the expedition of the Seven. He was given a gate to storm.

The Blasphemy

In Aeschylus, Capaneus bore a shield painted with a naked man carrying a torch, beneath the words: "I will burn the city." He set his scaling ladder against the Theban walls and climbed while defenders hurled stones and spears from above. At the top, he shouted that not even Zeus could stop him from taking the city. The thunderbolt hurled him from the ladder. His body was burning before it hit the ground.

Evadne on the Pyre

In Euripides's Suppliants, the Athenians under Theseus recovered the bodies of the fallen Seven for burial. Evadne appeared on a cliff above her husband's pyre. She declared she would join him in death and leapt into the flames. Her father Iphis arrived too late and was left to grieve both his daughter and his son-in-law. A generation later, Capaneus's son Sthenelus marched with the Epigonoi and took the city that had killed his father.