Seven against Thebes- Greek GroupCollective
Also known as: Hepta epi Thebas and Ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας
Description
Eteocles refused to yield the Theban throne to his brother Polynices, who marched from Argos with six champions to take it by force. Each attacked one of the city's seven gates. Six of the seven perished — and the two brothers killed each other at the seventh.
Mythology & Lore
The Quarrel of the Brothers
The expedition was born from the curse of Oedipus upon his sons. After Oedipus's downfall, Eteocles and Polynices agreed to share the Theban throne by ruling in alternating years. Eteocles ruled first but refused to yield when his year ended. Polynices fled to Argos, where King Adrastus received him and gave him his daughter in marriage. Adrastus pledged to restore Polynices by force and assembled six champions to march with him against Thebes.
The Bribery of Eriphyle
One of the seven was the seer Amphiaraus, who foresaw that all save Adrastus would die. He refused to march. Polynices bribed his wife Eriphyle with the Necklace of Harmonia, forged by Hephaestus and cursed from the day it was given. Eriphyle held an old pact that bound Amphiaraus to obey her judgment in any dispute. She ordered him to go. He departed knowing he would not return, and charged his sons to avenge him.
The Siege
Each champion took one of Thebes's seven gates. Capaneus scaled the walls shouting that Zeus himself could not stop him. Zeus stopped him. A thunderbolt knocked him from the battlements.
Tydeus fought the Theban Melanippus and took a mortal wound. Athena was on her way to grant him immortality when she saw him crack open Melanippus's skull and eat the brains. She turned away and let him die.
Amphiaraus fled the rout in his chariot. Zeus split the earth before him, and the ground swallowed chariot, horses, and seer whole.
The Brothers' Duel and Aftermath
Eteocles and Polynices met at the seventh gate. The brothers killed each other simultaneously, fulfilling their father's curse. Creon took power and forbade burial of the Argive dead. Adrastus alone escaped the field, carried away by the divine horse Arion. Evadne, wife of Capaneus, threw herself onto his funeral pyre. The mothers of the fallen walked to Athens and begged Theseus for help; he marched on Thebes and forced Creon to allow the burials.