Eteocles and Polynices fought over the throne of Thebes after Oedipus's exile. Their conflict culminated in the war of the Seven against Thebes, where the brothers killed each other in single combat at the city's gates.
The Epigoni besieged and sacked Thebes ten years after their fathers' failed assault, razing the city and carrying off its people and treasures as spoils.
The Seven against Thebes besieged the city of Thebes to restore Polynices to the throne. The expedition ended in catastrophe, with six of the seven champions slain at the city's gates.
The Sphinx terrorized Thebes from her perch on Mount Phicium, devouring all who failed her riddle and cutting off the city's roads. Her siege reduced Thebes to desperation until Oedipus solved the riddle.
Niobe and Amphion ruled Thebes, where Amphion's lyre had built the city's famous seven-gated walls. The slaughter of the Niobids by Apollo and Artemis devastated the royal house.
Zethus co-ruled Thebes with his twin Amphion after overthrowing Lycus. Together they fortified the city with its famous seven-gated walls, Zethus hauling stones by brute strength.
Cadmus ruled Thebes as its first king after founding the city, establishing the Cadmeia as its citadel and the Spartoi as its warrior aristocracy.
Creon ruled Thebes as regent after Laius's death and again after Oedipus's exile, becoming king in his own right during the war of the Seven against Thebes.
Eteocles held the throne of Thebes, refusing to yield it to his brother Polynices as agreed. His refusal to share power provoked the war of the Seven against Thebes.
Laius ruled Thebes as king before his death at the crossroads. The oracle's prophecy about his son drove him to expose the infant Oedipus on Mount Cithaeron.
Oedipus ruled Thebes after defeating the Sphinx and marrying the widowed queen Jocasta. He governed wisely for many years before discovering he had fulfilled the Delphic prophecy.
After the Epigoni's successful siege, Thersander was installed as king of Thebes, fulfilling his father Polynices's claim to the throne that had sparked both wars.
Cadmus founded Thebes after following a cow as instructed by the Delphic oracle, establishing the Cadmeia as its citadel. Amphion later built the city's famous walls by playing his golden lyre, the stones moving into place of their own accord.
Adrastus led the Seven against Thebes in the doomed siege to restore Polynices to the Theban throne. The expedition failed catastrophically, with all six of Adrastus's fellow champions killed at the city's gates.
Agave was a princess of Thebes through her father Cadmus. After killing her son Pentheus in Bacchic madness, she was sentenced to exile from Thebes by Dionysus.
Alcmene gave birth to Heracles in Thebes, where she lived as wife of Amphitryon. Zeus visited her there in the form of her husband to conceive the hero.
Amphiaraus was swallowed into the earth near Thebes during the siege of the Seven against Thebes. He later became an oracular hero venerated in the region.
Amphitryon was exiled to Thebes after accidentally killing Electryon. He settled there under Creon's protection, and the city became the birthplace of his sons Heracles and Iphicles.
Antigone defied Creon's edict by burying her brother Polynices outside Thebes. She was entombed alive in a cave near the city, where she hanged herself.
Antiope was a princess of Thebes who fled after Zeus's seduction. Her sons Amphion and Zethus later became rulers of Thebes and built its famous walls.
Ares' sacred dragon guarded the Ismenian spring near Thebes. Cadmus slew the dragon and sowed its teeth, from which the Spartoi — Thebes' founding warriors — sprang.
Capaneus besieged Thebes as one of the Seven, attacking the city's walls with reckless boldness. He was struck dead by Zeus's thunderbolt while scaling the battlements.
Dionysus was born in Thebes to Semele, daughter of Cadmus. The city was both his birthplace and a site of his most violent epiphany, when Pentheus denied his divinity.
The wedding of Harmonia and Cadmus in Thebes was attended by all the Olympian gods, the first mortal wedding so honored. The cursed necklace Harmonia received as a gift brought misfortune upon Thebes for generations.
Heracles defended Thebes against the tribute demands of Erginus and the Minyans of Orchomenos, leading the Thebans to victory. King Creon rewarded him with his daughter Megara in marriage.
Hippomedon besieged Thebes as one of the Seven, attacking the Gate of Athena Onca and fighting a furious aristeia in the river Ismenus before being slain by Theban defenders.
Jocasta ruled Thebes as queen through two marriages — first to Laius, then to Oedipus. The city's fate was bound to hers: a plague struck Thebes as divine punishment for the pollution of Laius's unavenged murder and the incestuous royal marriage.
Manto was captured when the Epigoni conquered Thebes. The fall of the city ended her life in Thebes and led to her dedication to Apollo at Delphi.
Megara, daughter of King Creon, was given as wife to Heracles in Thebes as reward for his defense of the city against the Minyans. Heracles later killed Megara and their children in a fit of Hera-sent madness.
Mount Cithaeron loomed over Thebes as a site of pivotal mythological events — the exposure of infant Oedipus, the death of Pentheus at the hands of maenads, and the hunting grounds of Actaeon.
The Necklace of Harmonia passed through the Theban royal house founded by Cadmus. The city of Thebes and its ruling dynasty suffered generation after generation from the artifact's curse.
A plague struck Thebes during Oedipus's reign, and the oracle declared it would not lift until Laius's murderer was found. Oedipus's investigation into the plague led to the discovery of his own identity.
Parthenopaeus attacked the gates of Thebes during the siege by the Seven. In Aeschylus's account, he bore a shield with the Sphinx as an insult to the Thebans, swearing to sack the city.
Pentheus ruled Thebes as king and denied Dionysus's divinity when the god arrived to establish his cult. He was torn apart on Mount Cithaeron by his own mother Agave and the Theban maenads.
Semele gave birth to Dionysus in Thebes before Zeus's lightning consumed her. Her tomb in the Cadmeia became a sacred site associated with Dionysus's cult.
Tiresias served as the blind prophet of Thebes across several generations of rulers, from Cadmus through Creon. His prophecies shaped the city's fate during the reigns of Oedipus and the war of the Seven.
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