Thersander- Greek HeroHero"King of Thebes"
Also known as: Thersandros and Θέρσανδρος
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Description
He conquered the city his father died fighting for — one of the Epigoni who took Thebes a generation after the Seven failed. Installed as king, he sailed with the Greeks for Troy but never reached its shores, killed by Telephus when the fleet landed at Mysia by mistake.
Mythology & Lore
The Son of Polynices
Thersander was the son of Polynices and Argeia, daughter of King Adrastus of Argos. His father died fighting his brother Eteocles for the Theban throne; the two killed each other at the seventh gate. Thersander grew up in Argos under the protection of Adrastus, an orphan with an unfulfilled claim to a city he had never ruled.
The Epigoni and the Fall of Thebes
When the sons of the Seven organized their campaign against Thebes, the oracle at Delphi promised victory if Alcmaeon led the army. Thersander marched under Alcmaeon's command. The Thebans met them in the field under Laodamas, son of Eteocles, who killed Aegialeus before falling himself. The Epigoni took the city, and Thersander was installed as king.
Death at Mysia
Thersander joined the Greek expedition to Troy, but the fleet landed at Mysia by mistake, believing they had reached the Troad. Telephus, king of Mysia and son of Heracles, attacked the invaders and killed Thersander in the fighting. Pausanias records that his tomb stood at Elaea in Mysia, where he received heroic honors.