Harmonia

In Greek mythology, the daughter of the war god Ares and Aphrodite, goddess of love; wife of Cadmus, founder of Thebes. Her daughters were Io, Semele (mother of Dionysus, god of wine), and Agave (mother of the tragic Pentheus).

Myth At her wedding, attended by all the gods, Harmonia received a magic necklace made by Hephaestus, god of fire and metalcraft; it had originally been given to the abducted Europa by Zeus. The necklace granted irresistable loveliness, but brought its later owners disaster. Another wedding gift, a magic robe which bestowed divine dignity, conferred the same fate.

After death, Harmonia and Cadmus were transformed into snakes and lived in the Islands of the Blessed.

Another tradition makes Harmonia the daughter of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra, daughter of the Titan Atlas.

The curse of Harmonia's necklace and robe In Theban legend, Eriphyle was bribed with Harmonia's magic necklace by Polynices, a descendant of Cadmus who claimed the throne of Thebes. In return, she persuaded her husband Amphiaraus to join the Seven against Thebes expedition, although he had prophesied his own death. Ten years later, Adrastus of Argos, sole survivor of the previous venture and Polynices' brother-in-law, bribed her with Harmonia's robe to encourage her sons Alcmaeon and Amphilochus against Thebes.

After the fall of Thebes, Alcmaeon murdered his mother for her vanity and deceit, and fled pursued by the punishing Furies. He gave the necklace and robe to his wife Arsinoë, daughter of King Phlegeus of Psophis but, tormented by the Furies, he fled again and married Callirrhoë, daughter of the river god Achelous who had purified him of his matricide. His new wife demanded the fateful treasures but Alcmaeon was slain trying to retrieve them, and Phlegeus eventually consigned the articles to Delphi.