Theban legend

In Greek mythology, the legendary history of ancient Thebes, including its founding by the Phoenician prince Cadmus; the tragedies surrounding his great-grandson Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother; and the family feuds leading to the death of Oedipus' daughter Antigone, and the expeditions of the Seven against Thebes and their descendants, the Epigoni.

Founding of Thebes Cadmus, who had been searching for his sister Europa after her abduction by Zeus (transformed as a bull), was advised by an oracle to leave off his search; instead he was to follow a cow, and build a city where she laid down to rest. Having reached the spot, he sowed the teeth of a dragon who had slain most of his men; the Sparti or ‘sown men’ sprang up and fought with each other until only five remained, the legendary ancestors of Thebes. With their help, he erected the Cadmea (Theban acropolis) and the city was born.

Oedipus Polydorus, son of Cadmus, succeeded his brother-in-law Pentheus as the third king of Thebes. The throne then passed to his son Laius, who married Jocasta, great-granddaughter of Pentheus and sister of Creon. Their only son was exposed at birth on Mount Cithaeron, with his feet pierced and tied together, because an oracle had warned Laius that his son would eventually kill him. However, the baby was found by shepherd, who named him Oedipus because of his swollen feet, and took him to his master King Polybus of Corinth. Oedipus was raised as the king's own son, so when the oracle at Delphi foretold that he would kill his father and marry his mother, he refused to return to Corinth, hoping to defy fate. On the road between Delphi and Daulis, Oedipus met his true father Laius, and killed him in a scuffle.

Meanwhile the Sphinx had appeared in the neighbourhood of Thebes. Seated on a cliff, she put a riddle to all who passed: ‘What goes on four feet in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening.’ No-one could solve the riddle, and failure to answer resulted in strangulation. The Thebans swore that anyone who could vanquish the monster would obtain the kingdom, with Jocasta as his wife, so Oedipus solved the riddle, the answer being a human being, who crawls on all fours in infancy, walks on two feet in at prime, and in old age is supported by a staff. In a fit of rage, the Sphinx threw herself from the cliff, and Oedipus, hailed as king of Thebes, married Jocasta, his own mother, who bore him two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene.

When Thebes was visited by a plague, the oracle directed that the murderer of Laius should be expelled. Oedipus' guilt was revealed to him by the seer Tiresias; Jocasta hanged herself, and Oedipus tore out his own eyes and wandered from Thebes, accompanied by his daughter Antigone. He finally found refuge at Colonus in Attica, where the Eumenides (the appeasing face of the avenging Furies) removed him from the earth. His story was dramatized by Sophocles in the tragedies Oedipus the King (429 BC) and Oedipus at Colonus (401 BC). Antigone returned to Thebes.

Seven against Thebes After the departure of Oedipus, his sons Eteocles and Polynices succeeded as joint sovereigns, but disputes arose between them, and they decided to rule for alternate years. In accordance with their agreement, Polynices withdrew from Thebes but, at the end of Eteocles's first year of kingship, he was denied access to the city. Polynices appealed to Adrastus, king of Argos, who organized the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, in spite of the dire warnings of his brother-in-law, the seer Amphiaraus, which prophesied that all but Adrastus would be slain. Eteocles and Polynices killed one another in single combat, five of the remaining leaders of the attack also died, and Adrastus returned alone. The Athenian playwright Aeschylus portrayed the conflict in Seven against Thebes (467 BC).

Death of Antigone After the accession of Creon to the throne of Thebes, his first act was to forbid the burial of Polynices. Antigone was sentenced to death for disobeying his order; walled up in a cave, she took her own life and her lover Haemon, Creon's son, committed suicide in despair. Outraged at the denial of burial rites to their dead, Adrastus and the mothers of the five deceased persuaded Theseus to attack Thebes. The Thebans were defeated and the bodies claimed and buried with honour.

Fall of Thebes Ten years later, Adrastus persuaded the descendants of the Seven, the ‘Epigoni’, to undertake another venture against the city. In the ensuing war, Thebes was captured and destroyed; the Thebans having abandoned their city during the attack. The only fatality among the Epigoni was Aegialeus, son of Adrastus; his father died of grief and was buried at Megara on his way home to Argos.