|
Theban Cycle
__NOTOC__ The Theban Cycle () is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which tells the mythological history of the Boeotian city of Thebes.West, M.L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments'', Loeb Classical Library, no. 497, Cambridge, MA, . They were composed in dactylic hexameter verse and believed to be recorded between 750 and 500 BC. The epics took place before the Trojan War and centered around the Theban royal family. The epics of the Theban Cycle were the '' Oedipodea'', the ''Thebaid'', the '' Epigoni'', and the '' Alcmeonis''. Overview In the collection, the precise sequence of events and the handling of characters and plots are difficult to reconstruct. There are very few fragments for the ''Oedipodea''. For the ''Epigoni'' there are less than ten fragments and only three verbatim fragments totaling four lines. In addition, unlike the poetry of the Trojan cycle, there is no prose summary. * The ''Oedipodea'': There are a total of 6,600 verses, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: '' Ajax'', '' Antigone'', '' Women of Trachis'', '' Oedipus Rex'', '' Electra'', '' Philoctetes'', and '' Oedipus at Colonus''. For almost fifty years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens, which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in thirty competitions, won twenty-four, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won thirteen competitions and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles; Euripides won four.. The most famous tragedies of Sophocles feature Oedip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphiaraus
Amphiaraus or Amphiaraos (; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιάραος, Ἀμφιάρεως, "very sacred") was in Greek mythology the son of Oicles, a seer, and one of the leaders of the Seven against Thebes. Amphiaraus at first refused to go with Adrastus on this expedition against Thebes as he foresaw the death of everyone who joined the expedition. His wife, Eriphyle, eventually compelled him to go. Family Amphiaraus was the son of Oicles. This made Amphiaraus a great-grandson of Melampus, himself a legendary seer, and a member of one of the most powerful dynastic families in the Argolid. The mythographer Hyginus says that Amphiaraus's mother was Hypermnestra, the daughter of Thestius. She was the sister of Leda, the queen of Sparta who was the mother of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and the Dioscuri ( Castor and Pollux). Hyginus also reports that "some authors" said that Amphiaraus was the son of Apollo. Amphiaraus married Eriphyle, the sister of his cousin Adrastus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eriphyle
Eriphyle (; ) was a figure in Greek mythology who, in exchange for the Necklace of Harmonia (also called the Necklace of Eriphyle) given to her by Polynices, persuaded her husband Amphiaraus to join the doomed expedition of the Seven against Thebes. She was then slain by her son Alcmaeon. Family Eriphyle was the daughter of King Talaus of Argos and Lysimache, a granddaughter of Melampus. She had five brothers: Adrastus, Parthenopaeus, Pronax, Mecisteus, and Aristomachus. During a feud in Argos, Talaus was slain by the hero Amphiaraus, greatly angering Eriphyle's brother Adrastus. When Adrastus and Amphiaraus eventually reconciled, Adrastus gave him Eriphyle's hand in marriage. Together, Eriphyle and Amphiaraus had two sons, Alcmaeon and Amphilochus. They may have also had three daughters: Alcmene, Eurydice, and Demonassa. Mythology Eriphyle's mythology is intertwined with that of the legendary Seven against Thebes, and the war they waged to restore Oedipus' son Polyn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcmaeon (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Alcmaeon (; Ancient Greek: Ἀλκμαίων ''Alkmaíōn''), as one of the Epigoni, was the leader of the Argives who attacked Thebes, taking the city in retaliation for the deaths of their fathers, the Seven against Thebes, who died while attempting the same thing. Family Alcmaeon was the son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle and brother of Amphilochus. He had many progeny by different women including Clytius by Alphesiboea or Arsinoe, daughter of Phegeus; Amphoterus and Acarnan by Callirhoe, daughter of Achelous and lastly Amphilochus and Tisiphone by Manto, daughter of Tiresias. His son Clytius founded the Klytidiai, a clan of seers in Elis who interpreted the oracles of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Mythology The second Theban war Pindar's eighth Pythian ode relates a prophecy by Amphiaraus that the Epigoni will conquer Thebes, and that Alcmaeon will be the first through the gates. The mythographer Apollodorus, also states that the other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epigoni
In Greek mythology, the Epigoni or Epigonoi (; from , meaning "offspring") are the sons of the Argive heroes, the Seven against Thebes, who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject of the ''Thebaid'', in which Polynices and his allies attacked Thebes because Polynices' brother, Eteocles, refused to give up the throne as promised. The second Theban war, also called the war of the Epigoni, occurred ten years later, when the Epigoni, wishing to avenge the death of their fathers, attacked Thebes. List of Epigoni According to the mythographer Apollodorus, they were: * Aegialeus, son of Adrastus * Alcmaeon, son of Amphiaraus * Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus * Diomedes, son of Tydeus * Euryalus, son of Mecisteus * Promachus, son of Parthenopaeus * Sthenelus, son of Capaneus * Thersander, son of Polynices To this list, the geographer Pausanias also adds: * Polydorus, son of Hippomedon * Adrastus and Timeas, sons of Polynices Hyginus also makes note of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Of Argos
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by fixed laws. Kings are Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchs when they inherit power by birthright and Elective monarchy, elective monarchs when chosen to ascend the throne. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the title may refer to tribal kingship. Germanic kingship is cognate with Indo-European languages, Indo-European traditions of tribal rulership (cf. Indic ''rājan'', Gothic ''reiks'', and Old Irish ''rí'', etc.). *In the context of classical antiquity, king may translate in Latin as ''rex (king), rex'' and in Greek as ''archon'' or ''basileus''. *In classical European feudalism, the title of ''king'' as the ruler of a ''kingdom'' is und ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrastus
In Greek mythology, Adrastus or Adrestus (Ancient Greek: Ἄδραστος or Ἄδρηστος), (perhaps meaning "the inescapable"), was a king of Argos, and leader of the Seven against Thebes. He was the son of the Argive king Talaus, but was forced out of Argos by his dynastic rival Amphiaraus. He fled to Sicyon, where he became king. Later he reconciled with Amphiaraus and returned to Argos as its king. Because of an oracle Adrastus married his daughters to the exiles Polynices and Tydeus and promised to restore them to their homelands. He first assembled an army to place Polynices on the throne of Thebes, led by seven champions, famously called the Seven against Thebes. The expedition failed and all the champions died except Adrastus, saved by his divine horse Arion. He went with the Epigoni, the sons of the Seven, in the successful second war against Thebes, and was said to have died on his way home. Adrastus is mentioned as early as Homer's ''Iliad'', and his sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Argos
Argos (; ; ) is a city and former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and the oldest in Europe. It is the largest city in Argolis and a major center in the same prefecture, having nearly twice the population of the prefectural capital, Nafplio. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of the municipality of Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 138.138 km2. It is from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour. A settlement of great antiquity, Argos has been continuously inhabited as at least a substantial village for the past 7,000 years. A resident of the city of Argos is known as an Argive ( , ; ). However, this term is also used to refer to those ancient Greeks generally who assaulted the city of Troy during the Trojan War; the term is more widely applied by the Homeric bards. Numerous ancient monuments can be found in the cit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tydeus
Tydeus (; Ancient Greek: Τυδεύς ''Tūdeus'') was an Aetolian hero in Greek mythology, belonging to the generation before the Trojan War. He was one of the Seven against Thebes, and the father of Diomedes, who is frequently known by the patronymic ''Tydides''. Life Tydeus was a son of Oeneus and either Periboea, Oeneus's second wife, or Gorge, Oeneus's daughter. He was the husband of Deipyle, the mother of Diomedes. Tydeus was banished from Calydon by his uncle Agrius because he had killed either his brother or a different uncle or six of his cousins. He travelled to Argos, where he married Deipyle, daughter of king Adrastus. Seven against Thebes Gathering of the Seven While housing Tydeus, King Adrastus of Argos also lodged Polynices, the exiled son of Oedipus who had shared the rule of Thebes with his brother Eteocles before he was expelled by the latter. Late one night, the two young exiles got into a fierce dispute over the guest room in Adrastus's palace. Awake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynices
In Greek mythology, Polynices (also Polyneices) (; ) was the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia and the older brother of Eteocles. When Oedipus was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, Oedipus was expelled from Thebes, leaving Eteocles and Polynices to rule. Because of a curse put on them by their father, the two sons did not share the rule peacefully. During a battle for control over Thebes, the brothers killed each other. Mythology Oedipus's curse In the ''Thebaid'', the brothers were cursed by their father for their disrespect towards him on two occasions. The first of these occurred when they served him using the silver table of Cadmus and a golden cup, which he had forbidden. The brothers then sent him the haunch of a sacrificed animal, rather than the shoulder, which he deserved. Enraged, Oedipus prayed to Zeus that the brothers would die by each other's hand. However, in Sophocles' '' Oedipus at Colonus'', Oedipus desired to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eteocles
In Greek mythology, Eteocles (; ) was a king of Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without knowing his relationship to either. When the relationship was revealed, he was expelled from Thebes. The rule passed to his sons Eteocles and Polynices. However, because of a curse from their father, the two brothers did not share the rule peacefully and died as a result, ultimately killing each other in battle for control of the city. Upon his death, Eteocles was succeeded by his uncle, Creon of Thebes, Creon. Etymology The name translates as "truly glorious", from ''eteós'' “true” and ''kleos'' “glory”. The name appears in earlier form ''*Etewoklewes'' (), attested in Mycenaean Greek tablets as ''E-te-wo-ke-le-we''. ''Tawagalawas'' is thought to be the Hittite language, Hittite rendition of the Greek name. Oedipus's curse In the ''Thebaid (Greek poem), Thebaid'', the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
