"Merope (Oedipus) In Greek mythology, Merope (; ) was Queen of Corinth, and wife of King Polybus. The royal couple adopted a baby found by shepherds and named him Oedipus. To avoid the prediction of an oracle that he will kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus goes in voluntary exile to Thebes. On his way he has a quarrel with an old man, and kills him, and for answering a riddle of the Sphinx at the entrance of Thebes gets to marry the queen dowager Jocasta. He fathers four children with Jocasta: Polynices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. He"
"not clear. Another theory is that the entire line of Cadmus was cursed, either by Ares when Cadmus killed his serpent, or else by Hephaestus who resented the fact that Cadmus married Harmonia, the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, Hephaestus' straying wife. Certainly, many of Cadmus's descendants had tragic ends. Laius In Greek mythology, King Laius (pronounced ), or Laios () of Thebes was a divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death of his father. While Laius was still young, Amphion and Zethus usurped"
"Tydeus In Greek mythology, Tydeus (; Ancient Greek: Τυδεύς ""Tūdeus"") was an Aeolian hero of 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"". 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 killed either his brother or a different uncle or six of his cousins. He travelled to Argos, where he married Deipyle,"
"these riotous proceedings, was persuaded by a disguised Dionysus to go himself to Cithaeron, but was torn to pieces there by his own mother Agave, who in her frenzy believed him to be a wild lion. For this transgression, according to Hyginus, Agave was exiled from Thebes and fled to Illyria to marry King Lycotherses, and then killed him in order to gain the city for her father Cadmus. According to Smith, Hyginus' account is ""manifestly transplaced by Hyginus, and must have belonged to an earlier part of the story of Agave"". Agave (Theban princess) In Greek mythology, Agave (;"
"Cadmus In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ""Kadmos""), was the founder and first king of Thebes. Cadmus was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Initially a Phoenician prince, son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa, he was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores of Phoenicia by Zeus. Cadmus founded the Greek city of Thebes, the acropolis of which"
"Laius In Greek mythology, King Laius (pronounced ), or Laios () of Thebes was a divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death of his father. While Laius was still young, Amphion and Zethus usurped the throne of Thebes. Some Thebans, wishing to see the line of Cadmus continue, smuggled Laius out of the city before their attack, in which they killed Lycus and took the throne. Laius was welcomed by Pelops, king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. According to some sources, Laius abducted and"
"Pentheus In Greek mythology, Pentheus (; ) was a king of Thebes. His father was Echion, the wisest of the Spartoi. His mother was Agave, the daughter of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and the goddess Harmonia. His sister was Epeiros. Much of what is known about the character comes from the interpretation of the myth in Euripides' tragic play, ""The Bacchae"". The story of Pentheus' resistance to Dionysus and his subsequent punishment is presented by Euripides as follows. Cadmus, the king of Thebes, abdicated due to his old age in favor of his grandson Pentheus. Pentheus soon banned the"
"Agave (Theban princess) In Greek mythology, Agave (; Ancient Greek: Ἀγαύη, ""Agauē"", ""illustrious"") was a princess of Thebes. Agave was the third daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city of Thebes, Greece, and of the goddess Harmonia. Her sisters were Autonoë, Ino and Semele, and her brother was Polydorus. She married Echion, one of the five Spartoi, and was the mother of Pentheus, a king of Thebes. She also had a daughter, Epirus. She was a Maenad, a follower of Dionysus (also known as Bacchus). In Euripides' play, ""The Bacchae"", Theban Maenads murdered King Pentheus after he"
"Eurydice of Thebes In Greek mythology, Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη, ""Eὐrudíkē"" ""wide justice"", derived from ""ευρυς eurys"" ""wide"" and ""δικη dike"" ""justice) sometimes called Henioche, was the wife of Creon, a king of Thebes. Eurydice was probably the mother of Creon's five children: Menoeceus (Megareus), Lycomedes, Haemon, Megara and Pyrrha. She appears briefly in Sophocles' ""Antigone"" (as an ""archetypal grieving, saddened mother"" and an older counterpart to Antigone), to kill herself after learning, from a messenger, that her son Haemon and his betrothed, Antigone, have both committed suicide. She thrusts a sword into her heart and curses Creon for"
"Labdacus In Greek mythology, Labdacus (, ""Lávdakos"") was the only son of Polydorus and a king of Thebes. Labdacus was a grandson of Thebes' founder, Cadmus. His mother was Nycteïs, daughter of Nycteus. Polydorus died while Labdacus was a young child, leaving Nycteus as his regent, although Lycus soon replaced him in that office. When Labdacus had grown, he ruled Thebes for a short time. He died while he was still young, after he lost a war with the king of Athens, Pandion, over their borders. Apollodorus writes that he, like his cousin Pentheus, was ripped apart by women in"
"goddess Athena had planned to make him immortal but refused after Tydeus in a hubristic fit devoured the brains of the defeated Melanippus. The 7th century poet Mimnermus attributes the murder of Ismene, the sister of Antigone, to Tydeus. No other Classical writer mentions the story, but the scene is represented on a 6th-century Corinthian black-figure amphora now housed in the Louvre. Tydeus In Greek mythology, Tydeus (; Ancient Greek: Τυδεύς ""Tūdeus"") was an Aeolian hero of the generation before the Trojan War. He was one of the Seven Against Thebes, and the father of Diomedes, who is frequently known"
"that he was his father. Many years later, after Oedipus won the kingship of Thebes by defeating the Sphinx, did another plague befall Thebes. King Oedipus, in his effort to find the cause of plague due to a patricide, revealed that he was told in his teen years that he was destined to murder his father, and sent a spy to Corinth to see who is currently on the throne. The news of Polybus' death by natural causes was announced by the messenger to Jocasta in Sophocles' ""Oedipus Rex"", in which it is mistakenly taken to mean that Oedipus did"
"Creon Creon (; Ancient Greek: Κρέων ""Kreōn"" means ""ruler""), is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes in the legend of Oedipus. He had four sons and three daughters with his wife, Eurydice (sometimes known as Henioche): Henioche, Pyrrha, Megareus (also called Menoeceus), Lycomedes and Haimon. Creon and his sister, Jocasta, were descendants of Cadmus and of the Spartoi. He is sometimes considered to be the same person who purified Amphitryon of the murder of his uncle Electryon and father of Megara, first wife of Heracles. Creon figures prominently in the plays ""Oedipus Rex"" and"
"Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles or Achilleus ( ; , ""Achilleus"" ) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character and greatest warrior of Homer's ""Iliad"". His mother was the immortal Nereid Thetis, and his father, the mortal Peleus, was the king of the Myrmidons. Achilles' most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan hero Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the ""Iliad"", other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, who shot him"
"the Theban plays not a true trilogy (three plays presented as a continuous narrative) but they are not even an intentional series and contain some inconsistencies among them. He also wrote other plays having to do with Thebes, such as the ""Epigoni"", of which only fragments have survived. Each of the plays relates to the tale of the mythological Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother without knowledge that they were his parents. His family is fated to be doomed for three generations. In ""Oedipus Rex"", Oedipus is the protagonist. Oedipus' infanticide is planned by his parents, Laius"
"result in Zeus' being overthrown just as he had overthrown his father, Cronus. During the course of the drama, Prometheus decides to warn Zeus about Thetis. Rather than lie with her, Zeus marries her off to the mortal Peleus, King of Aegina. The product of this union will indeed be a son greater than the father, namely Achilles, Greek hero of the Trojan War. Finally, Athenaeus (a grammarian of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD) wrote in Book 15.16 of his ""Deipnosophists"" the following regarding a contemporary Athenian festival dedicated to Prometheus: ""Aeschylus clearly states in the ""Unbound"" that in"
"mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire"""". Desperate to avoid this terrible fate, Oedipus, who still believes that Polybus and Merope are his true parents, leaves Corinth for the city of Thebes. On the road to Thebes, Oedipus encounters Laius and his retainers, and the two quarrel over whose chariot has the right of way. The Theban king moves to strike the insolent youth with his sceptre, but Oedipus, unaware that Laius is his true father, throws the old man down from his chariot, killing him. Thus, Laius is slain by his own son, and"
"and that deal with the story of Oedipus, ""Oedipus Rex"" was the second to be written. However, in terms of the chronology of events that the plays describe, it comes first, followed by ""Oedipus at Colonus"" and then ""Antigone"". Prior to the start of ""Oedipus Rex"", Oedipus has become the king of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father, Laius (the previous king), and marry his mother, Jocasta (whom Oedipus took as his queen after solving the riddle of the Sphinx). The action of Sophocles' play concerns Oedipus' search for the murderer of Laius in"
"Trambelus In Greek mythology, Trambelus (Ancient Greek: Τράμβηλον) was a son of Telamon (thus a half-brother of Ajax the Great and Teucer). His mother was the Trojan captive, Hesione or Theaneira: when she had already been made pregnant by Telamon, she escaped by jumping off his ship and swimming until she reached the land of Miletus. She then hid in the forest but was soon found by Arion, king of Miletus, who rescued her and raised her newborn son Trambelus as his own. According to Parthenius, Trambelus lived on Lesbos where he fell in love with a girl named Apriate,"
"Thebes and wife of Amphion, boasted of her superiority to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven sons and seven daughters, while Leto had only two. For her hubris, Apollo killed her sons as they practiced athletics, and Artemis killed her daughters. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though according to some versions a number of the Niobids were spared (Chloris, usually). Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Zeus after swearing revenge. A devastated Niobe fled to Mount Sipylus in Asia Minor and either turned to stone"
"Thespius Thespius (Ancient Greek: Θέσπιος ""Théspios"") was a legendary founder and king of Thespiae, Boeotia. His life account is considered part of Greek mythology. He was reportedly son of Erechtheus, King of Athens, and Praxithea. His maternal grandparents were Phrasimus and Diogenia, the daughter of the river god Cephissus. He married Megamede, daughter of Arneus. They supposedly had fifty daughters together, although Thespius may have fathered some of the daughters from unnamed mistresses with Megamede being their stepmother. The daughters are often referred to as the Thespiades, also being the subject of an 1853 painting by Gustave Moreau. All his"
"together. Amphion and Zethus expanded the city (and renamed it Thebes) and built the seven gates of Thebes, naming them after Amphion's daughters (Thera, Cleodoxa, Astynome, Astycratia, Chias, Ogygia, Chloris). Niobe, a boastful woman, attracted the wrath of Artemis and her brother Apollo, who were furious at Niobe for taunting their mother. Artemis then decided to kill all of her daughters while Apollo killed all of her sons, thus all of her children were killed. Amphion committed suicide after the death of his beloved children. Zethus' son and only child had been killed earlier, and Zethus had died of a"
"Polydorus (son of Cadmus) In Greek mythology, Polydorus or Polydoros (; , i.e. ""many-gift[ed]"") was a king of Thebes. Polydorus was the eldest son of Cadmus and Harmonia but younger than Semele, his other sisters were Autonoë, Ino and Agave. He was the father of Labdacus by Nycteïs, the daughter of Nycteus. Upon the death of Cadmus, Pentheus, the son of Echion and Agave, after banishing Polydorus ruled Thebes for a short time until Dionysus prompted Agave to kill Pentheus. Polydorus then succeeded Pentheus as king of Thebes and married Nycteïs. When their son Labdacus was still young, Polydorus died"
"name from the mythical king Peleus, father of Achilles) was the homeland of Chiron the Centaur, tutor of many ancient Greek heroes, such as Jason, Achilles, Theseus and Heracles. It was in Mount Pelion, near Chiron's cave, that the marriage of Thetis and Peleus took place. The uninvited goddess Eris, to take revenge for having been kept outside the party, brought a golden apple with the inscription ""To the Fairest"". The dispute that then arose between the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite and Athena resulted in events leading to the Trojan War. When the twins Otus and Ephialtes attempted to storm Olympus,"
"a chariot driven by his birth-father, King Laius. They fought over who had the right to go first and Oedipus killed Laius when the charioteer tried to run him over. The only witness of the king's death was a slave who fled from a caravan of slaves also traveling on the road at the time. Continuing his journey to Thebes, Oedipus encountered a Sphinx, who would stop all travelers to Thebes and ask them a riddle. If the travelers were unable to answer her correctly, they would be killed and eaten; if they were successful, they would be free to"
"According to Pausanias, Polyxo killed Helen to avenge for her husband's death, though Polyaenus says that Menelaus had dressed up a servant in Helen's clothes and that the Rhodians killed her instead as Menelaus and Helen escaped. Tlepolemus In Greek mythology, Tlepolemus (; Ancient Greek: Τληπόλεμος ""Tlēpólemos"") was a son of Heracles and the leader of the Rhodian forces in the Trojan War. His mother was said to be Astyoche, daughter of Phylas, king of Ephyra, though some sources say that she was Astydameia, daughter of Amyntor or Ormenus. He fled to Rhodes after slaying Licymnius, Heracles' aged maternal uncle."
"version with Ares. According to another account Nisus killed himself when he lost his vital lock of hair. Nisos In Greek mythology, Nisos or Nisus (Ancient Greek: Νίσου) was the King of Megara.. Nisus was one of the four sons of Pandion II, King of Athens and thus brother of Aegeas, Pallas, and Lykos. According to Hyginus, his father was the god Ares while other authors affirmed that he was the offspring of Deion, son of Aeolus. Nisus was married to Abrota, sister of Megareus, and when she died, Nisos commanded that the Megarian women wear clothes like she had."
"Polynices In Greek mythology, Polynices (; Ancient Greek: Πολυνείκης, ""Polyneíkes"" means ""manifold strife"" or ""much strife"") was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta and the younger brother of Eteocles. When his father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, he was expelled from Thebes, leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule. Because of a curse put on them by their father Oedipus, the two sons did not share the rule peacefully and died as a result, killing each other in battle for control over Thebes. In the ""Thebaid"", the brothers were cursed by their"
"Tyndareus In Greek mythology, Tyndareus (; Ancient Greek: Τυνδάρεος, ""Tundáreos""; Attic: Τυνδάρεως, ""Tundáreōs""; ) was a Spartan king. Tyndareus was the son of Oebalus (or Perieres) and Gorgophone (or Bateia). He married the Aetolian princess, Leda by whom he became the father of Castor, Clytemnestra, Timandra, Phoebe and Philonoe, and the stepfather of Helen of Troy and Pollux. Tyndareus had a brother named Hippocoon, who seized power and exiled Tyndareus. He was reinstated by Heracles, who killed Hippocoon and his sons. Tyndareus’ other brother was Icarius, the father of Penelope. Tyndareus’ wife Leda was seduced by Zeus, who disguised himself"
"Nilus. The monstrous Busiris sacrificed all visitors to his gods. Heracles defied him, broke his shackles at the last minute and killed Busiris. In Diodorus Siculus, Busiris appears as the founder of the line of kings at Thebes, which historically would have been the 11th Dynasty. According to Hyginus, Busiris was the father of Melite who became the mother of Metus by her grandfather Poseidon. This part of the mythology concerning Herakles appears to have origins in a corruption of an Egyptian myth concerning Osiris' sacrifice by Set, and subsequent resurrection (see Legend of Osiris and Isis). The fictional king"
"Megara (mythology) In Greek mythology, Megara (; Ancient Greek: Μεγάρα) was the oldest daughter of Creon, king of Thebes and possibly, Eurydice. She was the sister of Menoeceus (Megareus), Lycomedes, Haemon, and Pyrrha. In reward for Heracles' defending Thebes from the Minyans at Orchomenus single-handed, Creon offered his daughter Megara to Heracles, and he brought her home to the house of Amphitryon. She bore him a son and a daughter, whom Heracles killed when Hera struck him with temporary madness; in their hero-tombs in Thebes they were venerated as the ""Chalkoarai"". In some sources Heracles slew Megara too, in others,"
"by Apollo, the mother of the Theban hero and prophet Tenerus. Elsewhere he refers to her as ""Melia of the golden spindle"". The 2nd century AD Greek geographer Pausanias provides a more complete account. According to Pausanias, Melia was abducted, and Melia's father Oceanus ordered his son Caanthus to find her. Caanthus found Melia at Thebes being held by Apollo, but unable to get Melia away from Apollo, Caanthus set fire to Apollo's sanctuary, and Apollo shot and killed him. Pausanius says that, in addition to Tenerus, to whom Apollo gave the ""art of divination"", Melia had another son by"
"Tenerus (son of Apollo) In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Theban hero Tenerus was the son and prophet of Apollo. His mother was Melia, a daughter of the Titan Oceanus. According to Pausanius, Melia, who had been abducted by Apollo, gave birth to Tenerus and his brother ismenus, the eponym of the Theban river. The Teneric plain, Northwest of Thebes was named after Tenerus. Tenerus was a priest and prophet of Apollo, and had an oracle at the Ismenion, the Temple of Apollo at Thebes. The late 6th–early 5th century BC Theban poet Pindar, called Tenerus ""the temple tending"