TFBT: The Seven Against Thebes

Over at the Kosmos Society one of the study groups was translating  Pausanias 10.10.3.  I did a little research on it.

 Near the horse are also other votive offerings of the Argives, likenesses of the captains of those who with Polyneices made war on Thebes: Adrastus, the son of Talaus, Tydeus, son of Oeneus, the descendants of Proteus, namely, Capaneus, son of Hipponous, and Eteoclus, son of Iphis, Polyneices, and Hippomedon, son of the sister of Adrastus. Near is represented the chariot of Amphiaraus, and in it stands Baton, a relative of Amphiaraus who served as his charioteer. The last of them is Alitherses.

Talaus had a son Adrastus.  Adrastus got some strange prophecy from Delphi telling him to wed his daughters to a lion and a boar.  Admetus had to deal with something similar  ( Apollodorus Bibl. 1.19.3,  Fabulae 50)  Adrastus found two guests fighting on the doorstep; one carrying a Theban shield ( think bottom half of the Sphinx) and the other a Calydonian shield (as in the Boar Hunt)  So he wed his daughters to them

• Argria to Polyneices banished co-king of Thebes and
• Deiphyle to Tydeus, father of Diomedes

Talaus had a daughter Eriphyle wed to Amphiaraus the seer.   With the help of Iphis’ advice, family politics and poisoned jewelry Amphiaraus  was forced to participate in the doomed expedition against Thebes.  His charioteer Baton and their chariot are mentioned by Pausanias because of what happens later.  (See below.)

Talaus had a daughter Metice, mother of  Hippomedon.  He has various parentages.

Iphis had;

• a daughter Evadne married to Capaneus and
• a son Eteoclus (Polyneices brother is named Eteocles, just to confuse us.)

Various lists can be found naming the Seven Against Thebes; none of them include the unknown Alithereses. 

For those that don’t recall; after Oedipus cursed his sons Polyneices and Eteocles, civil war broke out.  Polyneices raised an Argive army to insure his right to the throne.  After much epic battling and the death of several of the heroes  (See Thebaid) the brothers decided to settle it man-to-man.  They ended up slaying one another simultaneously in front of the gathered armies.  The Argives fled.  Adrastus was the only Argive captain to survive because he was on the divine horse Arion.  Amphiaraus,  Baton and their chariot were swallowed up whole by the earth.  The site became an underground oracle and both men received heroic honors.

 Part II is The Epigoni