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Epigoni

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For other uses, seeEpigoni (disambiguation).

InGreek mythology,theEpigoniorEpigonoi(/ɪˈpɪɡənaɪ/;fromGreek:Ἐπίγονοι,meaning "offspring" ) are the sons of theArgiveheroes, theSeven against Thebes,who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject of theThebaid,in whichPolynicesand his allies attackedThebesbecause 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[edit]

According to the mythographerApollodorus,they were:[1]

To this list, the geographerPausaniasalso adds:[2]

Hyginus also makes note of:[3]

Comparative Table of Epigoni's List
Epigoni Father among Seven Sources
Against Thebes Apollodorus Pausanias Hyginus
Aegialeus Adrastus ✓ ✓ ✓
Alcmaeon Amphiaraus ✓ ✓ ✓
Amphilochus Amphiaraus ✓ ✓
Diomedes Tydeus ✓ ✓ ✓
Euryalus Mecisteus ✓ ✓
Promachus Parthenopaeus ✓ ✓
Sthenelus Capaneus ✓ ✓ ✓
Thersander Polynices ✓ ✓ ✓
Polydorus Hippomedon ✓ ✓
Adrastus Polynices ✓
Timeas Polynices ✓
Biantes ✓
Tlesimenes ✓

The war[edit]

Both Apollodorus and Pausanias tell the story of the war of the Epigoni, although their accounts differ in several respects. According to Apollodorus, theDelphic oraclehad promised victory if Alcmaeon was chosen their leader, and so he was.[4]Aegialeus was killed byLaodamas,son of Eteocles, but Alcmaeon killed Laodamas.[5]The Thebans were defeated and, by the counsel of the seerTeiresias,fled their city. However, Pausanias says that Thersander was their leader,[6]that Laodamas fled Thebes with the rest of the Thebans,[7]and that Thersander became king of Thebes.[8]

As a poetic theme[edit]

Epigoniwas an early Greek epic on this subject;[9]it formed a sequel to theThebaidand therefore was grouped by Alexandrian critics in theTheban cycle.Some counted it not as a separate poem but as the last part of theThebaid.Only the first line is now known:

Now, Muses, let us begin to sing of younger men...

Epigoniwas a lostGreek tragedybySophocles.A few lines from this text have long been known because they were quoted in commentaries and lexica by ancient scholars. An additional fragment of several lines was discovered in 2005.[10]

In art[edit]

There were statues of the Epigoni atArgos[11]andDelphi.[12]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Apollodorus,3.7.2.
  2. ^Pausanias,2.20.5.
  3. ^Hyginus,§71.
  4. ^Apollodorus,3.7.2.
  5. ^Apollodorus,3.7.3.
  6. ^Pausanias,7.3.1,9.9.4.
  7. ^Pausanias,9.5.13,9.9.5.
  8. ^Pausanias,9.5.14.
  9. ^Herodotus,4.32.1.
  10. ^"Eureka! Extraordinary discovery unlocks secrets of the ancients",David Keys and Nicholas Pyke,The Independent on Sunday,no. 791, 17 April 2005, p. 1. Appears on websitePapyrology at Oxford.
  11. ^Pausanias,2.20.5.
  12. ^Pausanias,10.10.4.

References[edit]

  • Apollodorus,Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.Cambridge, Massachusetts,Harvard University Press;London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Herodotus;Histories,A. D. Godley(translator), Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard University Press,1920;ISBN0674991338.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Pausanias,Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Hyginus,Fabulae,Mary Grant (translator and editor), University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies, no. 34.Online Version at ToposText.

External links[edit]

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