Adrastus

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Adrastus

Adrastus or Adrestus (Ionic

Ionic Greek

Ionic Greek was a sub-dialect of the Attic-Ionic dialectal group of Ancient Greek .Ionic dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C....
), traditionally translated as "nonparticipant" or "uncooperative", was a legendary king of Argos

Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
during the war of the Seven Against Thebes

Seven Against Thebes

The Seven against Thebes is a mythic narrative whose classic statement is found in the play by Aeschylus concerning the battle between the Seven led by Polynices, traditional Theban enemies, and the army of Thebes, Greece headed by Eteocles and his supporters....
.

as a son of Talaus

Talaus

In Greek mythology, Talaus was the king of Argos and one of the Argonauts. He was the son of Bias and Pero. His wife was Lysimache, daughter of Abas....
and Lysimache

Lysimache

Lysimache is the name of two characters in Greek mythology:*Lysimache, daughter of Abas and Cyrene . She married king Talaus of Argos and bore him these children: Adrastus, Parthenopaeus, Mecisteus, Hippomedon, Pronax, Aristomachus, and Eriphyle....
. Pausanias

Pausanias

Pausanias *Pausanias , lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's Symposium*Pausanias , Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC...
calls his mother Lysianassa

Lysianassa

Lysianassa is the name of four characters in Greek mythology:*Lysianassa, one of the Nereids.*Lysianassa, daughter of Epaphus. She bore Poseidon a son, Busiris, king of Egypt....
, and Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus was a Latin author, though whether a native of Spain or of Alexandria it is not clear, a pupil of the famous Alexander Cornelius, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus, by whom he was made superintendent of the Palatine library, according to Suetonius' minor works, De Grammaticis, 20....
calls her Eurynome

Eurynome

In Greek mythology, there were many women with the name Eur?nom?, with the possible significance "far-wandering" .#The Eurynome , or daughter of Oceanus....
. He was one of the three kings at Argos

Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
, along with Iphis and Amphiaraus

Amphiaraus

In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus was the son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle. Amphiaraus was the King of Argos along with Adrastus? the brother of Amphiaraus' wife, Eriphyle? and Iphis ....
, who was married to Adrastus's sister Eriphyle

Eriphyle

In Greek mythology, Eriphyle, daughter of Talaus, was the mother of Alcmaeon and the wife of Amphiaraus. Eriphyle persuaded Amphiaraus to take part in the raid that initiated the mythic tale of the Seven Against Thebes, though she knew he would die....
. He was married to either Amphithea

Amphithea

Amphithea is the name of four women in Greek mythology1. Amphithea, wife of Lycurgus , king of Nemea, and mother of Opheltes 2. Amphithea, daughter of Pronax....
, daughter of Pronax

Pronax

Pronax is the son of Talaus and Lysimache, and brother of Adrastus. The Nemean Games are supposed to have been instituted in his honour....
, or to Demonassa

Demonassa

In Greek mythology, Demonassa was a name attributed to four women.*Demonassa, daughter of Amphiaraus, king of Argos and Eriphyle. She married Thersander and had a son, Tisamenus....
.

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Adrastus or Adrestus (Ionic

Ionic Greek

Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
during the war of the Seven Against Thebes

Seven Against Thebes

Mythological tradition

He was a son of Talaus

Talaus

In Greek mythology, Talaus was the king of Argos and one of the Argonauts. He was the son of Bias and Pero. His wife was Lysimache, daughter of Abas....
and Lysimache

Lysimache

Pausanias

Pausanias *Pausanias , lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's Symposium*Pausanias , Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC...
calls his mother Lysianassa

Lysianassa

Gaius Julius Hyginus

Eurynome

Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
, along with Iphis and Amphiaraus

Amphiaraus

Eriphyle

Amphithea

Amphithea is the name of four women in Greek mythology1. Amphithea, wife of Lycurgus , king of Nemea, and mother of Opheltes 2. Amphithea, daughter of Pronax....
, daughter of Pronax

Pronax

Pronax is the son of Talaus and Lysimache, and brother of Adrastus. The Nemean Games are supposed to have been instituted in his honour....
, or to Demonassa

Demonassa

In Greek mythology, Demonassa was a name attributed to four women.*Demonassa, daughter of Amphiaraus, king of Argos and Eriphyle. She married Thersander and had a son, Tisamenus....
. His daughters Argea

Argea

In Greek mythology, Argea or Argia was a daughter of King Adrastus of Argos, and of Amphithea, daughter of Pronax. She was married to Polynices, the exiled king of Thebes , and bore him three sons: Thersander, Adrastus, and Timeas....
and Deipyle

Deipyle

In Greek mythology, Deipyle or Dipyle was the daughter of Adrastus and Amphithea, mother of Diomedes and wife of Tydeus....
married Polynices

Polynices

In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes , leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule....
and Tydeus

Tydeus

In Greek mythology, Tydeus was the father of Diomedes and husband of Deipyle. He was a son of Oeneus and either Periboea, Oeneus's second wife, or Gorge, Oeneus's daughter....
, respectively. His other children include Aegialia

Aegialia

Aegialia is a genus of beetle in family Scarabaeidae. It contains the following species:* Aegialia concinna* Aegialia crescenta...
, Aegialeus
Aegialeus

In Greek mythology, Aegialeus is a name attributed several individuals.* Aegialeus was the elder son of Adrastus, a king of Argos, and either Amphithea or Demonassa....
, and Cyanippus.

During a feud between the most powerful houses in Argos
Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
, Talaus was slain by Amphiaraus
Amphiaraus

In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus was the son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle. Amphiaraus was the King of Argos along with Adrastus? the brother of Amphiaraus' wife, Eriphyle? and Iphis ....
, and Adrastus being expelled from his dominions fled to Polybus, then king of Sicyon
Sicyon

Sikyon was an ancient Greece city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth, Greece and Achaea. The king-list given by Pausanias comprises twenty-four kings, beginning with the autochthonous Aegialeus; the penultimate king of the list, Agamemnon, compels the submission of Sicyon to Mycenae; after him comes the Dorian usurper Pha...
. When Polybus died without heirs, Adrastus succeeded him on the throne of Sicyon, and during his reign he is said to have instituted the Nemean Games
Nemean Games

The Nemean Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, and were held at Nemea every two years.With the Isthmian Games, the Nemean Games were held both the year before and the year after the Olympic Games and the Pythian Games in the third year of the Olympiad cycle....
.

According to "Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece" by Edward E. Barthell, he states that Adrastus is the son of Talaus and Lysimache (daughter of Abas). He married Amphitheia, daughter of his brother Pronax, and became the father of a son, Aegialeus, and four daughters: Aegialeia, who became the wife of Diomedes (son of Tydeus); Argeia, who became the wife of Polyneices (son of Oedipus); Deipyle, who became the wife of Tydeus (son of Oeneus); and Eurydice, who became the wife of the Trojan king, Ilus (son of Tros).

Seven against Thebes
Afterwards, however, Adrastus became reconciled to Amphiaraus
Amphiaraus

In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus was the son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle. Amphiaraus was the King of Argos along with Adrastus? the brother of Amphiaraus' wife, Eriphyle? and Iphis ....
, gave him his sister Eriphyle
Eriphyle

In Greek mythology, Eriphyle, daughter of Talaus, was the mother of Alcmaeon and the wife of Amphiaraus. Eriphyle persuaded Amphiaraus to take part in the raid that initiated the mythic tale of the Seven Against Thebes, though she knew he would die....
in marriage, and returned to his kingdom of Argos upon the swift immortal horse Arion
Arion (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Areion or Arion is a divinely-bred, extremely swift immortal horse which, according to the Latin poet Sextus Propertius, was endowed with spoken language....
, a gift of Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
. During the time he reigned there it happened that Tydeus
Tydeus

In Greek mythology, Tydeus was the father of Diomedes and husband of Deipyle. He was a son of Oeneus and either Periboea, Oeneus's second wife, or Gorge, Oeneus's daughter....
of Calydon
Calydon

Calydon was an ancient Greece city in Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus. According to Greek mythology, the city took its name from its founder Calydon, son of Aetolus, son of Endymion....
and Polynices
Polynices

In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes , leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule....
of Thebes
Thebes

Thebes may refer to one of the following places:* Thebes, Egypt – Thebes of the Hundred Gates; one-time capital of the New Kingdom of Egypt...
, both fugitives from their native countries, met at Argos near the palace of Adrastus, and came to words and from words to blows. On hearing the noise, Adrastus hastened to them and separated the combatants, in whom he immediately recognised the two men that had been promised to him by an oracle as the future husbands of two of his daughters; for one bore on his shield the figure of a boar, and the other that of a lion, and the oracle was that one of his daughters was to marry a boar and the other a lion. Adrastus therefore gave his daughter Deipyle to Tydeus, and Argeia to Polynices, and at the same time promised to lead each of these princes back to his own country. Adrastus now prepared for war against Thebes, although Amphiaraus foretold that all who should engage in it should perish, with the exception of Adrastus.

Thus arose the celebrated war of the Seven against Thebes
Seven Against Thebes

The Seven against Thebes is a mythic narrative whose classic statement is found in the play by Aeschylus concerning the battle between the Seven led by Polynices, traditional Theban enemies, and the army of Thebes, Greece headed by Eteocles and his supporters....
, in which Adrastus was joined by six other heroes, Polynices
Polynices

In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes , leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule....
, Tydeus
Tydeus

In Greek mythology, Tydeus was the father of Diomedes and husband of Deipyle. He was a son of Oeneus and either Periboea, Oeneus's second wife, or Gorge, Oeneus's daughter....
, Amphiaraus
Amphiaraus

In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus was the son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle. Amphiaraus was the King of Argos along with Adrastus? the brother of Amphiaraus' wife, Eriphyle? and Iphis ....
, Capaneus
Capaneus

In Greek mythology, Capaneus was a son of Hipponous and Astynome, and husband of Evadne, with whom he fathered Sthenelus.According to the legend, Capaneus had immense strength and body size and was an outstanding warrior....
, Hippomedon
Hippomedon

In Greek mythology, Hippomedon was one of the Seven Against Thebes and father of Polydorus. His father was either Talaus, the father of Adrastus, or Aristomachus, his brother, and his mother may have been Metidice, Adrastus' sister....
, and Parthenopaeus. Instead of Tydeus and Polynices other legends mention Eteoclos and Mecisteus
Mecisteus

In Greek mythology, Mecisteus was the son of Talaus and Lysimache. He participated in the attack on the city of Thebes with the Seven Against Thebes, along with his brother Adrastus....
. This war ended as unfortunately as Amphiaraus had predicted, and Adrastus alone was saved by the swiftness of his horse Arion.

After the battle, Creon
Creon

Creon is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes,_Greece in the legend of Oedipus. He was the father of Menoeceus and Megara by his wife, Eurydice of Thebes....
, king of Thebes, ordered that none of the fallen enemies were to be given funeral rites. Against his order, Antigone
Antigone

Antigone is the name of two different women in Greek mythology. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood" or "in place of a mother" based from the root gone, "that which generates" ....
buried Polynices and was put to death, but Adrastus escaped to Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
to petition Theseus
Theseus

For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra , and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night....
, the city's king, to attack Thebes and force the return of the bodies of the remaining five. Theseus initially refused but was convinced by his mother, Aethra
Aethra

In Greek mythology, Aethra or Aithra was a name applied to three individuals:...
, who had been beseeched by the mothers of the fallen, to put the matter to a vote of the citizens. The Athenians marched on Thebes and conquered the city but inflicted no additional damage, taking only what they came for, the five bodies. They were laid upon a funeral pyre and Adrastus eulogized each.

Second war against Thebes
Ten years after this Adrastus persuaded the seven sons of the heroes who had fallen in the war against Thebes to make a new attack upon that city, and Amphiaraus
Amphiaraus

In Greek mythology, Amphiaraus was the son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle. Amphiaraus was the King of Argos along with Adrastus? the brother of Amphiaraus' wife, Eriphyle? and Iphis ....
now declared that the gods approved of the undertaking, and promised success. This war is celebrated in ancient story as the War of the Epigoni
Epigoni

In Greek mythology, 'Epigoni' are the sons of the Argive heroes who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject of the Thebaid , in which Polynices and six allies attacked Thebes, Greece because Polynices' brother, Eteocles, refused to give up the throne as promised....
. Thebes was taken and razed to the ground, after the greater part of its inhabitants had left the city on the advice of Tiresias
Tiresias

In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes , famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated in fully seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus himself....
. The only Argive hero that fell in this war was Aegialeus
Aegialeus

In Greek mythology, Aegialeus is a name attributed several individuals.* Aegialeus was the elder son of Adrastus, a king of Argos, and either Amphithea or Demonassa....
, the son of Adrastus. After having built a temple of Nemesis
Nemesis (mythology)

Nemesis , also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia , at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, Greece, in Greek mythology was the spirit of divine punitive justice against those who succumb to hubris, vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess....
in the neighborhood of Thebes, he set out on his return home. But weighed down by old age and grief at the death of his son he died at Megara
Megara

Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens....
and was buried there. After his death he was worshipped in several parts of Greece, as at Megara, at Sicyon where his memory was celebrated in tragic choruses, and in Attica
Attica

Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
.

The legends about Adrastus and the two wars against Thebes have furnished ample materials for the epic as well as tragic poets of Greece, and some works of art relating to the stories about Adrastus are mentioned in Pausanias.

From Adrastus the female patronymic "Adrastine" was formed.

Sources