Epigoni

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Epigoni

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Epigoni (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ?p??????, meaning "offspring") are the sons of the Argive heroes who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject of the Greek ThebaidThebaid (Greek poem)

The Thebaid is an Ancient Greece epic poem of uncertain authorship sometimes attributed by early writers to Homer. It told the story of the war between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, and was regarded as forming part of a Theban Cycle....
, in which 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 six allies (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....
) attacked Thebes

Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
because Polynices' brother, Eteocles

Eteocles

In Greek mythology, Eteocles was a king of Thebes , the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. The name is from earlier *Etewoklewes , meaning "truly glorious"....
, 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.

According to Apollodorus

Apollodorus

Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greeks scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace....
, they were:

To this list, Pausanias also adds:

Apollodorus and Pausanias tell the story of the war of the Epigoni, although their accounts differ in several respects.

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek language

Polynices

Seven Against Thebes

Thebes, Greece

Eteocles

Apollodorus

Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greeks scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace....
, they were:

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....
, son of Adrastus
Adrastus

Adrastus or Adrestus , traditionally translated as "nonparticipant" or "uncooperative", was a legendary king of Argos during the war of the Seven Against Thebes....
Alcmaeon, son of 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 ....
Amphilochus
Amphilochus

Amphilochus or Amph?lokhos may refer to:* In Greek mythology:** Amphilochus ** Amphilochus ** Husband of Alcinoe* Amphilochus, a genus in family Gammaridae...
, son of Amphiaraus
Diomedes
Diomedes

Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War. He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his grandfather, Adrastus....
, son of 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....
Euryalus
Euryalus

Euryalus refers to two different characters from classical literature:#In the Aeneid by Virgil, Nisus and Euryalus are ideal friends, who died during a raid on the Rutulians....
, son of 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....
Promachus
Promachus

In Greek mythology, Promachus referred to several different people.*Son of Aeson and Alcimede, killed by Pelias along with his father while his brother, Jason, searched for the Golden Fleece....
, son of Parthenopaeus
Sthenelus
Sthenelus

In Greek mythology, Sthenelus was a name attributed to four different individuals.*Sthenelus of Perseus and Andromeda .*Son of Capaneus and Evadne....
son of 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....
Thersander
Thersander

In Homer's Iliad, Thersander was one of the Epigoni, who attacked the city of Thebes in retaliation for the deaths of their fathers, the Seven Against Thebes, who had attempted the same thing....
son of 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....

To this list, Pausanias also adds:

Polydorus
Polydorus

In Greek mythology, Polydorus referred to several different people.#An Argive, son of Hippomedon. Pausanias lists him as one of the Epigoni, who attacked Thebes, Greece in retaliation for the deaths of their fathers, the Seven Against Thebes, who died attempting the same thing....
son of 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....

The war

Both Apollodorus and Pausanias tell the story of the war of the Epigoni, although their accounts differ in several respects. According to Apollodorus, the Delphic oracle had promised victory if Alcmaeon was chosen their leader, and so he was. Aegialeus was killed by Laodamas

Laodamas

In Greek mythology, La?damas referred to three different people.#Son of Antenor and Theano.#Son of Alcinous and Arete .#Son of Eteocles. Laodamas inherited Thebes from his father....
, son of Eteocles, but Alcmaeon killed Laodamas. The Thebans were defeated and, by the counsel of the seer Teiresias, fled their city. However, Pausanias says that Thersander was their leader, that Laodamas fled Thebes with the rest of the Thebans, and that Thersander became king of Thebes.

As a poetic theme

Epigoni
Epigoni (epic)

Epigoni was an early Greek epic, a sequel to the Thebaid and therefore grouped in the Theban cycle. Some ancient authors seem to have considered it a part of the Thebaid and not a separate poem....
(in Greek, ?p??????; "The Progeny") is the title of an early Greek epic on this subject; it formed a sequel to the Thebaid and therefore was grouped by Alexandrian critics in the Theban cycle

Theban Cycle

The Theban Cycle is a collection of four lost Epic poetry of ancient Greek literature which related the mythical history of the Boeotian city of Thebes, Greece....
. Some counted it not as a separate poem but as the last part of the Thebaid. Only the first line is now known:

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

Epigoni
The Progeny

The Progeny is an ancient Greek tragedy written by the Greek playwright Sophocles in the 5th century BC and based on Greek mythology.According to myth, Polynices and six allies attacked Thebes, Greece because Polynices' brother, Eteocles, refused to give up the throne as promised....
(Epigonoi or "The Progeny") is also the title of a lost Greek tragedy by Sophocles

Sophocles

Sophocles was the second of the three classical Greece tragedy whose work has survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus and earlier than those of Euripides....
. 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.

In art

There were statues of the Epigoni at Argos

Argos

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

Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
.