In Greek mythology, the Epigoni or Epigonoi (; from , meaning "offspring") are the sons of the Argive heroes, the Seven against Thebes, who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject of the Thebaid, in which Polynices and his allies attacked Thebes because 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
According to the mythographer Apollodorus, they were:
[Apollodorus, 3.7.2.]
To this list, the geographer Pausanias also adds:[Pausanias, 2.20.5.]
Hyginus also makes note of:[Hyginus, §71.]
| +Comparative Table of Epigoni's List
! rowspan="2" | Epigoni
!Father among Seven
! colspan="3" | Sources |
|
| 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
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.
[Apollodorus, 3.7.2.] Aegialeus was killed by
Laodamas, son of Eteocles, but Alcmaeon killed Laodamas.
[Apollodorus, 3.7.3.] The Thebans were defeated and, by the counsel of the seer
Teiresias, fled their city. However, Pausanias says that Thersander was their leader,
[Pausanias, 7.3.1, 9.9.4.] that Laodamas fled Thebes with the rest of the Thebans,
[Pausanias, 9.5.13, 9.9.5.] and that Thersander became king of Thebes.
[Pausanias, 9.5.14.]
As a poetic theme
Epigoni was an early Greek epic on this subject;
[Herodotus, 4.32.1.] it formed a sequel to the
Thebaid and therefore was grouped by Alexandrian critics in the
Theban cycle. 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 was a lost Greek tragedy by Sophocles. 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.[ "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 website Papyrology at Oxford.]
In art
There were statues of the Epigoni at
Ancient Argos[Pausanias, 2.20.5.] and
Delphi.
[Pausanias, 10.10.4.]
Notes
-
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; . 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
