Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Q83MYTH Greek Mythology: lecture 5 The Theban Cycle 2 Seven against Thebes [Homer] Thebaid Oedipus curses his sons because Polynices serves him from Laius’ cup, or because they failed to send him his portion of a sacrifice...Adrastus, Tydeus and Amphiaraus mentioned as among Seven...Amphiaraus & Adrastus quarrelled, but eventually reconciled with Am marrying Eriphyle, so if dispute arose again, she would arbitrate...Tydeus is wounded by Melanippus. Amphiaraus brings Tydeus his head, and he eats the brain. Athena was bringing him immortality but turned away in horror. T begged her to at least immortalise his son...Periclymenus slew Parthenopaeus...Adrastus is saved by his divine horse Arion. Aeschylus Seven Against Thebes (467BC) Teiresias has warned of an attack in the night, so Eteocles rallies the Thebans just as the Argives move out. The Seven are: Tydeus, Capaneus, Eteoclus, Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, Amphiaraus, and Polynices. A Theban champion goes to meet each. E and P are cursed by Oedipus to kill one another, in retribution for their grudging him at place at home. The rest of the Argives are routed. Antigone and Ismene mourn their brothers, and a herald announces that E may be interred, but P is to be thrown out unburied. A states that she will bury P, and the Chorus divide, one with each sister to bury each brother. Euripides Phoenissae (409BC) Jocasta and Oedipus are still alive, and their sons have imprisoned their blinded father. Seeking to avoid his curse that they would kill one another, they agreed to divide rule between them, but Eteocles refused to relinquish it, so Polynices went into exile and returned with an Argive army: Hippomedon, Tydeus, Parthenopaeus, Adrastus, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, and himself. Now the army is at the gates, and Jocasta summons her sons to a peace-talk. But they quarrel and separate: E stations a Theban champion on each gate. Creon sends for Teiresias, who prophesies that he must sacrifice his son, Menoeceus, to save the city. C refuses, but M kills himself. The Argives are routed, the brothers fight in single combat and kill each other, and Jocasta commits suicide. C exiles O and forbids the burial of Polynices; Antigone promises to bury her brother (though C threatens her with death), refuses marriage to C’s son Haemon, and goes into exile with O, who is prophesied to travel to Athens and die at Colonus. Burial of the Seven Sophocles Antigone (442-41BC?) The Argives have withdrawn in the night, and Creon has ordered the burial of Eteocles, but that Polynices be left unburied. Antigone determines to bury him; Ismene refuses to help. A succeeds, but C orders it undone. She is caught on the second attempt and states that it is the law of the gods to bury the dead. C orders her and I executed. Haemon, A’s fiancé, attempts to persuade him, succeeds in mitigating I’s sentence, but not A’s – the men quarrel and H threatens to die with his betrothed. She is taken out to be entombed alive. Teiresias prophesies that the gods want P buried, and H will die in retribution for C’s edicts if not. C goes to bury P, but is too late to release A, who has hung herself, and H, who slays himself in her tomb. His wife commits suicide, cursing him for the death of her sons. Euripides Suppliants (c.421BC?) The mothers and sons of the Seven, with Adrastus, supplicate at Eleusis for the burial of the Argives. They ask Aethra to persuade her son Theseus to recover the bodies. Eventually he agrees, but a messenger arrives from Thebes ordering him to refuse the supplication. He will not be swayed by tyranny, and leads a force against the city. Th wins and recovers the corpses of Capaneus, Eteoclus, Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, and Tydeus, over whom Ad performs a funeral speech. Capaneus’ widow, Evadne, commits suicide on his funeral pyre. The ashes are given to the sons, and Athena appears deus ex machina: she orders an Argive/Athenian alliance and that the Epigonoi avenge their fathers when they grow up. The Epigonoi [Homer?] Epigonoi Teiresias’ daughter Manto is sent to Delphi by the Epigonoi as part of the spoils.