Skip to main content

Thebes

thebes
Thebes is a city in the region of Boeotia in Greece, which provided the setting for various myths and stories. Cadmus, a Phoenician king, was the mythical founder of the city; the myth has it that after getting advice from the Oracle of Delphi, he had to follow a cow and build a city wherever the animal would stop. After it stopped, Cadmus decided to sacrifice it to the gods and asked his men to get some water from a nearby spring, which was guarded by a dragon. The dragon killed most of his men, before it was slain by Cadmus. Advised by Athena, Cadmus sew half of the dragon's teeth, and armed soldiers sprang out of the ground, the Spartoi. Cadmus threw a stone among them, who confused about who had done it, started fighting each other. Only five survived, who helped Cadmus build Thebes.
However, one of the most prominent sagas of Greek mythology that took place in Thebes was the story of Laius, and everything that resulted from his deeds. Although he was the rightful heir to the throne, it was usurped by Amphion and Zethus. Laius found refuge in the court of Pisa in the Pelopponese, where King Pelops warmly welcomed him. He then raped and abducted Pelops' son, Chrissipus, and went back to Thebes, where he was restored to the throne. Later, he married Jocasta, but he received an oracle that he should not have a child or the child would kill him and marry his wife. However, one night he was so drunk that he slept with Jocasta and impregnated her with Oedipus. The story of Oedipus also takes place in the city of Thebes.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Danaus

Loud was the song of the Muses about Danaus, first of a line of great kings and heroes. King Danaus of Libya had fifty daughters, his brother, King Aegyptus, had fifty sons. The fifty sons wanted to marry the fifty daughters, but they were rough and rowdy and King Danaus did not want them for sons-in-law. He feared that they might carry off his daughters by force, so secretly he built a ship with fifty oars and fled with his daughters. The fifty princesses pulled at the oars and rowed the ship across the wide sea. They reached Argos, in Greece, and when the people there saw the king standing in the prow of a gorgeous ship rowed by princesses, they were awed. They were certain that Danaus had been sent by the gods, and made him their king. Danaus was a good ruler, and peace and happiness reigned in Argos until one day another splendid ship arrived. And who should be at the oars but King Aegyptus' fifty sons, who had come to claim their brides. Danaus did not dare to oppose th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Briareus, Gyges and Cottus

BRIAREOS (Briareus) was one of the Hekantonkheires (Hecatoncheires), three primordial hundred-handed, fifty-headed storm giants. He was more specifically a god of sea-storms and in this guise he was often named Aigaion (Of the Aegean). Briareos wed Poseidon 's daughter Kymopoleia ("Wave-Ranging") and dwelt with her in the depths of the sea. His two brothers, on the other hand, were appointed guardians of the gates of the storm-pit Tartaros. According to some Aigaios (Aegaeus) was a storm-giant ally of the Titanes and father of Briareos instead of a just a by-name of Briareos himself. AEGAEON (Aigaiôn), a son of Uranus by Gaea . Aegaeon and his brothers Gyges and Cottus are known under the name of the Uranids, and are described as huge monsters with a hundred arms (hekatoncheires) and fifty heads. Most writers mention the third Uranid under the name of Briareus instead of Aegaeon, which is explained in a passage of Homer, who says that men called him Aegaeon, but ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The First Labour: The Nemean Lion

THE First Labour which Eurystheus imposed on Heracles , when he came to reside at Tiryns, was to kill and flay the Nemean, or Cleonaean lion, an enormous beast with a pelt proof against iron, bronze, and stone. b. Although some call this lion the offspring of Typhon , or of the Chimaera and the Dog Orthrus , others say that Selene bore it with a fearful shudder and dropped it to earth on Mount Tretus near Nemea, beside a two-mouthed cave; and that, in punishment for an unfulfilled sacrifice, she set it to prey upon her own people, the chief sufferers being the Bambinaeaus. c. Still others say that, at Hera’s desire, Selene created the lion from sea foam enclosed in a large ark; and that Iris, binding it with her girdle, carried it to the Nemean mountains. These were named after a daughter of Asopus, or of Zeus and Selene; and the lion’s cave is still shown about two miles from the city of Nemea. d. Arriving at Cleonae, between Corinth and Argos, Heracles lodged in the hou...
Post a Comment
Read more