Eteocles

Eteocles was a king of Thebes, a son of Oedipus and brother of Polynices, who died in single combat with his brother when the Seven marched against Thebes. In Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes he is the city’s defender; in other accounts he is the brother who refused to give up the throne. Both brothers fell, fulfilling their father’s curse.

Family

Eteocles was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta, and the brother of Polynices, Antigone and Ismene (Sophocles, Antigone 21–30; Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8). Homer calls Oedipus’ wife Epicaste and does not name their children, and Pausanias, citing Homer, thought Oedipus had no children by her; Apollodorus says that according to some, the children were born to Eurygania, daughter of Hyperphas (Pausanias 9.5.10–11; Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8). Eteocles had a son, Laodamas, who became king after the duel, with Creon as regent (Pausanias 9.5.13).

The Quarrel over the Throne

When Oedipus was shut away, he cursed his sons. In Euripides’ Phoenician Women, Oedipus prayed that they would divide the house with the sword. The brothers, afraid that the curse would come true if they lived together, made an agreement: the younger, Polynices, would go into exile, and Eteocles would keep the sceptre, with the two changing places year by year (Euripides, Phoenician Women 63–76). Once Eteocles was seated on the throne he would not give it up and drove Polynices out of the country (Phoenician Women 74–76). When the brothers meet before the war, Polynices tells it the same way: he left of his own free will, giving Eteocles the rule for a year so that he could take his turn afterwards, but Eteocles, though he had sworn by the gods, kept nothing of what he had promised (Phoenician Women 473–483).

The sources do not agree on the order of events. In Apollodorus the brothers agreed to rule in alternate years; some say Polynices ruled first and handed over to Eteocles after a year, others say that Eteocles ruled first and refused to hand over, so that Polynices went to Argos, taking the necklace and the robe (Apollodorus, Library 3.6.1). In Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus Polynices says that he was the elder and thought he should sit on the throne, but Eteocles, the younger, drove him out of the country, having persuaded the city (Oedipus at Colonus 1292–1298). In Pausanias, Polynices left Thebes while Oedipus was still alive for fear of the curses, married a daughter of Adrastus, and came back when Eteocles called him after Oedipus’ death; they quarrelled, and Polynices was exiled a second time (Pausanias 9.5.12).

Oedipus’ Curse

In Apollodorus, Oedipus cursed his sons when he was driven from Thebes, because they saw him cast out without lifting a hand to help him (Library 3.5.9). In Sophocles, the blind Oedipus refuses Polynices at Colonus, reproaches him for driving his father out, and prays that his son will conquer neither the land nor return to Argos but die by a kinsman’s hand and kill the one who exiled him. He says that he had already cursed both sons (Oedipus at Colonus 1354–1396, with 421–427). In the Seven against Thebes Eteocles recognises the same curse as it takes effect (Aeschylus, Seven 653–655).

Eteocles in the Seven against Thebes

Polynices went to Argos, married a daughter of Adrastus, and gathered an army (Apollodorus, Library 3.6.1). In Aeschylus’ play, Eteocles stands on the stage as the leader of a city under siege. A scout describes the seven champions who have been given the gates (Aeschylus, Seven against Thebes 375–380), and Eteocles posts a defender against each. When the scout names the seventh, his own brother, who prays to climb the walls and either kill Eteocles and die beside him or drive him out as he himself was driven out, Eteocles cries that the curses of Oedipus are coming true (Seven 631–655). He decides to meet him in person, ruler against ruler, brother against brother, enemy against enemy (Seven 672–676).

Death

The brothers killed each other in single combat. Aeschylus ends with a messenger who tells how the two generals divided their property with iron, and will hold the land they have taken in their graves, carried off by their father’s prayers (Aeschylus, Seven 804–820). In Euripides’ Phoenician Women, Polynices prays to Hera and Eteocles to Athena, and the two stand between the armies for the duel (Phoenician Women 1356–1375). In Apollodorus, the two armies agree that the brothers shall fight a single combat for the kingdom, and they slay each other (Library 3.6.8).

Eteocles was buried with honour, while Creon ordered that Polynices lie unburied; Antigone defied him (Sophocles, Antigone 21–30).

Another Eteocles

Eteocles of Orchomenus, in Boeotia, was said by the Boeotians to be the son of the river Cephissus, or in other accounts of Andreus and Euippe. He was the first to sacrifice to the Graces, and Boeotian tradition says he established three Graces (Pausanias 9.34.9, 9.35.1).

Eteocles Sources

Aeschylus, Seven against Thebes 1–10, 375–380, 631–676, 804–820; Sophocles, Antigone 21–30, Oedipus at Colonus 421–427, 1292–1298, 1354–1396; Euripides, Phoenician Women 63–80, 473–483, 1356–1375; Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8–9, 3.6.1, 3.6.8; Pausanias 9.5.10–13, 9.34.9, 9.35.1.

See Also: Oedipus, Jocasta, Polynices, Antigone, Ismene, Creon, Seven Against Thebes