Megareus

Megareus was a son of Creon of Thebes. In Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes he is one of the Theban defenders, sent by Eteocles to hold the Neistan gate against the attacking Argive captain Eteoclus, and in Sophocles’ Antigone his mother Eurydice mourns his death, which came before the events of the play. The name Megareus also belongs to a different hero, Megareus of Onchestus, who is linked with the city of Megara.

Megareus, Son of Creon

Megareus belonged to the family of the kings of Thebes. His father was Creon, the son of Menoeceus, who succeeded to the kingdom of Thebes after the death of Laius and, after Eteocles and Polynices fell, governed again as regent for Eteocles’ young son Laodamas (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8; Pausanias 9.5.13). Aeschylus calls him “Creon’s seed, of the race of the Sown Men,” meaning that his family went back to the men who had grown from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus (Seven Against Thebes 474). Sophocles names Creon’s wife as Eurydice and gives her two sons, Haemon, the youngest, who dies with Antigone, and Megareus, whose death came earlier (Sophocles, Antigone 626–628, 1180–1183, 1301–1305).

Antigone and Ismene were not Creon’s children. They were the daughters of Oedipus and Jocasta, who was Creon’s sister, so that Megareus was a cousin of Antigone and Ismene, and of Eteocles and Polynices (Sophocles, Antigone 1–3; Euripides, Phoenician Women 10–12).

Megareus at the Neistan Gate

In Aeschylus, the Argive army comes against the seven gates of Thebes, and Eteocles names a defender for each. For the third gate, the Neistan gate, the Argives had drawn the lot for Eteoclus, who drove his horses against it, snorting in their bridles (Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 458–469). The messenger urges him to send a dependable man against him, and Eteocles answers that the man has already been sent: Megareus, whose boast is in his hands, that is, in deeds rather than words. Eteocles says that Megareus will not withdraw from the gate in fear of the din of the horses; he will either die and repay the earth for his upbringing, or capture two men and the city painted on the shield of Eteoclus, and adorn his father’s house with the spoils (Seven Against Thebes 470–479).

Aeschylus does not describe the fight or what happens to Megareus afterwards. In Sophocles the death of Megareus is only mentioned: Eurydice, before she kills herself at the altar, laments “the noble fate of Megareus who died earlier,” then the fate of Haemon, and with her last breath curses Creon as the slayer of her sons (Antigone 1301–1305).

Menoeceus

A different son of Creon, Menoeceus, appears in Euripides’ Phoenician Women. Teiresias tells Creon that Thebes can be saved only if Menoeceus is sacrificed over the dragon’s den, and that his blood must be given to the earth for the old anger of Ares (Phoenician Women 911–934). Creon tries to send his son away, but Menoeceus goes to the top of the walls and kills himself there to save the city (Phoenician Women 962–976, 991–1018, 1090–1092). Pausanias saw the tomb of Menoeceus very near the Neistan gate and says that he killed himself in obedience to an oracle from Delphi (Pausanias 9.25.1). This sacrifice belongs to Menoeceus; no ancient source tells it of Megareus.

Megareus of Onchestus

Another Megareus came from Onchestus in Boeotia. Apollodorus calls him a son of Hippomenes and says that he came from Onchestus to help Nisus, king of Megara, when Minos attacked, and was killed by Minos (Library 3.15.8). Pausanias reports that the Boeotians called him a son of Poseidon, who died fighting for Nisus and was buried at Megara, which was named after him; the Megarians themselves said that he married Nisus’ daughter Iphinoe and succeeded him as king (Pausanias 1.39.5–6, 1.42.1). In their account Megareus had two sons: the elder, Timalcus, was killed by Theseus, and the younger, Euippus, by the lion of Cithaeron. Megareus promised his daughter and his kingdom to the man who killed the lion; this was Alcathous, the son of Pelops, who then became king (Pausanias 1.41.3). The daughter, Euaechme, became the wife of Alcathous (Pausanias 1.43.4). Ovid calls this Megareus of Onchestus the father of Hippomenes, the suitor of Atalanta, and Poseidon his grandfather (Metamorphoses 10.605–606).

Megareus Sources

Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 458–480; Sophocles, Antigone 1–3, 626–628, 1180–1183, 1301–1305; Euripides, Phoenician Women 10–12, 911–934, 962–976, 991–1018, 1090–1092; Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8, 3.15.8; Pausanias 1.39.5–6, 1.41.3, 1.42.1, 1.43.4, 9.5.13, 9.25.1; Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.605–606.

See Also: Creon, Eurydice, Haemon, Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles, Polynices, Seven Against Thebes, Teiresias, Nisus