written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiktyon
“Seven against Thebes” are the name of the Theban Wars that took place in prehistoric times. Two twin brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, heirs to the Theban throne, decided to reign together for one year each. However, Eteocles expelled Polynices and he fled to Argos to King Adrastus. Tydeus had also fled there at that time. The two of them married the two daughters of Adrastus. He wanted to restore his sons-in-law to their homelands: for this reason he formed the infamous alliance of seven rulers in order to fight the Thebans, namely:
1/ Adrastus of Talaus 2/ Amphiaraus of Oicleus, 3/ Hippomedon of Aristomachus, 4/ Kapaneus of Hipponous (all Argives) 5/ Parthenopeus of Arcas, 6/ Polynices of Oedipus of Thebes 7/ Tydeus of Oeneus of Aetolia. There were others, but the most important were the seven. The army was called the Argives.
They moved and arrived at Nemea, where the death of Archemorus occurred. This was considered a bad omen. They held a funeral athletic competition in his honor, and Adrastus won the horse race, Eteocles the stadium, Tydeus the boxing, Amphiaraus the jumping and discus, Laodocus the javelin, .(Lie that the Olympic Games began in 774 BC. They began in prehistoric times)
Polynices the wrestling and Parthenopeus the archery. Then they camped at Kithairon and sent Tydeus the ambassador to Thebes in order to peacefully request the kingdom and succession of Polynices. Since the ambassador returned without doing anything, they continued the campaign against Thebes, which they besieged. The city had seven (7) gates called:
Homoloides, Ogygias, Ogaides, Proitides, Hypsistes, Crinides and Electres. Each ruler took charge of a gate: Adrastus in the Homoloides, Capaneus in the Ogygiae, Amphiaraus in the Proiteis, Hippomedon in the Ogaides, Polynices in the Hypsistes, Parthenopeus in the Electres and Tydeus in the Crinides.
Eteocles also appointed seven generals each to be in charge of one of their gates, namely: Ismarus, Leades, Melanippus, Amphidicus, the sons of Astacus, Periklymenos of Poseidon, Creon and Eteocles. Then they planned how they would defeat the enemies.
The seer Tiresias said that victory would be for the Thebans if Menoikeus was sacrificed to Ares. When Menoeceus heard this, he voluntarily slaughtered himself in front of the Gates. After this, the Thebans were encouraged and, having come out of the Gates, fought valiantly. But they were defeated and driven out and entered the city.
Capaneus erected a ladder and climbed the wall, but there Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt. Then, having come out again, the Thebans drove out the Argives. Because many were killed on each side, it was deemed appropriate that the two brothers Eteocles and Polynices fight a duel. Both were killed in the duel. A fierce battle then took place in which the children of Astacus distinguished themselves. And Ismarus killed Hippomedon, Leades killed Eteoclon, Amphiaraus killed Parthenopaeon, and Melanippus mortally wounded Tydeus, who before he died killed Melanippus. Such a massacre occurred that only Adrastus came out of the battle unharmed and fled to Athens as a suppliant.
There he asked for help to bury the dead, because King Creon would not give them permission to bury them. After this, Theseus marched and won, or according to others, he convinced the Thebans and took the piles. This was the end of the war about which tragedies were written by the Athenian lyric poets. Commentary:
1/ Menoikeus, in order to save his homeland, committed “self-immolation”. He did what the Japanese call “hara-kiri” (Everything started in Greece!!)
2/ On the one hand, the ruler of Thebes, Creon, is presented as a representative of human law. On the other hand, Antigone, courageous, selfless and devoted to her duty, daughter of Oedipus, appears as a strong defender of the ancient, unwritten, sacred, divine law. The conflict of these two figures is the center of the tragedy “Antigone” by Sophocles.
3/ Polynices, the claimant to the throne usurped by Eteocles, despite their agreement to share it successively each year, marched against Thebes with his father-in-law and five other Argive leaders. The curse of their father, Oedipus, was confirmed and the two brothers killed each other in a duel.
4/ The more dynamic of Oedipus’ two daughters, Antigone, calls on her sister Ismene to help her bury their brothers Polynices and Eteocles and informs her of the prohibitive order of their uncle Creon, who had in the meantime taken over the government of Thebes, who forbids burial
5/ Antigone dares to violate human law in order to be in accordance with the unwritten, divine law. On the contrary, her sister Ismene is timid and does not follow
6/ States follow written law and are indifferent to divine law. Their opinion is the state interest (In all wars Greece and Cyprus were on the side of Britain and yet it handed over N. Cyprus to the Turks)
7/ The exception is criminal Turkey. It maintains the agreements as long as they suit it and is inflexible, unfriendly and murderous not only towards foreigners but also towards its own citizens.
8/ In our time, written law in the EU has lost its legal value and objectivity, because it is constructed by the bureaucrats of Brussels, far from the people, in “directives”. These are mandatory without any change by the Parliaments of the member countries. The EU is a little different from bureaucratic China and this is the reason why people are opposed to the arbitrary and undemocratic bureaucracy of Brussels (23/5/25)