Epigoni

• After Born

• Aftermath

After Born

At the funerals of the seven fallen leaders, their sons could not rest until they avenged their fathers' deaths. They vowed that someday they would conquer Thebes. The only survivor of the Argive chieftains was Adrastus, king of Argos.

Adrastus had a son named Aegialeus, while Amphiaraüs (Amphiaraus) had Alcmeon and Amphilochus. Other leaders each had only one son, except Eteoclus who had died childless. Mecisteus was the father of Euryalus; Capaneus was father of Sthenelus; Hippomedon of Polydorus; and Parthenopaeüs (Parthenopaeus) of Promachus. Polyneices was the father of Thersander, while Tydeus was the father of Diomedes. (See Facts and Figures.)

These sons of the Seven chieftains became known as the Epigoni (After-Born).

Amphiaraüs' son Alcmeon became the leader of the new army, as the oracle of Delphi had advised them. The aged king Adrastus also decided to accompany the Epigoni to Thebes. Amphiaraüs also told his sons to not only avenge him on the Thebans, but also against their mother Eriphyle, who had accepted a bribe from Polyneices and forced Amphiaraüs to fight in a war that was doomed to fail. Alcmeon and Amphilochus at first did not want to kill their own mother until she accepted another bribe, this time from Polyneices' son, Thersander.

Ten years after the first war against Thebes, the Argive army again marched to Thebes. However, it was prophesied that unless the last of the original Seven (Adrastus) died, this war would also end in disaster.

In the battle that followed, Laodamas the son of Eteocles and king of Thebes, killed Aegialeus. With his only son dead, Adrastus died in grief. With the last of the Seven dead, the tide of the battle turned in favour of the Argives, and most of the Thebans fled to Illyria. Some say that Laodamas fled with the other Thebans, while others say that Alcmeon killed Laodamas. Thebes fell to the Epigoni.

Among those killed trying to flee was the ancient, blind seer Teiresias. Odysseus would later find and speak to the shade of Teiresias in the Underworld (see the Odyssey).

Aftermath

Having captured Thebes, Thersander, son of Polyneices and Argeia, daughter of Adrastus, became the new king of Thebes. Thersander married Demonassa, daughter of Amphiaraüs (Amphiaraus). They became parents of Tisamenus.

Thersander was a former suitor of Helen and took forty ships to Troy. Thersander was slain by Telephus, son of Heracles, perhaps in Mysia, before arriving at Troy. Since the Theban forces were without a leader, one of the five Boeotian chieftains (Peneleus) led the Thebans at Troy. Of the five Boeotian captains who fought at Troy, only Leitus survived the long war, though he did receive a wound from Hector.

Back at home, Tisamenus succeeded his father to the throne of Thebes.

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With Adrastus and his son dead in the second war, Adrastus' young grandson Cyanippus (son of Aegialeus) became king of Argos. Diomedes, Sthenelus and Euryalus, who were also suitors of Helen, went to Troy. Diomedes was leader of the Argive forces, with Sthenelus and Euryalus as his lieutenants. They took 80 ships to Troy. All three returned home safely after fighting a ten year war against the Trojans. (See the Trojan War.)

When Cyanippus died young and childless, the Argives decided that Sthenelus had a better claim to the throne than his friend and comrade, Diomedes. So the crown was either given to Sthenelus or to Sthenelus' son, Cylarabes. Diomedes was banished from Argos due to his wife taking Cometes (Sthenelus' other son) as her lover. According to Vergil's Aeneid, Diomedes settled in southern Italy while Aeneas went to Latium.

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Alcmeon, who led the Epigoni in the second war against Thebes, sent their spoils to Delphi. He took Manto, daughter of the seer Teiresias, as his concubine. He became the father of Amphilochus; he named his son after his brother. The Younger Amphicholus was a seer like his grandfather Amphiaraüs. Manto had another son named Mopsus, either by Rhacius or by the god Apollo.

Like Orestes, Alcmeon was ordered by the oracle to kill his mother Eriphyle. His father (Amphiaraüs) had also ordered he and his brother to kill their mother.

When Alcmeon murdered his mother, he suffered the same fate as Orestes: he was driven mad by the Erinyes (Furies), and wandered for many years before Phegeus purified him at Psophis in Arcadia. He then married the king's daughter Arsinoe. Alcmeon became the father of Clytius. But the Erinyes and madness still hounded him.

Later he was purified by the river-god Acheloüs and married the god's daughter, named Callirrhoé (Callirrhoe). They had twin sons named Acarnan and Amphoterus. Finally the Erinyes and the madness ceased to trouble him, only for him to be murdered by his brother-in-laws, as ordered by his first father-in-law, Phegeus.

When Callirrhoé heard of her husband's death, she prayed to the gods that her sons would grow to manhood in a single night and avenge their father's death. Her infant sons grew into young men, overnight. They went to Arcadia and murdered Phegeus and his sons.