Laodamas was a king of Thebes in Greek mythology, the son of Eteocles, who inherited the city from his father. He led the Theban defence against the Epigoni, the sons of the Seven who had marched on Thebes a generation earlier. In the battle he killed Aegialeus, the son of Adrastus; according to one tradition he was then slain by Alcmaeon, while other sources hold that he survived, fled with the Thebans to the Encheleans in Illyria, and afterward led an expedition into Thessaly. He is one of several distinct figures named Laodamas in Greek myth and should not be confused with the Phaeacian prince or the Trojan warriors of the same name.
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I.Family
Laodamas was the son of Eteocles, the Theban king who fell with his brother Polynices in their mutual slaughter at the close of the war of the Seven against Thebes. On Eteocles' death the throne of Thebes passed to Laodamas, who inherited the city from his father.
Through Eteocles he belonged to the royal house of Thebes descended from Cadmus and Oedipus. His aunts, the daughters of Oedipus, were Antigone and Ismene, who figure in one tradition about his reign.
II.Mythology
In one version of the myth, distinct from the account dramatized in Sophocles' Antigone, Laodamas was held responsible for the deaths of his aunts Antigone and Ismene. He prosecuted them for having buried Polynices; when they sought refuge in the temple of Hera, he set fire to the sanctuary and so killed them. This version is attributed to Ion of Chios.
Laodamas is best known for the war of the Epigoni, when the sons of the Seven who had failed against Thebes returned to attack the city. As king he led the Theban resistance, and in the fighting he killed Aegialeus, the son of Adrastus.
III.Death and survival traditions
The sources diverge sharply on Laodamas' fate after he slew Aegialeus. According to one account of the battle of the Epigoni, he was himself killed by Alcmaeon.
Other sources state instead that Laodamas survived the defeat and fled with the Thebans to the Encheleans in Illyria, and that he subsequently led an expedition into Thessaly. The contradiction between his death in battle and his flight into Illyria is left unresolved among the ancient traditions.
IV.Other figures of the name
Laodamas was a name borne by several other figures in Greek mythology, distinct from the Theban king. Laodamas, son of Antenor and Theano, was a Trojan warrior with many brothers, among them Acamas and Agenor; he was killed by Ajax during the Trojan War. A separate Laodamas, a Lycian, was killed by Neoptolemus during the same war.
Another Laodamas was a son of Hector and Andromache who, unlike his brother Astyanax, was spared by the Greeks and remained with his mother. Best known of the namesakes is Laodamas, son of Alcinous and Arete and brother of Nausicaa, a Phaeacian prince of Scheria described as the most handsome of the Phaeacians and the best boxer, who invited Odysseus to take part in the games held in his honour.