Tydeus was an Aetolian hero in Greek mythology, belonging to the generation before the Trojan War. He was one of the Seven against Thebes and the father of Diomedes, who is frequently known by the patronymic Tydides. Exiled from Calydon for the killing of kinsmen, he settled at Argos, where King Adrastus gave him his daughter Deipyle in marriage. He died at Thebes during the expedition of the Seven.
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I.Life
Tydeus was descended from Oeneus and either Periboea or Gorge. He married Deipyle, who became the mother of Diomedes.
Banished from Calydon by his uncle Agrius following the killing of relatives, Tydeus journeyed to Argos. There he was received by King Adrastus, whose daughter Deipyle he married, thereby becoming an Argive prince.
II.Seven against Thebes
Gathering of the Seven — King Adrastus gave shelter to both Tydeus and Polynices, the exiled Theban prince. A nighttime dispute between the two men over their quarters led Adrastus to recall a prophecy instructing him to yoke his daughters to a boar and a lion. Recognizing Tydeus as the boar and Polynices as the lion, Adrastus married them to his daughters, making both men Argive princes.
Nemean Games — On the journey, after the expedition arrived at Nemea, the king's young son died from a serpent's bite. The expedition killed the serpent, buried the boy, and established the first Nemean Games in his honor. Tydeus won the boxing event at these games.
Envoy to Thebes — Tydeus was dispatched to Thebes to demand the reinstatement of Polynices. After issuing one-on-one challenges and defeating multiple opponents with the aid of Athena, he was ambushed by fifty Thebans. He slew all of them except Maeon, whom divine signs compelled him to spare.
Cannibalism — During the fighting, Melanippus mortally wounded Tydeus. The seer Amphiaraus, who despised Tydeus and knew that Athena intended to make him immortal, decapitated Melanippus and gave the head to Tydeus. Tydeus consumed the brain, and Athena, in disgust, revoked the immortality she had intended for him.
III.In Literature and Art
The poet Mimnermus attributed the murder of Ismene to Tydeus — a claim unsupported by other classical writers but depicted on a sixth-century Corinthian black-figure amphora now housed in the Louvre.
Tydeus appears in Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes and in Euripides's The Phoenician Women, killing Melanippus but suffering mortal wounds. The myth adds that Athena withdrew the immortality she had intended after witnessing his cannibalistic act.
Homer's Iliad references Tydeus multiple times, notably in Book IV, where Agamemnon recounts the father's deeds to Diomedes.