THEBES

Royal succession

1. 1

   Cadmus

   ⚖

   Founder of the Cadmeia. Homer instead credits Amphion and Zethus with first establishing and walling seven-gated Thebes.

2. 2

   Pentheus

   ⚖

   Son of Echion and Agave, torn apart on Cithaeron. Apollodorus has him succeed Cadmus directly; Hyginus lists him after Polydorus.

3. 3

   Polydorus

   ⚖

   Son of Cadmus and Harmonia. In Hyginus' king list he follows Cadmus directly, before Pentheus.

4. 4

   Labdacus

   Son of Polydorus; perished like-minded with Pentheus, leaving the year-old Laius.

5. 5

   Lycus

   Brother of Nycteus — appointed guardian of the child Laius, or usurper of the throne, by the teller.

6. 6

   Amphion & Zethus

   ⚖

   The twin sons of Antiope overthrew Lycus and walled the city — for Homer they are the founders of Thebes itself.

7. 7

   Laius

   Restored by the Thebans after the houses of Amphion and Zethus perished.

8. 8

   Oedipus

   Solved the Sphinx's riddle and took the kingdom — and, unknowing, his father's widow.

9. 9

   Eteocles & Polynices

   The brothers agreed to alternate the throne; Eteocles refused to yield, and the Seven marched on Thebes.

10. 10

    Creon

    ⚖

    Succeeded to the kingdom after the brothers fell — in this telling, as king in his own right.

11. 11

    Creon (regent for Laodamas)

    ⚖

    For Pausanias the kingdom devolved on Laodamas, with Creon merely guardian and regent.

12. 12

    Laodamas

    Son of Eteocles, faced the Epigoni — killed by Alcmaeon in Apollodorus, escaped to Illyria in Pausanias.

13. 13

    Thersander

    Son of Polynices, set over Thebes by the victorious Argives; fell to Telephus in Mysia on the way to Troy.