Cursed by their father Oedipus, the sons of the Theban house turned on each other: Polynices brought seven Argive captains against the seven gates of Thebes, and the brothers died on each other's spears.1
The broken pact
Eteocles and Polynices agreed to alternate the throne of Thebes year by year. Eteocles refused to yield it, and Polynices went as an exile to Argos, where king Adrastus gave him a daughter and an army.2
At Nemea
On the march to Thebes the host came to Nemea, where Lycurgus son of Pheres was king. Hypsipyle, once queen of Lemnos and now a slave, was nursing Lycurgus' infant Opheltes; an oracle had warned that the child must not be set on the ground until he could walk. When the Seven asked her for water she showed them a spring, leaving the boy behind — and a serpent killed him. They buried Opheltes, renamed him Archemorus at Amphiaraus' reading of the omen, and founded the Nemean games in his honour before ever they reached Thebes.3
Seven captains at seven gates
Seven champions led the host against the seven gates. The boast of Capaneus ended in lightning — Zeus struck him from the wall as he swore not even the gods would keep him out of the city.4
Menoeceus at the gates
Tiresias told the besieged Thebans they would prevail if Menoeceus, son of Creon, offered himself freely to Ares. Hearing it, the young man went out and slew himself before the gates.5
The brothers' duel
Eteocles and Polynices met in single combat and killed each other. The kingdom passed into Creon's hands — as king outright by one telling, as regent for Eteocles' son Laodamas by another.6
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How the centuries saw it
The Seven Chiefs against Thebes
Angélique Mongez, 1826
Mongez's Seven Chiefs — seven Argive champions arrayed for the assault on Cadmus' gates.
The Oath of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, c. 1800
Girodet's oath of the Seven — the sealed pact that binds Adrastus' army to Polynices' claim.
Eteocles and Polynices
Frans Francken the Younger, c. 1615–1620
Francken's fratricide: Eteocles and Polynices locked at the seventh gate — Aeschylus' and Statius' civil war in paint.
Duel of Eteocles and Polynices (Etruscan cinerary urn)
Unknown (Etruscan), 2nd century BC
An Etruscan cinerary urn freezes the brothers' duel — the Seven's climax carried into Italic funerary art.
Tydeus, Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus (engraving of the Seven against Thebes)
Philippe-Auguste Hennequin, early 19th century
Tydeus among the Seven — the Calydonian champion whose rage at Thebes became proverbial.