Polynices

Also known as: POLYNICES / Polyneikes · Family: Argos · Role: chief attacking Thebes · First appears: Aeschylus, The Seven Who Fought Against Thebes — Scene 1

At first, Polynices and Eteocles confined their father, Oedipus, to conceal the family's horrors. After Oedipus cursed them to divide their inheritance by the sword, the brothers agreed to reign in alternating years, with Eteocles ruling first. When Eteocles refused to surrender the kingdom at the end of his year and banished him, Polynices went to Argos, where he married Adrastus’ daughter and secured an alliance.

From Argos, Polynices gathered seven commanders, including Amphiaraos, Tydeus, Etéoclus, Hippomedon, Capaneus, and Parthenopaeus, and led their army against Thebes. He claimed the throne that Eteocles had taken from him, while Oedipus rejected his plea for aid and cursed both brothers to die by each other’s hands. Though Antigone urged him to abandon the war, Polynices refused, saying, “Impossible. If once I shrink for fear, No longer may I lead them to the war.”

The Argive army surrounded Thebes, but Polynices and Eteocles killed each other in single combat. Their deaths fulfilled Oedipus’s curse, with Erinnys and Ares associated with the brothers’ destruction. The authorities, including Creon, denied Polynices mourning and burial; later, after warnings about the pollution caused by his unburied body, Creon ordered his burial, and Antigone also resolved to cover him with earth despite the prohibition.