Polynices
Polynices
Thèbes
7 min read
Polynices is a figure from Greek mythology, the son of Oedipus and Jocasta, and brother of Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. His conflict with his brother over the throne of Thebes triggers the war of the Seven Champions and inspires Sophocles's tragedy.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Son of Oedipus and Jocasta, brother of Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene
- Agrees with Eteocles on an alternating kingship in Thebes, but is shut out of it, which triggers the conflict
- Leads the expedition of the Seven Champions against Thebes to reclaim the throne
- Dies in single combat against his brother Eteocles, each slaying the other
- Creon forbids his burial; Antigone defies the edict to bury him, at the heart of Sophocles's tragedy (around 441 BC)
Works & Achievements
A tragedy staging the assault on Thebes and the fatal duel between the two brothers. Polynices embodies the exile claiming his right by force of arms.
A tragic masterpiece centered on Polynices' fate after death: the ban on his burial and the sacrifice of Antigone, who defies it.
A tragedy in which Polynices comes to beg the blessing of his father Oedipus, who curses him instead on the eve of war.
A play depicting Jocasta's attempt to reconcile her warring sons and the clash of their rival ambitions.
A drama devoted to the recovery and burial of the bodies of the Argive chiefs who fell before Thebes, including that of Polynices.
A vast Latin epic in twelve books recounting the entire fratricidal war, which lastingly fixed the figure of Polynices in Western culture.
The legendary expedition of the seven chiefs launched to restore Polynices, forming one of the great epic cycles of ancient Greece.
Anecdotes
Polynices and his brother Eteocles, the cursed sons of Oedipus, had agreed to rule Thebes in turn, one year each. But when Eteocles refused to give up the throne at the end of his year, Polynices went into exile and raised an army to reclaim his due by force.
To persuade the seer Amphiaraus to join the expedition, Polynices offered Eriphyle, the seer's wife, the famous necklace of Harmonia. Amphiaraus knew he would die in this war, but the cursed gift sealed his fate.
The two brothers killed each other in single combat beneath the walls of Thebes, fulfilling the curse that Oedipus had laid upon them. It is said that even when they were burned on the same funeral pyre, the flame split in two, a sign of their unquenchable hatred.
After the defeat, King Creon forbade the burial of Polynices, deemed a traitor to his city. His sister Antigone defied this order to give her brother a grave, a deed that inspired one of Sophocles's most famous tragedies.
The very name Polynices means in Greek “he who has many quarrels” or “who stirs up numerous conflicts,” an omen of the bloody destiny that weighed upon him and upon the entire line of the Labdacids.
Primary Sources
His very name proclaims it: Polynices, the man of many quarrels. He raises a shield on which a woman calmly leads a warrior of gold — Justice, she says, who will bring the exile home to his city.
Eteocles, fallen in defense of the city, shall be buried with honor; but his brother Polynices, who came back from exile to set his homeland ablaze, may not be buried or mourned: let him lie without a tomb, food for the birds.
Polynices: “Nothing is sweeter than one's homeland.” Jocasta tries in vain to reconcile her two warring sons before the fratricidal struggle beneath the walls of Thebes.
Polynices, driven out by Eteocles, went to Argos to King Adrastus, who gave him his daughter in marriage and gathered an army of seven chiefs to restore him to the throne of Thebes.
The two brothers hurl themselves at each other, and their fury surpasses that of every war; even in death their hatred lives on, and the flame of the funeral pyre splits in two.
Key Places
Birthplace of Polynices and the throne at the heart of the fratricidal quarrel. It is beneath its seven-gated walls that the war of the Seven Champions unfolds.
City of the Peloponnese where Polynices finds refuge after his exile. King Adrastus gives him his daughter in marriage and raises the army of the Seven.
The fortified gates of the city, each assaulted by one of the Seven Champions. Polynices takes his position before the one where his brother Eteocles awaits him.
Battlefield where the Theban and Argive armies clash. It is here that the two brothers kill each other in single combat.
Site crossed by the army of the Seven on the way to Thebes, where the death of the young Opheltes gives rise to the Nemean Games.