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Etymology

The name translates as "truly glorious", from Ancient Greek: ἐτεός eteós “true” and κλέος kleos “glory”.² The name appears in earlier form *Etewoklewes (Ἐτεϝοκλέϝης), attested in Mycenaean Greek tablets as E-te-wo-ke-le-we.³ Tawagalawas is thought to be the Hittite rendition of the Greek name.⁴

Oedipus's curse

In the Thebaid, the brothers were cursed by their father for their disrespect towards him on two occasions. The first of these occurred when they served him using the silver table of Cadmus and a golden cup, which he had forbidden.⁵ The brothers then sent him the haunch of a sacrificed animal, rather than the shoulder, which he deserved. Enraged, Oedipus prayed to Zeus that the brothers would die by each other's hands.⁶ However, in Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus desired to stay in Thebes but was expelled by Creon. His sons argued over the throne, but Eteocles gained the support of the Thebans and expelled Polynices, who went to Oedipus to ask for his blessing to retake the city, but instead was cursed to die by his brother's hand.⁷

Quarrel over Thebes

There are several accounts of how Eteocles and Polynices shared the rule after Oedipus's departure from the city. In Hellanicus's account, Eteocles offers his brother his choice of either the rule of the city or a share of the property. In Pherecydes, however, Eteocles expels Polynices by force, and keeps the rule of Thebes and the inheritance. The Bibliotheca and Diodorus state that the brothers agree to divide the kingship between them, switching each year. Eteocles, however, was allotted the first year, and refused to surrender the crown.⁸

In all of these versions, Polynices gathered the support of the Argives and attacked Thebes, in the war of Seven against Thebes, the subject of Aeschylus' tragedy Seven Against Thebes. Although Eteocles's forces were victorious, the brothers killed each other.⁹

Genealogy

See also

• Epigoni
• The Thebans

Notes

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
• Hoffner, Beckman. Letters from the Hittite Kingdom. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.

References

1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eteocles" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 806. /wiki/Hugh_Chisholm ↩

2. Robin Hard. The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology (2004) ↩

3. Cline, Eric H. (2013). The Trojan War: a very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 64. ISBN 9780199760275. 9780199760275 ↩

4. Hoffner, p. 297. ↩

5. Gantz, p. 502. ↩

6. Gantz, p. 503. ↩

7. Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus, lines 1350–1395. ↩

8. Apollodorus, 3.6.1 /wiki/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus) ↩

9. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eteocles" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 806. /wiki/Hugh_Chisholm ↩