THE FOUNDING OF THEBES

Background for Oedipus Rex and The Bacchae

Kadmos, son of Agenor and brother of Europa, was the legendary founder of Thebes. Kadmos was sent by his father, the king of Tyre, to find his sister who had been abducted by Zeus, who, disguised as a bull, swam to Krete with her on his back. You can just see Europa's legs on the bulls back on the damaged vase on the left. Once in Krete, Zeus made her the mother of Minos. (Don’t let your mind play too freely around that.)

Kadmos went to the oracle at Delphi to ask advice. Apollo told him through the oracle not to worry about Europa, but to search for a certain cow, and to follow her until she lay down out of weariness. Kadmos was then to found a city on that spot. Kadmos may well have thought that this story was a lot of bull, until he, in fact, found the cow in Phokis. She led him to Boetia in the central plains of Greece, where he dutifully founded Kadmeia (later Thebes).

The cow was to be sacrificed to Athena for 1] her pains and 2] lying down on the job? In any case, to properly sacrifice a cow, one needs water, so Kadmos sent his companions to a spring that happened to be sacred to Ares. The spring was close by, but it was guarded by a rather nasty serpent (said to be the son of Ares). In the ensuing exchange, the serpent killed off all of Kadmos’ companions, and was in turn killed by Kadmos, a major mistake. Athena advised Kadmos to sow the serpent’s teeth, which he did, another mistake. For from the ground, armed men sprang forth. The quick witted Kadmos threw stones at them, and they started fighting one another until only five were left. These five (called the Spartoi, or "sown men") were the progenitors of the noble families of Thebes.

Kadmos still had to atone for his slaying of the serpent, self defense having no weight in such circumstances, so he became Ares’ slave for a year. (Apollodorus, who must have been a dog owner, says that it was eight human years…) Anyway, after the "year," Kadmos was not only freed, but also given the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, Harmonia, as his wife. Kadmos and Harmonia had four daughters: Ino, Autonoe, Semele, and Agave. Kadmos and Harmonia reigned for a long time, civilizing the Thebans, in particular giving them writing.

Semele caught that naughty king of the God’s Zeus’ eye and she was carrying his son when Hera (Zeus’ wife) found out. She tricked Semele into asking Zeus to appear before her in the same way he appeared to Hera. Since he had promised Semele a wish, he did so appear—as the god of Thunder! The lightning killed Semele, but Zeus sewed the child into his thigh until he was born. The child was Dionysos. The vase at the left shows Zeus at the moment of birth as Hermes looks on.

When Kadmos and Harmonia at last passed on, the throne passed to Agave’s son, Pentheus, who figures prominently in Euripides’ The Bacchae.

After Pentheus’ untidy end, the throne passed to Labdakos, who may or may not be Kadmos’ grandson. He perished in the same way, or at least for the same reasons as Pentheus, and the throne passed to Labdakos’ infant son, Laios. During a less than pleasant regency, Laios was obliged to flee and was received by Pelops, king of Elis. Laios took advantage of his host by abducting his host’s son, Chrysippus, with whom he had fallen in love. (Those Greeks!) There they are on the right in their chariot with an anonymous oriental behind them. This episode brought on a nasty curse from the unenlightened Pelops. Laios went to the oracle at Delphi to see what he could do to get out of it, and was told that the curse would be worked out in a single generation, but he would die at the hands of his own son. So, when a son was born to Laios (and Iokasta), they ordered that the infant be taken to the mountains and abandoned with a spike through his little heels. The servant entrusted with the task, though, took pity and handed him over to a Korinthian shepherd, who in turn took him to kindly old king Polybos, and his queen Merope, who raised him as their own son. The baby was known as Oedipus, which means "Swellfoot" in remembrance of his injured ankles.

Years later, at a banquet in Korinth, a drunk jeered at Oedipus claiming he was not Polybos’ natural son. The taunt soon spread through the city, and so Oedipus went to that treacherous oracle at Delphi and asked it who his parents were. Instead of a direct answer, the oracle gave old Swellfoot a caveat: "Avoid your homeland, or you’ll not only kill your father, but marry your mother." (Which didn’t answer the kid’s question, but you don’t press the issue with an oracle, I guess.) Anyway, Oedipus left Korinth for good, and headed for Thebes. On the way, he encountered an old man in the road, and a dispute arose over who should have the right of way. Already in a black mood from the drubbing he’d taken with the oracle, and probably homesick for kindly old Polybos, et al., he took out his frustrations on the old man in the road by killing him and all of his party but one. Road rage is not a twenty-first century phenomenon.

When he got to Thebes, the city was in a terrible state. The king had just been murdered, and to make matters worse, Hera had sent a Sphinx (which means "strangler") to torment the city. The Sphinx had the body of a lion, the wings of a bird and the face of a woman. Appollodorus tells us that it had been taught a riddle by the Muses which it asked the Thebans. The deal was that the curse on the city would stay on until the riddle was answered, but the real catch was that everyone who couldn’t answer the riddle was eaten by the Sphinx. The population was dwindling fast, and so Kreon, Queen Iokasta’s brother, and the regent, offered his sister’s hand and the throne to anyone who could answer the riddle. Oedipus, of course succeeded. The riddle was: "What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?" The answer is "Man," for a baby goes on four legs, an adult on two and an oldster on three, if you count the cane, the times of day being the times of the metaphorical day of life. The Sphinx threw itself off the Theban akropolis, and Oedipus ascended the throne and unknowingly married his own mother.

Several years and four babies later, another plague is haunting Thebes as Sophokles’ play opens.