The Story Archive

Seven Against Thebes

Aeschylus · 467 BCE · Play · Greek · Classical

Thebes is ringed by an Argive army, and Eteocles hears a scout describe the device and the boast painted on each attacker's shield before posting a champion to meet him. The seventh gate is held by his own exiled brother Polynices, and the curse Oedipus laid on both sons hangs over the pairing. The closing play of a Theban trilogy whose first two parts are lost, and the earliest dramatic handling of the material Sophocles later took up.

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Lineage

Attributes

Genre
TragedyWarPolitical
Theme
Freedom vs FateWar & ViolenceDuty & HonorLegitimacy
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Ruler / KingTragic HeroThe Double
Plot structure
Siege / Last StandTragic Reversal
Symbol / motif
The CityThe SwordThe Battlefield
Conflict
vs Fate / Godsvs Person
Mode / tone
TragicEpic
Culture / tradition
Greek

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