Thebes
The Cursed City of Seven Gates
⚡ Quick Facts
Cadmus and the Dragon's Teeth
Thebes was founded by Cadmus, a Phoenician prince who came to Greece searching for his sister Europa (abducted by Zeus). The Oracle at Delphi told him to abandon the search and instead follow a cow marked with a moon symbol. Where the cow collapsed from exhaustion, he was to build a city.
The cow led him to Boeotia. Before building, Cadmus sent his companions to fetch water from a nearby spring, but the spring was guarded by a dragon sacred to Ares. The dragon killed most of his men. Cadmus slew the dragon and, on Athena's advice, sowed its teeth in the ground. Armed warriors — the Spartoi — sprang up. Cadmus threw a stone among them, and they attacked each other until only five survived. These five became the founding families of Thebes.
The Curse of Oedipus
Thebes' darkest chapter belongs to Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father King Laius and married his mother Jocasta, fulfilling the terrible prophecy the family had tried so desperately to escape. When the truth was revealed, Jocasta hanged herself and Oedipus blinded himself with her brooches.
The curse continued through Oedipus' children. His sons Eteocles and Polynices killed each other in battle, and his daughter Antigone was condemned to death for defying King Creon's order not to bury Polynices — a story that became one of Sophocles' greatest tragedies.
Birthplace of Dionysus
Thebes was also the birthplace of Dionysus. His mother Semele was a Theban princess who was tricked by Hera into demanding Zeus reveal his true form. The sight of the god's divine radiance burned her to ash, but Zeus rescued the unborn Dionysus and sewed him into his own thigh until the child was ready to be born.