In
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, Labdacus (, ''Lábdakos'') was the only son of
Polydorus and a king of
Thebes. Labdacus was a grandson of Thebes' founder,
Cadmus. His mother was
Nycteïs, daughter of
Nycteus.
Mythology
Polydorus died while Labdacus was a child, leaving Nycteus as his regent, although
Lycus soon replaced him in that office. When Labdacus had grown, he briefly ruled Thebes. He died while he was still young, after he lost a war with the king of Athens,
Pandion, over their borders. Apollodorus writes that he, like his cousin
Pentheus, was ripped apart by women in a
bacchic frenzy for disrespect to the god
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...
.
['' Bibliotheca'' 3.5.5.] Lycus became regent once more after his death, this time for Labdacus' son,
Laius. His descendants were called the ''Labdacids'', and included his son Laius, who fathered
Oedipus; Oedipus' children were
Polynices,
Eteocles
In Greek mythology, Eteocles (; ) was a king of Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without knowing his relationship to either. When the ...
,
Antigone, and
Ismene.
Family tree of Theban Royal House
Notes
References
*
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
* Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
Theban kings
Kings in Greek mythology
Mythological Thebans
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