Epigŏni
（
Ἐπίγονοι, “descendants”). The sons
of the Grecian heroes who were killed in the First Theban War. (See
Polynices.) The War of the Epigoni is famous in ancient history. It was
undertaken ten years after the first. The sons of those who had perished in the first war
resolved to avenge the death of their fathers. The god, when consulted, promised them victory
if led by Alcmaeon , the son of Amphiaraüs. Alcmaeon accordingly took the command.
Another account, however, given by Pausanias (ix. 9, 2), makes Thersander, son of Polynices,
to have been at the head of the expedition. The other leaders were Amphilochus, brother of
Alcmaeon ; Aegialeus, son of Adrastus; Diomedes, of Tydeus; Promachus, of Parthenopaeus;
Sthenelus, of Capaneus; and Eurypylus, of Mecisteus. The Argives were assisted by the
Messenians, Arcadians, Corinthians, and Megarians. The Thebans obtained aid from the
neighbouring States. The invaders ravaged the villages about Thebes. A battle ensued, in which
Laodamas, the son of Eteocles, slew Aegialeus, and fell himself by the spear of Alcmaeon. The
Thebans then fled; and, by the advice of Tiresias, they secretly left their city, which was
entered and plundered by the Argives, and Thersander was placed on the throne.
With the exception of the events of the Trojan War and the return of the Greeks, nothing was
so closely connected with the
Iliad and
Odyssey as the War of
the Argives against Thebes, since many of the principal heroes of Greece, particularly
Diomedes and Sthenelus, were themselves among the conquerors of Thebes, and their fathers
before them, a bolder and wilder race, had fought on the same spot, in a contest which,
although unattended with victory, was still far from inglorious. Hence, also, reputed Homeric
poems on the subject of this war were extant, which perhaps really bore a great affinity to
the Homeric time and school. The second part of the
Thebaïs, which
related to the exploits of the Epigoni, was, according to Pausanias (ix. 9, 2), ascribed by
some to Homer himself. The
Epigoni was still commonly ascribed to Homer in the
time of Herodotus (iv. 32). See
Homerus.
