Theban kings in Greek mythology

The dynastic history of Thebes in Greek mythology is crowded with a bewildering number of kings between the city's new foundation (by Cadmus) and the Trojan War (see Ogyges). This suggests several competing traditions, which mythographers were forced to reconcile.

The first king of Thebes was Cadmus, after whom the city was originally called Cadmeia. It only became known as Thebes during the reign of Amphion and Zethus, after the latter's wife Thebe. The first kings of Boeotia before Cadmus and the flood of Deucalion were Calydnus and Ogyges (Ogygos).

When Cadmus died, his son Polydorus was still a minor and hence Pentheus, a son of Cadmus' daughter Agaue and one of the Spartoi, became king. He met a tragic end after falling foul of the young god Dionysus.

Polydorus succeeded his nephew but only reigned for a short while. At his death, the kingdom was entrusted to his father-in-law, Nycteus, who acted as guardian for the young Labdacus, the son of Polydorus and Nycteis. During the regency of Nycteus, Thebes (Cadmea) made war against Epopeus, the king of Sicyon, who had abducted Nycteus' daughter, Antiope. (However, an alternate account says that Antiope fled Thebes to evade her father's wrath, and sought refuge with King Epopeus after finding herself pregnant by the god Zeus.) Nycteus and the Thebans were defeated, and Nycteus himself died of his battle wounds. He was succeeded as ruler of Thebes by his brother, Lycus.

Labdacus eventually became king. Another war erupted, this time over a boundary dispute between Thebes and Athens; once again, Thebes was defeated after King Pandion II of Athens received aid from the Thracian king Tereus. Labdacus himself survived the war. However, following in the footsteps of Pentheus, King Labdacus opposed the cult of Dionysus, and was killed by Dionysus' enraged devotees, the Maenads. Labdacus left behind a young son, Laius. Lycus again took control of Thebes, this time as a usurper, and denied Laius his birthright. This inaugurated a new dynasty. Lycus is said to have reigned for twenty years.

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