Capaneus

Capaneus was one of the Seven Against Thebes, the Argive champions who marched against Thebes to restore Polynices. He was a man of great strength, and he is remembered for his boast that not even Zeus could keep him from taking the city. As he reached the top of the wall, Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt.

Family of Capaneus

Capaneus was the son of Hipponous, and he came from Argos (Apollodorus, Library 3.6.3). His wife was Evadne, the daughter of Iphis (Library 3.7.1; Euripides, Suppliants 985–986), and their son was Sthenelus, who fought with the Epigoni against Thebes (Library 3.7.2) and later led the men of Argos to Troy with Diomedes (Homer, Iliad 2.559–566).

The Seven Against Thebes

Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus, quarrelled over the kingdom of Thebes. Polynices, banished from the city, went to Argos and married a daughter of King Adrastus, who raised an army with seven leaders. Capaneus was one of them (Library 3.6.1–3). When they reached Thebes, Adrastus stationed each leader at one of the seven gates, and Capaneus attacked the Ogygian gate (Library 3.6.6). In Aeschylus and Euripides he attacks the Electran gate instead (Seven Against Thebes 423; Phoenician Women 1129).

The tragedians describe Capaneus as the most boastful of the seven attackers. In Aeschylus, a scout reports that Capaneus is a giant greater than the earlier ones, and that his boast is more than human. He threatens the towers and says that, whether or not the god wishes it, he will sack the city, and that not even Zeus’ fire falling on the ground will stand in his way; he compares the lightning to the heat of noon. His shield bears a naked man carrying a torch, with the words in gold letters: “I will burn the city” (Seven Against Thebes 423–434). In Euripides, his shield bears an earth-born giant who carries a whole city on his shoulders, which he has torn up from its foundations with levers (Phoenician Women 1130–1132).

The Death of Capaneus

Capaneus’ boast cost him his life. In Euripides’ Phoenician Women, a messenger tells how Capaneus advanced with a long scaling ladder and boasted that not even the holy fire of Zeus would keep him from taking the city from its highest battlements. He was climbing over the top of the wall when Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt. The earth shook, his body was torn apart and thrown from the ladder, and the corpse, still burning, fell to the ground (Phoenician Women 1172–1186). In Euripides’ Suppliants, the Thebans say that he was burnt on the ladder he had set against the gates, swearing to sack the city whether the god wished it or not (Suppliants 496–499).

Evadne and the Burial of Capaneus

After the battle the Thebans refused to give the Argive dead for burial, and Theseus and the Athenians took them. Because Capaneus had been struck by Zeus, he was buried apart from the others, who were burnt on a single pyre; Theseus built him a separate tomb near the sanctuary at Eleusis (Euripides, Suppliants 934–936). His wife Evadne leapt into the flames of his pyre and was burned with him (Library 3.7.1). Euripides gives her a long scene in which she appears dressed in festive clothing, tells her father Iphis that she will die with her husband, and throws herself from the rock onto the pyre (Suppliants 980–1071). In the same play Capaneus is praised by Adrastus as a man who had great wealth, but was never proud of it, and who was a loyal friend (Suppliants 861–871).

Apollodorus mentions a tradition that Asclepius brought Capaneus back to life, together with Lycurgus, and says that Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt for raising the dead (Library 3.10.3).

Capaneus Sources

Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 423–434; Euripides, Phoenician Women 1129–1132, 1172–1186, and Suppliants 496–499, 861–871, 934–936, 980–1071; Homer, Iliad 2.559–566; Apollodorus, Library 3.6.1–3, 3.6.6, 3.7.1–2, 3.10.3.

See Also: Seven Against Thebes, Zeus, Adrastus, Polynices, Eteocles, Amphiaraus, Tydeus, Theseus