Composers and their stage works 



The Seven Against Thebes

(Hepta epi Thebas)

Aeschylus 467 B.C

Third play in a Theban tetralogy that included the lost tragedies Laius and Oedipus and a satyr play, The Sphinx.

 

The last of a trilogy recounting the story of the royal house of Thebes.

Eteocles, who sees himself as the benevolent king responsible for the defence of his city, feels that, to undertake this role, he must take immediate personal action, although he is aware that by doing so he will realise Oedipus's prophecy that he and his brother Polynices would divide their kingdom by the sword. Eteocles's doom can be averted only by the stubborn opposition of his will to act. But he sees in action the achievement of what he considers his destiny, and he finally surrenders to it, rejecting the chorus's invitation to pray.