Labdacus

• 1. Introduction

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  Labdacus, written Λάβδακος and pronounced roughly LAB-da-kus, was a king of Thebes in Greek mythology. His own reign was short and left few stories behind. Yet his name was carried forward by an entire royal house, the Labdacids. Who guarded his throne while he was a child? What brought a ruler of Thebes down so early? And which family members stand behind the name he gave?

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• 2. Heir of Cadmus

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  Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, was the grandfather of Labdacus. The boy's father was Polydorus, the only other link between the founder and the throne. His mother was Nycteïs, a daughter of Nycteus.

  Polydorus died while his son was still a child. The throne could not simply pass to a boy, so Nycteus was named regent. That arrangement did not last. Lycus soon took over the office from him. Lycus would hold the regency again before the story ends.

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• 3. War With Athens

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  Once Labdacus had grown, he ruled Thebes, though only briefly. His reign ended in a border dispute with Pandion, the king of Athens. Labdacus lost that war, and he died while he was still young.

  Apollodorus gives a darker detail about his death. In that telling, women in a bacchic frenzy tore him apart because he had shown disrespect to the god Dionysus. His cousin Pentheus is said to have met the same fate. The throne he left behind would again need a guardian.

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• 4. The Labdacids

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  Lycus took up the regency a second time, now on behalf of Labdacus's son, Laius. The family that grew from Labdacus came to be called the Labdacids.

  Laius is the best known of them for what he fathered. His son was Oedipus, and Oedipus in turn had four children. They were Polynices, Eteocles, Antigone and Ismene. The name of a king who died young thus passed through three more generations of Thebes, ending with Ismene.

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