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| labdacus |
Date:
Sun, 6 Jun 1993
From:
James Dean
Subject:
Labdacus
I'm wondering if anyone on this network can help me track down
Laius's father's ancestry. I'm wondering what Labdacus's connection
is with the House of Cadmus (if any). Lycus, son of Cthonios (one of
the spartoi), was tyrant of Thebes before Laius (at some time, not
sure relationship); Lycus and Dirce kept Antiope in prison (Antiope,
of course, being the mother of Amphion and Zethus, who built the
walls of Thebes; and Zethus's wife, Thebe, gave her name to the
city). Jocaste is the daughter of another of the spartoi: Menoeceus.
So where does Laius's father come from?
Date:
Sun, 6 Jun 1993
From:
David Meadows
Subject:
Re: Labdacus
According
to both Grimal's *Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology* and the
Oxford Companion to Classical literature (the latter being
indispensible when we historian types have to wrestle with
literature), Cadmus begat Labdacus who begat Laius who begat
Oedipus.
Date:
Sun, 6 Jun 1993
From:
James Dean
Subject:
Re: Labdacus
Makes
perfect sense. I take it that Harmonia was the mother, right?
(Sorry, don't mean to send others off to sources I can now consult
for myself. My Oxford Companion, by the way--the old Paul Harvey
1937, 1940, etc. version--does not seem to offer this information.
The entry for Cadmus in this version contains the following
information about offspring: "Cadmus married Harmonia . . . .
Their daughters were Ino, Semele (qq.v.), Autonoe [who married
Aristaeus and became mother of Actaeon] and Agave, the mother of
Pentheus [see *Bacchae*]." Then speculation about the
relationship of the Greek alphabet to the Phoenician script.)
Date:
Mon, 7 Jun 1993
From:
"Stephen C. Smith"
Subject:
Labdacus
According
to Sophocles (OT 267-68), Labdacus was the son of Polydorus and
grandson of Cadmus. His mother was Nycteis, granddaughter of
Chthonius, who was one of the Spartoi (Apollodorus 3.5.5). |
| Culled
from
classics.log9306. |
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