Alcmaeon and Eriphyle
After the Epigoni campaign, Alcmaeon carries out the command to avenge Amphiaraus by killing his own mother Eriphyle.
The Story
The betrayal of Amphiaraus did not end with his death.
Before joining the doomed expedition against Thebes, the seer had instructed his sons to remember what Eriphyle had done.
She had accepted the necklace of Harmonia and forced Amphiaraus to join a war he knew would kill him.
Years later another expedition was planned.
This time the sons of the Seven prepared to attack Thebes.
Eriphyle again became involved.
In important traditions she accepted another famous object, the robe of Harmonia, and encouraged her son Alcmaeon to join the campaign.
The Epigoni succeeded.
Thebes fell.
But Alcmaeon still carried the obligation laid upon him by his father.
He returned and killed Eriphyle.
The act avenged Amphiaraus.
It also created a new crime.
Alcmaeon had killed his own mother.
Like Orestes in the later House of Atreus tradition, he became associated with pollution, madness and the need for purification.
The attempt to complete one act of family vengeance therefore created another cycle of guilt.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
Alcmaeon's story extends the consequences of Seven Against Thebes into the next generation and creates a strong thematic parallel with Orestes.
Traditions & Variations
Ancient traditions differ over the order of events, the objects used to bribe Eriphyle and the later wanderings and purification of Alcmaeon.