Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes
Teacher’s Guide | Classical Reference Library
Richer Resources Editorial Team
Purpose of This Guide
Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes follows Eteocles, ruler of Thebes, as an attacking army approaches the city’s seven gates. The defense of the community becomes inseparable from a family curse: the attackers include his brother Polyneices.
This guide helps teachers explore civic duty, inherited conflict, fear, leadership, and the tension between public responsibility and personal honor.
Historical and Literary Context
First performed in 467 BCE, Seven Against Thebes was the final tragedy in a connected trilogy about the family of Oedipus; the preceding plays are lost.
The brothers Eteocles and Polyneices are sons of Oedipus. Their conflict for control of Thebes brings the city to the edge of destruction.
The drama gives unusual prominence to the description of seven attackers and seven defenders, and to the Chorus of frightened Theban women.
Plot at a Glance
Eteocles prepares Thebes for an assault by an Argive army. The Chorus of Theban women fears the violence that may overtake the city, while Eteocles urges discipline and confidence.
A scout reports the warriors assigned to attack each of the seven gates, describing their shields and boasts. Eteocles chooses a Theban defender for each gate.
At the seventh gate he learns that his brother Polyneices is the attacker and chooses to face him himself, despite warnings about their family’s curse.
The city survives, but the brothers kill each other. The ending turns from military relief to mourning.
The transmitted closing scene, including a dispute over burial, is often considered a later addition; teach its status with appropriate care.
Principal Figures
Eteocles — King of Thebes, responsible for its defense and determined to confront his brother.
Polyneices — Eteocles’ brother, who attacks Thebes with the Argive army.
Scout or Messenger — Reports the attackers, their emblems, and later the outcome.
Chorus of Theban Women — Expresses the terror of siege and challenges the king’s response to their fear.
Antigone and Ismene — Sisters of the dead brothers who appear in the transmitted concluding section, whose authenticity is disputed.
Major Themes
Civic Duty and Personal Honor
Eteocles acts as defender of the city, yet his final choice is bound to family rivalry.
Inherited Violence
The brothers’ deaths fulfill the destructive history of Oedipus’ family.
Leadership Under Pressure
Eteocles must organize defense while responding to public fear.
War and the Vulnerable
The Chorus brings the threatened experiences of civilians into a play dominated by warriors.
Signs and Interpretation
The attackers’ shield emblems invite judgments about boastfulness, identity, and divine favor.
Fate and Choice
The family curse shapes events, but Eteocles still makes a decisive choice.
Dramatic Techniques
The sequence of seven gates creates a formal pattern that builds suspense.
Descriptions of shields allow unseen enemies to become vivid dramatic presences.
The contrast between Eteocles’ commands and the Chorus’s alarm brings competing responses to danger onto the stage.
Reports of combat keep the battle offstage while emphasizing its consequences.
Teaching Objectives
Students should be able to:
- Explain the conflict between Eteocles and Polyneices.
- Trace the seven-gate structure.
- Compare Eteocles’ public responsibilities with his private motives.
- Analyze the Chorus’s perspective on siege.
- Explain the role of inherited family violence.
- Support an interpretation of the ending with evidence from the play.
A Flexible Teaching Sequence
- Review Oedipus’ family history and the dispute between his sons.
- Read Eteocles’ opening commands and the Chorus’s fearful entrance.
- Examine two or three shield descriptions closely before considering the full sequence.
- Discuss why Eteocles assigns himself to the seventh gate.
- Read the report of the brothers’ deaths and the mourning that follows.
- If studying the burial dispute, explain that the surviving text’s final section has a debated history.
Passages Worth Close Reading
Eteocles’ opening speech — Kingship and the demands of defending a city.
The Chorus’s entrance — Civilian fear and the imagined effects of siege.
The seven-gate reports — Symbolism, boasting, and patterns of response.
The announcement of Polyneices at the seventh gate — Family identity overtaking military calculation.
The report of the brothers’ deaths — Victory for the city and catastrophe for the family.
Core Discussion Questions
- What makes Eteocles an effective or troubling leader?
- Does the Chorus’s fear undermine the defense, or reveal what the soldiers risk overlooking?
- What purpose do the attackers’ shield images serve?
- Why does Eteocles choose to face Polyneices personally?
- Can the defense of Thebes be called a victory when its ruling brothers die?
- How much of the tragedy comes from the family curse, and how much from human decisions?
Classroom Approach
Have students make two columns: “Eteocles as ruler” and “Eteocles as brother.”
Place his major statements and decisions in the appropriate column, allowing some to appear in both. Ask when these roles reinforce one another and when they become impossible to separate.
Interpretive Cautions
Do not reduce the Chorus to irrational panic: its fears also reveal the human cost of a siege.
Avoid presenting the brothers’ deaths as the inevitable result of a curse without examining Eteocles’ choice.
The authenticity of the transmitted burial-dispute ending is debated; distinguish the secure central action from the textual question rather than treating the debate as settled.
Note to the Educator
This guide accompanies the Richer Resources Publications edition of Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, translated by Ian Johnston.
A printable PDF version of this resource is available by email.
