Pausanias Analysis

But this war fought by the Argives, I consider to have been, among all those waged by the Greeks in the age commonly called heroic, the most worthy of mention. For indeed, the war of the Eleusinians against the rest of the Athenians, and likewise that of the Thebans against the Minyans, involved only brief campaigning by the invading forces and was decided in a single battle; and immediately afterward they turned toward agreements and treaties.

The Argive army came into central Boeotia from the heart of the Peloponnese, and Adrastus gathered allies from Arcadia and from the Messenians. Likewise, mercenaries came to the Thebans from the Phocians, and from the region of Minyas came the Phlegyae. A battle took place near the sanctuary of Ismenian Apollo, and the Thebans were defeated in this encounter; when forced to flee, they sought refuge within the city walls.

Since the Peloponnesians lacked expertise in fighting against fortifications, conducting their siege attempts rather with courage than with skill, the Thebans, shooting them from the walls, killed many, and thereafter, having counterattacked, overcame the rest when they became disarrayed, until finally the entire army, except Adrastus, was destroyed. Yet the matter was not accomplished for them without enormous losses on their own side as well. Ever since that occasion, a victory in which the victors suffer ruin is called "Cadmean."

Not many years later, along with Thersander, they undertook an expedition against Thebes—these men whom the Greeks call the Epigoni. It is evident that not only the Argives but also the Messenians and Arcadians joined them; moreover, allies from Corinth and Megara were invited to participate. On the other hand, Thebes was aided by its neighboring peoples, and a fierce battle between both sides took place near Glisas.

Some of the Thebans fled immediately after their defeat along with Laodamas, while the rest who stayed behind endured a siege. This war was also the subject of a poem, known as the Thebaïs. Concerning these verses, Callinus attributed their composition to Homer, claiming that Homer composed them when he referred to them from memory. Many others, notable and worthy of mention, shared Callinus' view. As for myself, I consider this poem to be particularly praiseworthy, second only to the Iliad and the Odyssey. Let this, then, suffice as an account of the war fought between the Argives and Thebans on behalf of the sons of Oedipus.