Editing Adrastus (section)

===''The Suppliants''===
Adrastus is a principal character in [[Euripides]]' tragedy ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' (c. 420 BC).<ref>Gantz, pp. 296, 522. For a discussion of the play see Kovacs 1998, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.3.xml pp. 3&ndash;11]. Adrastus was also probably a character in Aeschylus' lost plays ''Elusinians'', ''Women of Argos'', and ''Epigoni'', and possibly in ''Nemea'', see  Sommerstein 2009b, pp. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.11.xml 10&ndash;11], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.57.xml 56&ndash;59], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.155.xml 154&ndash;155].</ref> The action of the play takes place after the disastrous defeat of the Seven against Thebes, and the refusal of Creon, the new Theban king, to allow the burial of the expedition's dead. Adrastus has come to Eleusis seeking the Athenians' help in recovering the bodies of the fallen warriors.

In the play we hear for the first time an account of why Adrastus made war on Thebes.<ref>Gantz, p. 509.</ref> In an initial interview, Adrastus tells [[Theseus]], the king of [[Athens]], that because of an oracle of Apollo, he had given his daughters (unnamed) to  Polynices and Theseus, and that, because of the "crime" done to Polynices by his brother Eteocles, who had stolen "his property" (i.e. the Theban throne), Adrastus marched "seven companies against Thebes".<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.27.xml 131&ndash;154]. A similar is account is given by Euripides, ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-phoenician_women/2002/pb_LCL011.253.xml 408&ndash;429].</ref> Theseus then asks Adrastus whether he consulted seers and the gods before making war on Thebes, and Adrastus answers that, not only did he go to war "without the gods’ good will", he also "went against the wish of Amphiaraus."<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.31.xml 155&ndash;161].</ref>

Finally persuaded to help recover the dead, Theseus leads an Athenian army to Thebes, where he defeats the Thebans in battle and brings back the dead warriors to Eleusis. Adrastus then, in a long speech of 60 lines, eulogizes the fallen champions.<ref>Gantz, p. 516; [[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.99.xml 857&ndash;917].</ref>