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Pentheus

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Greek mythological king of Thebes

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Pentheus
King of Thebes

Abode	Thebes
Genealogy
Parents	Echion andAgave
Siblings	Epeiros
Children	Menoeceus

InGreek mythology,Pentheus (/ˈpɛnθjuːs/;Ancient Greek:Πενθεύς,romanized: Pentheús) was a king ofThebes. His father wasEchion, the wisest of theSpartoi. His mother wasAgave, the daughter ofCadmus, the founder of Thebes, and grandson of the goddessHarmonia. His sister wasEpeiros and his son wasMenoeceus.

Much of what is known about the character comes from the interpretation of the myth inEuripides' tragic play,The Bacchae.

Mythological biography

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The story of Pentheus' resistance to Dionysus and his subsequent punishment is presented by Euripides as follows. Cadmus, theking of Thebes, abdicated due to his old age in favour of his grandson Pentheus. Pentheus soon banned the worship of the godDionysus, who was the son of his auntSemele, and forbade the women of Cadmeia to partake in his rites. An angered Dionysus caused Pentheus' motherAgave and his auntsIno andAutonoë, along with all the other women of Thebes, to rush toMount Cithaeron in a Bacchic frenzy. Accordingly, Pentheus imprisoned Dionysus, thinking the man simply a follower, but his chains fell off and the jail doors opened for him.

Pentheus torn apart byIno andAgave, lekanis lid, ca. 450 BC,Louvre.

Dionysus lured Pentheus, disguised as a woman, out to spy on the Bacchic rites, where Pentheus expected to see sexual activities. The daughters of Cadmus saw him in a tree and thought him to be a wild animal. They pulled Pentheus down and tore him limb from limb (as part of a ritual known as thesparagmos). When his true identity was later discovered, officials exiled the women from Thebes. Some say that his own mother was the first to attack him, tearing his arm off and then tearing off his head. She placed the head on a stick and took it back to Thebes, but only realized whose head it was after meeting her father Cadmus.

The name "Pentheus", asDionysus andTiresias both point out, means "Man of Sorrows" and derives from πένθος,pénthos, sorrow or grief, especially the grief caused by the death of a loved one. His name appeared to mark him for tragedy. Pentheus was succeeded by his unclePolydorus.

Before or possibly after Pentheus was killed, his wife gave birth to a son namedMenoeceus, who became the father ofCreon andJocasta. He became the grandfather ofOedipus.

The story of Pentheus is also discussed byOvid in Book III of hisMetamorphoses.^[1] Ovid's version diverges from Euripides' work in several areas. In Ovid'sMetamorphoses, King Pentheus is warned by the blind seerTiresias to welcome Bacchus or else "Your blood [shall be] poured out and defile the woods and your mother and her sisters..." Pentheus dismisses Tiresias and ignores his warnings. AsThebes succumbs to the "dementia and the delirium of the new god", Pentheus laments the fall of his kingdom and demands the arrest of Bacchus. His guards instead arrestAcoetes of Maeonia, a sailor who confirms the divinity of Bacchus and tells how the crew of his ship ended up being turned into dolphins after trying to kidnap the young god.

Pentheus, convinced that Acoetes is lying, tries to throw him in jail, but when the guards try to shackle Acoetes, the chains fall off. In a rage, Pentheus ran to deal with Bacchus himself. He charged through the woods straight into aBacchanalia. Driven to a frenzy the participants thought Pentheus was a boar and attacked him. His mother was the first one to spear him and then the group tore his flesh apart with their bare hands.

InOppian's version, Dionysus's female followers ask the god to transform them into leopards, and he grants their request, while simultaneously changing Pentheus into a bull. The leopards then attack and tear apart the bull, killing Pentheus, as Oppian presents the metaphors and illusions fromThe Bacchae as literal.^[2]

In classical history

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According to a biography written by the ancient historianPlutarch, after his defeat and death at theBattle of Carrhae in 53 BC, the head of Roman general and statesmanMarcus Licinius Crassus was sent to theParthian emperorOrodes II and used "as a prop, standing in for the head of"^[3] Pentheus in a production of Euripides'The Bacchae.

In modern popular culture

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King Pentheus appears inBacchae, aclassical Meitei language play based on theancient Greek tragedy of thesame title. In the play, as distinct from the original tragedy, King Pentheus is portrayed as asmall community, whose chances of survival are highly unpredictable and doubtful, affected by the massiveglobalization results of thedeveloped countries (depicted by the godDionysus).^[4]

Family tree of Theban Royal House

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Royal house of Thebes family tree

Solid lines indicate descendants.
Dashed lines indicate marriages.
Dotted lines indicate extra-marital relationships or adoptions.
Kings of Thebes are numbered withbold names and a light purple background.
- Joint rules are indicated by a number and lowercase letter, for example, 5a. Amphion shared the throne with 5b. Zethus.
Regents of Thebes are alphanumbered (format AN) withbold names and a light red background.
- The number N refers to the regency preceding the reign of the N^th king. Generally this means the regent served the N^th king but not always, asCreon (A9) was serving as regent toLaodamas (the 10th King) when he was slain byLycus II (the usurping 9th king).
- The letter A refers to the regency sequence. "A" is the first regent, "B" is the second, etc.
Deities have a yellow background color.

Harmonia

1.
Cadmus

Polyxo

A4.
Nycteus (Regent)

Dirce

B4 & A6.
Lycus (Regent)

3.
Polydorus

Nycteis

2.
Pentheus

4.
Labdacus

5a.
Amphion

5b.
Zethus

Menoeceus

Eurydice

A7, A8 & A9.
Creon (Regent)

6.
Laius

Hipponome

7.
Oedipus

8b.
Eteocles

8a.
Polynices

Pyrrha

Lycomedes

Ismene

9.
Lycus II

A12.
Peneleos (Regent)

10.
Laodamas

Demonassa

11.
Thersander

Opheltes

12.
Tisamenus

14.
Damasichthon

13.
Autesion

15.
Ptolemy

16.
Xanthos

References

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^Kline, A.S. (2000)."Ovid: The Metamorphoses (Book III)".Poetry in Translation. Retrieved10 September 2024.
^Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990).Metamorphosis in Greek Myths. Oxford, New York, Toronto:Oxford University Press,Clarendon Press. p. 221.ISBN 0-19-814730-9.
^Beard, Mary (2016).SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. London: Profile Books. p. 280.ISBN 978-1-84668-381-7.
^"Discover the richness of northeast at NSD".Hindustan Times. 2015-08-25. Retrieved2023-08-24.

Euripides,The Tragedies of Euripides translated by T. A. Buckley. Bacchae. London. Henry G. Bohn. 1850.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Euripides,Euripidis Fabulae.vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Ovid.Cadmus.
Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892.Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

External links

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Media related toPentheus at Wikimedia Commons

Regnal titles
Preceded by Cadmus	Mythical King of Thebes	Succeeded by Polydorus

v t e Kings of Thebes
Kings	Calydnus Ogyges Cadmus Pentheus Polydorus Nycteus (regent for Labdacus) andLycus I (regent for Labdacus) Labdacus Lycus I (regent for Laius) Laius Amphion and Zethus Laius (second rule) Creon Oedipus Creon (second rule) (regent for Eteocles and Polynices) Polynices andEteocles Creon (third rule) (regent for Laodamas) Lycus II (usurper) Laodamas Thersander Peneleos (regent for Tisamenus) Tisamenus Autesion Damasichthon Ptolemy Xanthos
In literature	Antigone (Sophocles) Antigone (Euripides play) The Bacchae Herakles Iliad Oedipus Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus Rex The Phoenician Women Seven Against Thebes La Thébaïde
Related articles	Thebes Necklace of Harmonia
Category:Theban kings Portal:Ancient Greece