Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Amphiaraus, seer of Argos and husband of Eriphyle (sister of Adrastus), knows by his art that the expedition of the Seven against Thebes will fail and that he himself will die if he joins it. He at first refuses. In an earlier quarrel between Amphiaraus and Adrastus the two had sworn to abide by Eriphyle’s arbitration in future disputes. Polynices (or, in some tellings, Adrastus on Polynices’ behalf) brings the necklace of Harmonia—Cadmus’s wedding gift, an heirloom of Theban royalty—and bribes Eriphyle to decide that her husband must march. Bound by the oath, Amphiaraus arms and goes, but not before charging his son Alcmaeon to avenge him on Eriphyle when news of his death arrives. He rides to Thebes knowing the earth will take him. This file isolates the bribery and compulsion, not the chasm at Thebes nor Alcmaeon’s later purification-wanderings. The necklace’s glitter becomes the moral engine of the Argive disaster and of the Epigoni’s blood-debt.