Adrastus was born as a prince of Argos. During his youth, a feud between the most powerful houses of his home city resulted in the death of his father, Talaus, forcing Adrastos to flee to Sicyon. As the king of Sicyon, Polybus, died without heirs, he designated Adrastos as the new ruler. Once, after hosting the hero Heracles in his hall, Adrastos was given the divine steed Arion as a reward.
Eventually, however, Adrastos came to be reconciled with his father’s killer, Amphiaurus, and returned to Argos to reign as a king. He reigned over Argos in peace until the day that a pair of high-born refugees came to his city: Tydeus of Caledon and a nameless youth from Thebes. The two men came to words and started fighting outside Adrastos’ palace. Upon hearing the sounds of their battle, Adrastos hastened out, separating the combatants and calming the situation. Recognizing the two from a prophecy told to him by Amphiaurus, Adrastos understood that the youths, bearing shields with a boar and a lion upon them respectively, were to be the husbands of two of his daughters. After the four were wedded, Adrastos promised his sons-in-law that he would do all in his power to help them return to their homes. Only then did the other youth reveal himself as Polynices, son of Oedipus and one of the kings of Thebes, usurped by his brother Eteocles.
Bound by his vow, Adrastos called for heroes to aid him in besieging Thebes’ seven great gates. Though his spirits were low after Amphiaurus advised him that the war would end badly and he dearly wished none would answer, three heroes still came to heed Adrastos’ call: Capaneus, Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus. Amphiaurus, closer to him than a brother, joined Adrastos, with Tydeus and Polynices bringing their number to seven. And so they went to war.
Though the assembled forces broke through Thebes’ armies, the breaking of each gate took its toll, with a hero falling upon each one. Though Adrastos survived his battle, the last gate was held by the king, Eteocles. The seventh gate remained standing, with Polynices and Eteocles dying by each other’s hand, bringing their curse and feud to an end. Broken, Adrastos was whisked away from the battle by Arion, leaving the bodies of his friends and comrades on the battlefield.
After the battle, Creon, now regent of Thebes, ordered that none of the fallen enemies be given funeral rites. Not wishing to see his comrades and men so insulted, Adrastos went to plead for the aid of Theseus, the king of Athens. With Theseus’ help, a sortie was launched to recover the bodies of the six comrades that fell attacking the gates. With the bodies secured, the Athenians retreated.
Ten years after the disastrous war, Adrastos, still burning with vengeance, persuaded the sons of the fallen to make a new attack upon the city. Visited by his friend Amphiaurus in a dream, Adrastos was assured that the gods approved of the undertaking due to Thebes’ ungodly ways and that the war would be successful.
Argos’ armies marched against Thebes and razed the city to the ground, though most of its inhabitants had evacuated under the advice of the prophet Tiresias. The only hero of Argos to fall in the second attack was Adrastos’ own son, Aegialeus. Finally understanding his place in the grand scheme of things, Adrastos grieved at fate’s cruelty. As he had been a tool in the vengeance of another and had in his own turn pursued revenge, he built the first temple to Nemesis in the ruins of Thebes, pledging him to the goddess so that others would not have to suffer as tools of another’s vengeance.
He then returned home, but died shortly after his arrival, weighed down by age and grief.
Originally Posted by Kabalisto Koga
