Agave (daughter of Cadmus)

For other uses, see Agave (mythology).

In Greek mythology, Agave (/ˈæɡəvi/; Ancient Greek: Ἀγαύη, romanized: Agaúē, lit. 'illustrious' or 'high-born'^[1]), was the daughter of Cadmus and a princess of Thebes. She is most well known for her role in the myths surrounding her nephew, Dionysus, god of wine.^[2]

Agave
Princess of Boiotian Thebes
Member of the Theban Royal Family
Pentheus being torn apart by Agave and Ino
Genealogy
Parents	Cadmus and Harmonia
Siblings	Autonoë, Ino, Semele and Polydorus
Consort	Echion, one of the Spartoi
Children	Pentheus and Epirus

Family

Agave was the eldest daughter of Cadmus, a legendary hero, king, and founder of the city of Thebes, and of the goddess Harmonia, goddess of harmony. She had three sisters: Autonoë, Ino and Semele, and a brother, Polydorus.^[3] Agave married Echion, one of the five Spartoi, and was the mother of Pentheus, a king of Thebes, and Epirus.

Mythology

In Euripides' play The Bacchae, Semele, while pregnant with Dionysus, was tricked by Hera into witnessing the true form of Zeus, and was destroyed by the sight. Agave, Ino, and Autonoë began to spread a rumor that Semele had only been pretending that Zeus was the father of her child in order to conceal the fact that she was pregnant out of wedlock with the child of a mortal man, and that her death was a punishment for her actions. These claims directly invalidated the divinity of Dionysus, and he vowed to prove his godhood and avenge the reputation of his mother.^[4]

To get revenge, Dionysus arrived in Thebes with his Maenads to celebrate a Dionysiac festival on Mount Cithaeron. He drives the women of Thebes mad with revelry, including Agave. The women wandered the forests of Thebes, suckling animals, twining snakes in their hair, and performing miraculous feats, such as ripping cattle apart with their bare hands. Pentheus, successor king of Thebes and son of Agave, was horrified by the strange festivals and banned any form of Dionysian worship.^[4] He wanted to control the frenzied mob of women with armed force (likely by massacring them), but was instead convinced by a disguised Dionysus to spy on them first, disguised as a Maenad. Once Pentheus donned his disguise, he headed to Cithaeron with Dionysus and hid in a tree to watch the women. However, Dionysus exposed his true form to his followers, and revealed Pentheus' hiding spot to them. The Maenads, led by a frenzied Agave, pulled Pentheus down from the tree, ripped off his limbs and head, and tore his body to pieces.^[5]

Agave, still mad, arrived back in Thebes with Pentheus' bloodied head on a spike, believing it is the head of a lion.^[6] She proudly reveals the head to her father Cadmus, believing he will delight in her trophy, and is shocked when he is instead horrified. It is only when Agave begins to call out to Pentheus to come and look at her trophy, that her madness begins to fade, and she realizes what she has done.

According to Hyginus,^[7] Agave and her sisters were exiled from Thebes. Agave reportedly fled to Illyria to marry King Lycotherses, and then killed him in order to gain the city for her father Cadmus. However, according to William Smith, Hyginus' account is "manifestly transplaced by Hyginus, and must have belonged to an earlier part of the story of Agave".^[8]

Genealogy

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

v t e

Inachus Melia Zeus Io Phoroneus Epaphus Memphis Libya Poseidon Belus Achiroë Agenor Telephassa Danaus Elephantis Aegyptus Cadmus Cilix Europa Phoenix Mantineus Hypermnestra Lynceus Harmonia Zeus Polydorus Sparta Lacedaemon Ocalea Abas Agave Sarpedon Rhadamanthus Autonoë Eurydice Acrisius Ino Minos Zeus Danaë Semele Zeus Perseus Dionysus

Colour key:   Male   Female   Deity

Family tree of the Theban royal house

Royal house of Thebes family tree

v t e Solid lines indicate descendants. Dashed lines indicate marriages. Dotted lines indicate extra-marital relationships or adoptions. Kings of Thebes are numbered with bold 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) with bold names and a light red background. The number N refers to the regency preceding the reign of the Nth king. Generally this means the regent served the Nth king but not always, as Creon (A9) was serving as regent to Laodamas (the 10th King) when he was slain by Lycus 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) Zeus Zeus Ino Agave Echion 3. Polydorus Nycteis Antiope Semele Autonoë Dionysus 2. Pentheus Epeiros 4. Labdacus 5a. Amphion 5b. Zethus Menoeceus Eurydice A7, A8 & A9. Creon (Regent) Jocasta 6. Laius Merope Polybus Hipponome Alcaeus Zeus Alcmene Amphitryon Perimede 7. Oedipus Megara Heracles Iphicles Anaxo Henioche Megareus Haemon Antigone 8b. Eteocles Argea 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 Theras Argeia Aristodemus 16. Xanthos Eurysthenes Procles

Gallery

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  Pictura loquens; sive Heroicarum tabularum Hadriani Schoonebeeck enarratio et explicatio (1695)
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  Pompeii - Casa dei Vettii - Pentheus.jpg
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  The Death of Pentheus