Agave

Mortal Theban princess, youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (greek_harmonia, whose notes name 'Agave'). Wife of the Spartos Echion and mother of King Pentheus, whom she tore apart on Cithaeron in the Dionysiac frenzy of Euripides's Bacchae. Authored as mortal, matching the existing sister greek_autonoe and the canonical mortal Theban line.

Parentage

• mother: Harmonia

Domains

• Dionysiac frenzy
• Theban royalty

Powers

• Leads the maenads in the rending of Pentheus

Epithets

• Ἀγαυὴ Κάδμου θυγάτηρ — Agave daughter of CadmusEuripides, Bacchae 1154-1155; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.4.2 (primary)

Relations

• sibling: AutonoeSister; both join the maenads in the Bacchae (one-way edge to the pre-existing figure).Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.4.2; Euripides, Bacchae 229-232 (primary)
• sibling: InoSister.Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.4.2; Euripides, Bacchae 229-232 (primary)
• sibling: SemeleSister; mother of Dionysus, the god who sends the frenzy.Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.4.2 (primary)
• sibling: Polydorus of ThebesBrother; king of Thebes after Pentheus.Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.4.2 (primary)
• spouse: Echion (one of the Spartoi / Sown Men of Thebes) · GreekApollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.4.1-2; Pausanias 9.5.3 (primary)
• mother of: Pentheus (king of Thebes, torn apart by the maenads) · GreekHer son, whom she dismembered in her frenzy; no corpus entry.Euripides, Bacchae; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.5.2 (primary)

Sources

• existence and parentage (daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, wife of Echion, mother of Pentheus): Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.4.2; Pausanias 9.5.2-3; Hesiod, Theogony 975-978 (primary)
• Bacchic frenzy and the dismemberment of Pentheus: Euripides, Bacchae 1043-1300; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.5.2; Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.701-733 (primary)