Cadmeic victory

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Kadmean victory is a victory in which the winner also has to accept severe losses. The name derives from the Greek mythology of the two sons of Oedipus , Eteocles and Polynices , from which we as descendants of Cadmus also Kadmeier ( Greek. Καδμείοι Kadmeioi ) calls.

Polynices went to war against his brother Eteocles, King of Thebes ( Seven against Thebes ). Here Polynices and Eteocles killed each other. The Thebans were able to crush the army of Polynices, but many of their fighters died next to their king. Even in ancient times , such a war was literally called the Kadmean victory , first demonstrable in Pausanias . The metaphor of the Pyrrhic victory can also be used in this sense.

swell

  • Pausania's travels in Greece 9, 9, 3.