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{{Short description|Son of Hipponous in Greek mythology}}
[[File:Seven against Thebes Getty Villa 92.AE.86.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Capaneus scales the city wall of [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]], [[Campanian vase painting|Campanian]] red-figure [[Neck-amphora]] attributed to the Caivano Painter, ca. 340 BC, [[J. Paul Getty Museum]] (92.AE.86).<ref>[[J. Paul Getty Museum]] [https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103XMG/ 92.AE.86].</ref>]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Capaneus''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|p|æ|n|.|j|uː|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Καπανεύς ''Kapaneús'') was a son of [[Hipponous]] and either [[Astynome]] (daughter of [[Talaus]])<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 70</ref> or [[Laodice (Greek myth)|Laodice]] (daughter of [[Iphis (name)|Iphis]]),<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Euripides]], ''[[The Phoenician Women|Phoenissae]]'' 189; on [[Pindar]], ''Nemean Ode'' 9.30</ref> and husband of [[Evadne]], with whom he fathered [[Sthenelus (son of Capaneus)|Sthenelus]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.10.8</ref> Some call his wife [[Ianeira]].<ref>Scholia on Pindar, ''Olympian Ode'' 6.46</ref>

==Mythology==
According to the legend, Capaneus had immense strength and body size and was an outstanding warrior. He was also notorious for his arrogance. He stood just at the wall of [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]] during the war of the [[Seven against Thebes]] and shouted that [[Zeus]] himself could not stop him from invading it. [[Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus|Vegetius]] refers to him as the first to use ladders in a siege.<ref>[[Publius Flavius Vegetius Rius]], ''[[De re militari]]'' 4.21</ref> In [[Aeschylus]], he bears a shield with a man without armour withstanding fire, a torch in hand, which reads 'I will burn the city,' in token of this. While he was mounting the ladder, Zeus struck and killed Capaneus with a thunderbolt, and Evadne threw herself on her husband's funeral pyre and died.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' 983 ff.; [[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'' 133; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', 9. 404; Apollodorus, 3.6.6–3.7.1; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 243; [[Philostratus of Lemnos]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Eikones]]'' 2.31; ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' 3.21</ref> His story was told by [[Aeschylus]] in his play ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'',<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'' 423 ff.</ref> by [[Euripides]] in his plays ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' and ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'',<ref>Euripides, ''[[The Phoenician Women|Phoenissae]]'' 1172 ff.</ref> and by the Roman poet [[Statius]].<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' 10.927</ref>

==Popular culture==
* In the fourteenth canto of his ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', [[Dante]] sees Capaneus in the seventh circle (third round) of Hell. Along with the other blasphemers, or those "violent against God", Capaneus is condemned to lie supine on a plain of burning sand while fire rains down on him. He continues to curse the deity (whom, being a pagan, he addresses as "Jove" [Jupiter]) despite the ever harsher pains he thus inflicts upon himself, so that God "thereby should not have glad vengeance."
* In [[Ezra Pound]]'s poem ''[[Hugh Selwyn Mauberley]]'', Capaneus is mentioned, with the implication that Mauberly (and by extension Pound himself) shared the ancient hero's daring and over-confidence.
* In [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s collection ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', in ''[[The Knight's Tale]]'', Theseus meets a woman who declares herself to be the widow of Capaneus and criticizes her for crying and wailing, accusing her of being envious of his honour.

==See also==
* [[List of mortals in Greek mythology]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Aeschylus]], translated in two volumes. 1. ''Seven Against Thebes'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0014 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0015 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Euripides]], ''The Complete Greek Drama'' edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 1. The Suppliants, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0122 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Euripides, ''Euripidis Fabulae.'' ''vol. 2''. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0121 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Euripides, ''The Complete Greek Drama'', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. Phoenissae, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0118 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Euripides, ''Euripidis Fabulae.'' ''vol. 3''. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0117 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Philostratus of Lemnos|Philostratus the Elder]]. ''Imagines,'' translated by Arthur Fairbanks (1864–1944). Loeb Classical Library Volume 256. London: William Heinemann, 1931. [https://topostext.org/work/225 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* Philostratus the Lemnian (Philostratus Major), ''Flavii Philostrati Opera. Vol 2''. Carl Ludwig Kayser. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1871. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0601 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Statius|Publius Papinius Statius]]'', The Thebaid'' translated by John Henry Mozley. Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. [https://topostext.org/work/149 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* Publius Papinius Statius, ''The Thebaid. Vol I-II''. John Henry Mozley. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1928. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0498 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* [[Sophocles]], ''The Antigone of Sophocles e''dited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0186 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Sophocles, ''Sophocles. Vol 1: Oedipus the king. Oedipus at Colonus. Antigone''. With an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 20. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1912. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0185 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100420082540/http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/C/Capaneus.html Myth Index – Capaneus]

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[[Category:Characters in Seven against Thebes]]


{{Greek-myth-stub}}
[[Category:Deeds of Zeus]]
[[Category:Characters in the Divine Comedy]]