attempt to take possession of his body. Hippomedon fights against a whole host of Thebans to retain the corpse but is tricked by Tisiphone into abandoning the scene. He goes on to fight in the bed of the river Ismenus but makes the mistake of killing the river god's grandson Crenaeus. So provoked, the river joins the battle and drowns Hippomedon. Atalanta, Parthenopaeus' mother, has a vision of her son's death in a dream. The goddess Diana seeks to intervene on her behalf but is told by Apollo that the youth cannot be saved. Parthenopaeus is granted one last killing spree before he is killed by Dryas. At Argos, a group of women pray to Juno to come to their army's help. The goddess sends her messenger Iris to the cave of sleep where she ask Sleep himself to intervene. He obliges and casts deep sleep onto the Theban army. Led by Thiodamas, a band of Argives invades the Theban siege camp and commits a massacre. Two youths, Dymas and Hopleus, attempt to retrieve the bodies of Tydeus and Parthenopaeus. Apprehended by the Thebans, they die on top of the bodies they sought to steal. The Argives now mount a full on assault on the fortress of Thebes. Within the city, Tiresias consults the gods and is given an omen: Menoeceus, the son of the leading Theban and brother of Jocasta Creon, must be sacrificed to attain be peace. The young man receives the omen happily, scales the walls of the city and kills himself in front of both armies. On the Argive side, Capaneus climbs the walls himself and, in an excess of hubris, vows to challenge Jupiter himself; the god, in turn, strikes him down with a thunderbolt. Tisiphone and her sister Megaera stir Polynices to challenge Eteocles to single combat to decide the war. Eteocles is hesitant but he is urged by Creon to accept the duel, while Antigone and Jocasta try to defuse the situation. Meeting on the plain before the city, the brothers fight and kill each other. Jocasta kills herself at the news. Creon succeeds Eteocles as king of Thebes as the rest of the Argive army depart. Theseus' intervention In Thebes, Menoecus receives a kingly burial while the other war dead are cremated. Creon proclaims that he will deny burial to the dead Argives. The widows of the Argive army go on a