In Greek mythology, Euryganeia () was a Theban queen. She was one of Oedipus' wives, and in rarer traditions the mother of his four notable children, Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone and Ismene.
Family Euryganeia was either a daughter of Hyperphas,Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.5.8Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.11 and thus, sister to Euryanassa.Scholia on Homer, Odyssey 11.326 = Hesiod, fr. 62 (Loeb edition, 1914) In some sources, she was described as Jocasta's sister, which would make her Oedipus' aunt.Anonymous authors cited by the scholia to Euripides, Phoenissae 53 Euryganeia was occasionally named as Oedipus' second wife and the mother of his children, Polynices, Eteocles, Ismene and Antigone.Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.5.8; cf. .
According to Pausanias, the statement at Odyssey 11.274—that the gods soon made the incestuous marriage between Oedipus and his mother Jocasta known—is incompatible with her bearing four children to him.Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.10 The geographer cites the lost epic poem Oedipodea as evidence for the fact that Euryganeia was actually the mother of Oedipus' brood.Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.11; this is Oedipodea fr. 2 in . Pherecydes, on the other hand, attributed two sons (named Phrastor and Laonytus) to the marriage of Jocasta and Oedipus, but agreed that the more famous foursome were the children of Euryganeia.Pherecydes, FGrHist 3 F 48, quoted by the scholia to Euripides, Phoenissae 53.
Mythology There was a painting of Euryganeia at Plataea in which she was depicted as mournful because of the strife between her children.Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.11 Following Euryganeia's death, Oedipus married Astymedusa, who plotted against her stepsons.The Scholia to Iliad 4.376 places the union following Oedipus' discovery that Jocasta was his mother; the marriage took place following Euryganeia's death according to the scholia to Euripides, Phoenissae 53 (citing Pherecydes, FGrHist 3 F 48).Eustathius on Homer, Iliad 4.376–81 (vol. i, p. 767) .
See also
Antiope Dirce Aëdon
Notes
References Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Pseudo-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. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website. . .