Another rich epic tradition, one centered on the city of Thebes, is alluded to here, as it is at other places in the Iliad. The story of the Seven Against Thebes seems to have been a parallel epic tradition to that of the Trojan War, out of which the Iliad and Odyssey emerged: Hesiod refers to these two wars as those fought by the generation of Heroes (Works & Days 161–165). Yet, because the ancient Greek epics known as the Thebaid and Epigonoi are not extant, with only a few fragments surviving in other sources, the Iliad is one of our best and earliest sources for this tradition. The Iliad refers to this other tradition in some detail not only here, but also at Iliad 4.376–410, Iliad 5.800–808, Iliad 6.222–223, and Iliad 14.113–126. (See Gantz 1993:502–525 for other sources.) These Iliad passages refer to two different wars on Thebes. The first attack is instigated by the Theban Polyneikes (son of Oedipus) after his brother Eteokles denies him his share of the kingship of Thebes. Polyneikes then gathers a large military force with the help of his father-in-law Adrastos of Argos and Tydeus, Diomedes’ father, who is also an exile from his native city Kalydon (see Iliad 14.115–120). The other leaders vary according to the source, but can include Kapaneus, Amphiaraos, Parthenopaios, Eteoklos, Hippomedon, Mekisteus, and Lykourgos. The Seven are defeated at Thebes, as is at least implied at Iliad 4.405–409, Iliad 6.222–223, and Iliad 14.114. The second war was one of revenge by the sons of the Seven, called the epigonoi, some time later, when the sons reached manhood (Diomedes tells Glaukos he never knew his father because he was so young when Tydeus died at Thebes, Iliad 6.222–223). The sons who fight at Thebes include Diomedes and his daytime fighting partner Sthenelos, son of Kapaneus. As Sthenelos indicates, they are successful in sacking Thebes (see Iliad 4.403–410). Thus these two are a link between the two epic traditions, since they fight both at Thebes and at Troy. In an oral performance tradition, the singer can allude to the subject matter of other epics in this kind of compressed way and expect an audience to understand the allusion (see further on 10.289–290 below).