“But when the laws are written down, rich and poor alike have equal justice, and it is open to the weaker to use the same language to the prosperous when he is reviled by him, and the weaker prevails over the stronger if he have justice on his side.”
~ ‘The Suppliants’ by Euripides (Edward P. Coleridge translation. GB5 - p. 262)
The play begins with a group of suppliants seeking help from Aethra, Theseus’ mother, at the temple of Demeter. The suppliants are Adrastus, the king of Argos and a group of women who are mothers of warriors who were killed in the battle with Thebes. They are requesting Theseus’ help to get the bodies of their sons so that they could be buried with proper rites. Thebans, especially King Creon, refuse to give the bodies out of spite since these warriors wanted to sack the city of Thebes if they won.
This war was talked about at length in Aeschylus’ “The Seven Against Thebes” and Sophocles’s “Antigone”. Links to previous posts are below: