Adrastus of Argos

Adrastus is presented in the sources as a scion of the Argive royal line, identified as a son of Talaus. In several traditions he is forced from Argos by the dynast Amphiaraus, flees to Sicyon where he becomes king, and later reconciles with Amphiaraus and returns to rule at Argos. During the generation after Oedipus he receives the exiled Polynices, arranges dynastic marriage alliances (notably marrying his daughter Deipyle to Tydeus), and gathers leading Argive princes to mount the expedition known as the Seven against Thebes, thus linking Argive dynastic politics to the Theban tragedy (sources: Apollodorus summaries, Euripides, Statius, compiled reference summaries).

The supplied accounts do not give a detailed corporeal portrait of Adrastus. Poetic and dramatic sources portray him as an aging monarch—Statius describes him as governing 'on the verge of old age'—and dramatic passages (Euripides' Suppliants) present him in performative lamentation as a mature ruler and mourner of slain companions. Some narrative tradition mentions his family relations (daughters, marital alliances) but no consistent physical descriptors such as stature, coloration, or distinctive marks are recorded in the provided materials.

Adrastus possesses no supernatural powers in the cited sources; his 'abilities' are political, military, and social. He exercises rulership and patronage: providing hospitality to exiles (Polynices), arranging dynastic marriages (Deipyle to Tydeus), marshaling aristocratic families and troops from Argive houses to support Polynices, and serving as leader and organizer of the Seven against Thebes. Dramatic treatments emphasise his role as organiser and as a grieving survivor of the expedition's losses rather than as a magical or divine actor (sources: Apollodorus material, Euripides' Suppliants, Statius' Thebaid, reference summaries).