Pentheus

King of Thebes, son of Echion (one of the five surviving *spartoi*) and Agave, daughter of Cadmus — Dionysus's first cousin once removed (Apollod. 3.5.2). When Dionysus returned to Thebes as a god and drove the women of the city out to Mount Cithaeron as maenads, Pentheus tried to arrest him; Dionysus disguised himself, let himself be chained, then unchained himself and led Pentheus — now dressed as a maenad — up the mountain to watch the rites (Eur. *Bacchae* 912–976). The maenads, led by his own mother Agave, mistook him for a mountain lion and tore him apart in the sparagmos; Agave returned to the palace carrying his head (Eur. *Bacchae* 1114–1200; Ov. *Met.* 3.701–733). The Pentheid house collapsed in a single night; the name *Pentheus* itself, punning on Greek *penthos* ('grief'), is the first of the Theban tragic kings.

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