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Agave, a MythSource painting
Greek

Agave

The Bacchant · Daughter of Cadmus · Mother of Pentheus

01Identity

Agave in Greek tradition

As a Bacchant and daughter of Cadmus, Agave led the attack on Pentheus during a Dionysiac frenzy. The frenzied women collectively mistook him for a wild animal, while Agave tore him apart and carried his severed head towards Thebes until Cadmus revealed that she had killed her own son. She later fled to Illyria, killed King Lycotherses, and transferred his kingdom to Cadmus.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Agave?

    Agave is a Greek being.
    Source

    Source

    • Classical Mythology a to Z
    • The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion With No Name
    • Greek Myths & Tales

  • What family links are recorded for Agave?

    Father: Cadmus, Mother: Harmonia, Spouse: Echion, 2 children, 4 siblings.
02Family

Agave’s family, at a glance

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

CadmusHarmonia
AgaveAutonoëInoPolydorusSemele

with Echion, Lycotherses

EpirusPentheus
03The names

The names Agave answers to

Agaue

Greek form of Agave's name

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

The Bacchant

A female worshipper of Dionysus

SourceThe Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion With No Name

Cadmus's Daughter

Daughter of the Theban founder Cadmus

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

Pentheus's Mother

Mother of the Theban king Pentheus

SourceGreek Myths & Tales

Echion's Wife

Wife of the Spartoi Echion

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

04The myths

The myths of Agave

2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

Agave Seizes the Illyrian Kingdom

Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion the Sown Man, banned the worship of Dionysus and refused to allow the women of Thebes to celebrate his rites. Dionysus drove Agave, her sisters Ino and Autonoë, and the other Theban women into a Bacchic frenzy on Mount Cithaeron. Pentheus followed them into the woods. The participants mistook him for a boar and attacked him. Agave was the first to spear him, and the other bacchants tore him apart with their bare hands.

After Pentheus was killed, Agave fled Thebes and took refuge at the court of Lycotherses, king of Illyria. Cadmus and Harmonia were also forced into exile. Dionysus foretold that they would rule over barbarian peoples in a chariot drawn by heifers. He also foretold that these peoples would sack many Greek cities, then plunder a temple of Apollo and suffer punishment. Cadmus and Harmonia went to the land of the Encheleans, who had been attacked by the Illyrians. Following Dionysus’s advice, the Encheleans chose the exiles as their rulers.

Agave married Lycotherses and remained at his court. When she learned that her parents commanded the Enchelean forces, she killed Lycotherses. She then gave the Illyrian kingdom to Cadmus. Cadmus and Harmonia continued their rule among the Encheleans. Dionysus had foretold that, after the barbarians’ offences, Ares would rescue them. He would turn Cadmus and Harmonia into serpents, and they would live happily for all time in the Islands of the Blessed.

Agave Seizes the Illyrian Kingdom, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

2 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1The Greek MythsT1
  2. 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Agave killed Lycotherses after learning that Cadmus and Harmonia commanded the Encheleans, then gave the Illyrian kingdom to Cadmus.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

Agave Tears Apart Pentheus

Pentheus banned the worship of Dionysus and forbade the women of Cadmeia to celebrate the god’s rites. He had become king of Thebes after Cadmus abdicated in favour of his grandson. Pentheus was the son of Agave, Cadmus’ daughter. Dionysus was the son of his aunt Semele. Pentheus arrested Dionysus and tried to chain him in the palace stable, but, in his madness, he chained an angry bull instead.

Dionysus drove Agave, her sisters Ino and Autonoë, and the other women of Thebes into a Bacchic frenzy. They went to Mount Cithaeron and joined the god’s female worshippers. The women tore calves and other victims apart. Pentheus decided to witness the rites and followed them. Some versions say that he hid behind a tree. Others say that Dionysus made him mad and caused him to climb the tree.

The women saw Pentheus among the branches. Dionysus urged them on, and they mistook Pentheus for a wild animal. They pulled him down and tore him apart in the ritual called sparagmos. Agave led the attack. Some versions say that she first tore off his arm, then ripped off his head. She placed the head on a pike and carried it towards Thebes, believing that it belonged to a mountain lion.

Agave recovered her senses when Cadmus told her that the head was not that of a mountain lion, but the bloody head of her mutilated son. The pieces of Pentheus had been scattered with such force that they caught in trees and fell into cracks in the ground. They were later found, gathered, and buried. Agave and her sisters were exiled from Thebes. Another version says that the women were exiled after Pentheus was identified.

Agave Tears Apart Pentheus, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1The Greek MythsT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Pentheus was torn apart by the women after Dionysus drove them into frenzy, and Agave recognised him only when Cadmus showed her that the head she carried was her son’s.”

    the ancient sources

  3. 3War in Greek MythologyT1

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Agave features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Agave embeds here once it publishes.