In Greek mythology, Polyphontes was the son of Autophonus. In the Iliad, when the Argives attack Thebes in an attempt to regain the throne for Polynices that his brother, Eteocles, holds, Tydeus, a leader of the Thebans, enters Thebes as an embassy, and finding all the Theban leaders together challenges them to contests of arms, all of which he wins. This angers Eteocles, who sends Polyphontes and Maion as leaders of a group of fifty men who ambush Tydeus on his way back to his army. Tydeus slays all of these but Maion, whom the gods advise him to spare. In Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes, however, Polyphontes is one of the seven Theban defenders who face the Argive champions at Thebes' gates. He faces Capaneus at the Electran gates.

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