In Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes, Eteoclus is one of the seven champions who attack Thebes' seven gates. He bears a man scaling a tower with a ladder on his shield, and attacks the Neistan gates.

However, in the Phoenician Women, Eteoclus is not one of the seven who attack Thebes. Instead, he withdraws after seeing that Zeus is displeased with the attackers, and Adrastus replaces him at the gate. Other authors, among them Diodorus, Statius, and Hyginus, agree with this list of attackers.