Greek myth and the subject of one of the seven surviving plays of Aeschylus. After the banishment of Oedipus from Thebes, his twin sons Polynices and Eteocles shared the crown, each serving every other year. But Eteocles decided he didn't want to share and banished his brother. So Polynices enlisted the help of his father-in-law, King Adrastus of Argos, and five other asskickers to take back the city and the crown. The brothers killed each other in single combat and the Seven failed to take the city, so the crown fell to their uncle Creon. The events in the play Antigone by Sophocles immediately follow this.
The Seven Against Thebes were a failure, but proved to be an inspiration for lots of groups of future asskickers to gather in groups of seven, like the Magnificent Seven, the Seven Samurai, and their sons, the Epigonoi, who actually succeeded in sacking the city of Thebes ten years later.
The Seven Against Thebes were:
Polynices
Adrastus
Capaneus
Tydeus
Parthenopaeus
Hippomedon
Amphiaraus
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