Ten years after Adrastos opened war against Thebes to reinstate Polyneikes to the throne, Adrastos returned to Thebes with the sons of the slain chiefs.
These were, Aigialeos, his son, Thersander, the son of Polyneikes, Alkmaeon and Amphilochos, sons of Amphiaraos, Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, Sthenelos son of Kapaneus, Promachos son of Parthenopaeos and Euryalos son of Mekistos.
Arcadia, Messene, Corinth and Megara, they all helped the Epigonoi. They met Thebans in the river Glisas and there was a battle, in which the Theban army was destroyed, though the son of Eteokles, Laodamas, killed the son of Adrastos, Aigialeos.
The defeated Thebans were driven inside the walls, by Alkmaeon.
The Thebans then consulted the prophet Teiresias, who told them that everything had been lost and the Gods had decided. The words of Teiresias were listened and the Thebans offered to surrender the city. They fled with their wives and children, under the command of Laodamas, to the Illyrians.
The Epigonoi entered the city and put to the throne Thersander, the son of Polyneikes.
Adrastos, who was praised in the epic for his soft voice and persuasive eloquence, having lost his son, died from grief, in his way home. He was worshiped as hero at Sikyon and Argos.
Sikyonians build a Heroon in the public Agora and his exploits and sufferings were celebrated in lyric tragedies.