Sophocles

The Theban Plays

Cadmus = Harmonia

Aristeus =Autonoe Ino Semele Agave = Echion

Pentheus

Menoecius

Iocaste Creon

Nycteis = Polydorus

Labdacus

Laius =Oedipus

Laius

• Laius and Iocaste• Childless, asked Delphi for advice:• “Lord of Thebes famous for horses, do not sow a furrow of children

against the will of the gods; for if you beget a son, that child will kill you, [20] and all your house shall wade through blood.” (Euripides Phoenissae)

• Accidentally, they had a son anyway.

Oedipus

• Laius and Iocaste expose the baby• Found by Polybus, King of Corinth• Raised as prince of Corinth• His parentage challenged:

• Oedipus went to Delphi for confirmation• “You will kill your father and through incest with your mother you will

have children”

Oedipus and Laius

• Oedipus resolves never to go home• Believing that Polybus and Merope were his real parents• On the road he meets an old man in a chariot• “stranger, make way for a king” but Oedipus “because he was proud”• Oedipus kills Laius and his charioteer

Problems…

• Delphic oracles are (almost) always ‘if A then B’ formulae• If Laius has a son, then his son will kill him

• Theodore Buttrey:• “if you kill your father, then you will commit incest with your mother

and produce children”• 52 English translations… all wrong?

Biggest Problem

• If divine pronouncements do not include choice and or interpretation, then what is left of free will?

• Is life tolerable if fate is predetermined?• Is ‘god’s plan’ written and are we just going through the motions

like actors on a stage?

Cadmus = Harmonia

Aristeus =Autonoe Ino Semele Agave = Echion

Pentheus

Menoecius

Iocaste Creon

Antiope = Polydorus

Labdacus

Laius =Oedipus

Creon

• King (Regent?) on the death of Laius• Brother of Iocaste• When the sphinx came, Creon’s son Haemon was one of those

killed• Creon offered his throne, and his sister, to anyone who could

solve the riddle

The Riddle

• Version One:• What is a being with four feet, two feet, three feet and once voice and is

weakest when it has the most feet?

• Version Two:• What has four feet in the morning, two feet in the afternoon, and three

feet in the evening?

Oedipusand the Sphinx

• Gustave Moreau• 1864• ‘Oedipus and the Sphinx’

A man…

• Who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two feet as a man, and uses a cane in his old age

Oedipus and Iocaste

• Oedipus becomes king of Thebes• Marries the queen (his mother), Iocaste• A plague descends on Thebes

• The city is polluted with the miasma of murder and incest.

• Oedipus seeks divine guidance• The murder of Laius must be avenged!

• Oedipus consults Teiresias

The Accursed Children

Polynices Eteocles Ismene Antigone

Oedipus = Iocaste

Aftermath

• Iocaste hanged herself• Oedipus gouged out his own eyes• Polynices and Eteocles banished Oedipus• Antigone took her father to Attica• Received by Theseus• Died at Colonus

Oedipe et AntigoneCharles FrancoisJalabert1842

Battle for Thebes

• Polynices and Eteocles agree to share the throne alternatively• Etoecles first year

• But refused to step down

• Polynices• Gains the aid of Adrastus of Argos

Seven Against Thebes

• Adrastus of Corinth• Polynices of Thebes• Tydeus of Calydonia in Aetolia• Amphiaraus of Argos• Capaneus of Argos• Hippomedon of Argos• Parthenopaeus of Arcadia

Seven Against Thebes

Seven Gated Thebes

• Each champion stormed one of the seven gates of Thebes• Suicide of Creon’s son, Meneoceus

• All of the seven but Adrastus were killed• Etoecles and Polynices killed each other

• Creon of Thebes, victorious, forbade the burial of the bodies

Antigone

• Daughter of Oedipus and Iocaste• The ‘noble maiden’• Escorted Oedipus to Colonus

• After he died she returned to Thebes

• Edict of Creon• Antigone buried the body of Polynices• She was buried alive as punishment

Antigone and PolynicesNikoforos Lytras (1832 – 1904)

Sophocles• Sophocles

• 496 – 405 BC• 120 productions… only 7 extant.• Won the Dionysia 18 times.

• Oedipus Rex (Tyrannus, The King) (429)• Oedipus at Colonus (401 posthumous)• Antigone (441)

Theatre as Politics

• 480/ 79• Greek coalition defeats a Persian invasion force• Battles of Thermopylae, Salamis , Plataea and Mycale

• 479 – 432• The Pentecontaetia: Athenian hegemony• Brutal suppression of Delian League member states.

• 431 – 404• The Peloponnesian War: A war for Greek freedom from Athens.

The Peloponnesian War

Antigone

• Sohocles, Antigone• ca. 442 BC

• A question for the age of heroes?• A question for the age of democracy?

• Good of the individual vs. good of the state• Courage in the face of Tyranny• See Thucydides, ‘The Melian Dialogue’

Creonand

Antigone

Creon and

Antigone?