Antigone is the third and last of Sophocles’ Theban plays based on the legend of Oedipus and Jocasta. We begin after the death of Oedipus as his two sons Eteocles and Polynices wage a civil war for the kingship.  Both die in battle and Creon, their successor, rules that the King Eteocles will be buried and Polynices, challenger to the throne, will be left to rot on the battlefield.  Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, defies Creon’s order to give her brother a proper burial. She is caught and condemned to be buried alive.  Her fiancé, Creon’s son Haemon, tries to dissuade his father, to no avail. The blind prophet Tiresias appears and reports that the gods are not happy. He eventually persuades Creon that the gods want Polynices buried and that all of Greece will despise Creon if he persists.  He relents, but too late. Antigone has hung herself; Haemon found her and killed himself;  Creon’s wife did the same when she learned about her son. The play is a model of classic Greek tragedy and raises issues of law and morality that resonate today after over two thousand years.

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