King Creon, who has ascended to the throne of Thebes after the death of the brothers, decrees that Polynices is not to be buried or even mourned, on pain of death by stoning. Polynices left the kingdom, gathered an army and attacked the city of Thebes in the war of the Seven against Thebes. In Sophocles' account, the two brothers agreed to alternate rule each year, but Eteocles decided not to share power with his brother after his tenure expired. Oedipus's sons, Eteocles and Polynices, had shared rule jointly until they quarreled, and Eteocles expelled his brother. In her own namesake play, Antigone attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother Polynices.

Antigone then decides to return to Thebes. Theseus offers them the comfort of knowing that Oedipus has received a proper burial, but by his wishes, they cannot go to the site. However, Theseus defends Oedipus and rescues both Antigone and her sister who was also taken prisoner.Īt the end of the play, both Antigone and her sister mourn the death of their father. She stays with her father for the majority of the play, until she is taken away by Creon in an attempt to blackmail Oedipus into returning to Thebes. Antigone resembles her father in her stubbornness and doomed existence. Oedipus at Colonus Īntigone serves as her father's guide in Oedipus at Colonus, as she leads him into the city where the play takes place. Creon prevents him from taking the girls out of the city with him. He then begs Creon to watch over them, but in his grief reaches to take them with him as he is led away. The story of Antigone was addressed by the fifth-century BC Greek playwright Sophocles in his Theban plays:Īntigone and her sister Ismene are seen at the end of Oedipus Rex as Oedipus laments the 'shame' and 'sorrow' he is leaving his daughters to. Antigone in Front of the Dead Polynices by Nikiforos Lytras, National Gallery, Athens, Greece (1865)

Oedipus antigone