Antigone

A Theban princess. Antigone (Ἀντιγόνη) was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. Antigone was the sister of Eteocles, Polyneices and Ismene.

She played an important part in the war between Argos and Thebes, which was called Seven Against Thebes. She was a prominent figure in two plays of Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone.

Her father was involved in a tragedy where he had unwittingly killed his own father, King Laius, and married his mother, Jocasta. Oedipus won the kingdom of Thebes because he had vanquished the monster Sphinx. Therefore he married Jocasta, not realising that he had committed murder and incest. When Thebes suffered from famine, Oedipus tried to find out who murdered the previous king. When he realised the terrible truth behind the oracle and prophecy, he stabbed himself in his eyes, after his mother/wife (Jocasta) committed suicide. Since her brothers Eteocles and Polyneices were too young to rule, her uncle Creon, brother of Jocasta, acted as regent.

In Oedipus at Colonus, when they banished her father, she acted as his guide, since he was blind. During Oedipus' exile, a power struggle erupted in Thebes between her two brothers. Eteocles became king while his brother brought back an army from Argos. Both brothers realised that one of them could win the war if he received a blessing from their father. Both brothers approached their father for blessing, but he cursed them both instead. Creon tried abducting Antigone so that Oedipus would be forced to take sides with Eteocles. Theseus, the Athenian hero and king, rescued Antigone from her abductors.

In the other tragedy, Antigone, when the war ended with Argos defeated, both of her brothers died when they killed one another in single combat. Once again, Creon acted as regent and ruler of Thebes; he gave Eteocles a splendid funeral, but he decreed that Polyneices was an enemy so his body did not deserve burial. Antigone was horrified by the decree and begged her uncle to relinquish his order. This only made Creon angrier so that he commanded that anyone who buried Polyneices would be entombed alive as punishment.

Only Antigone had the courage to bury her other brother; her sister Ismene was fearful of punishment from her uncle. So Antigone was captured, shortly after she buried Polyneices. Haemon, who was in love with Antigone, begged his father Creon to spare Antigone, because he was in love with her and engaged to her. But Creon ignored his son's pleas.

The tragedy is that Antigone died when she was entombed, and Haemon followed her by killing himself with his sword. Eurydice, Creon's wife, cursed her husband for his stubbornness and heartless decree before she hanged herself.

Though Antigone was no warrior, she proved her courage when she defied her uncle's decree. Antigone was heroic because she faced a higher power than her. Of all those in her family, she had advanced the cause of the right and the divine law. She was a martyr.

According to the Fabulae, Hyginus wrote a different variation of Antigone's myth. Creon ordered his son Haemon to kill Antigone, because she had defied his law and had buried Polyneices. Since Antigone was his wife, Haemon hid her instead among the shepherds. She gave birth to a son who would later take part in the annual games in Thebes. Creon recognised his grandson and ordered his son again to kill Antigone. Haemon was left without a choice, and slew his wife with his sword in front of Creon. Then Haemon threw himself upon his sword and died, following after his wife.

See Oedipus in the House of Thebes and the Seven Against Thebes for detail about the tragedy and the war.