The Three Theban Plays

Sophocles is one of three ancient & medieval Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first classical & medieval drama & plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or relatively close to those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote 120 classical & medieval plays during the course of his lifetime, but only seven have survived in a complete form. Three of those seven surviving drama & plays make up The Three Theban Plays and are found in this anthology volume; Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. In the Greek tragedy drama & play Oedipus The King, the story of Oedipus is told, a man who becomes the king of Thebes, while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father, Laius, and marry his mother, Jocasta. The drama & play Oedipus at Colonus describes the end of Oedipus' tragic life. The Greek tragedy Antigone is the third of the three ancient & classical Theban dramas & plays. In this ancient & classical play, two brothers leading opposite sides in Thebes' civil war die fighting each other for the throne. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, has decided that Eteocles will be honored and Polyneices will be in public shame. The rebel brother's body will not be sanctified by holy rites, and will lie unburied on the battlefield. Antigone and Ismene are the sisters of the dead Polyneices and Eteocles. Antigone wants to bury Polyneices' body, in defiance of Creon's edict. Ismene refuses to help her, fearing execution, but she is unable to stop Antigone from going to bury her brother herself. Sophocles' work is considered literature & fiction classics in the Greek dramas & plays genre and is often required textbook reading in the following disciplines; English, literature & fiction, Ancient & Medieval Literature, ancient & classical, dramas & plays, Greek tragedy, and world literature. This edition, known as The Three Theban Plays, conveniently packages three of Sophocles' seven surviving plays.