The Theban Plays Cadmus = Harmonia
Aristeus =Autonoe Ino Semele Agave = Echion
Labdacus Menoecius
Laius = Iocaste Creon 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
Antiope = Polydorus Pentheus Labdacus Menoecius
Laius = Iocaste Creon 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? Oedipus and 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
Oedipus = Iocaste
Polynices Eteocles Ismene Antigone 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 Antigone Charles Francois Jalabert 1842 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 Polynices Nikoforos 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’ Creon and Antigone Creon and Antigone?