Creon

Creon was the name of several men in Greek myth. The most important was the son of Menoeceus, brother of Jocasta and ruler of Thebes after the death of Laius, who appears in the plays of Sophocles and Euripides as regent, king and uncle of Oedipus’ children. A second Creon was king of Corinth in the story of Jason and Medea.

Creon of Thebes

Family

Creon was the son of Menoeceus (Sophocles, Antigone 156, 211; Oedipus the King 85). Jocasta, wife of Laius and then of Oedipus, was his sister (Euripides, Phoenician Women 10–11, 690–691; Sophocles, Oedipus the King 639). Apollodorus likewise makes the wife of Laius a daughter of Menoeceus, named Jocasta or, in some accounts, Epicasta (Library 3.5.7). Creon’s wife is Eurydice in Sophocles’ Antigone (Antigone 1180). The sources do not agree on his children. Sophocles gives him Haemon, who is to marry Antigone, and another son, Megareus, who died before his brother (Antigone 568–570, 1303). Euripides gives him Haemon and a younger son, Menoeceus, who gives his life for the city (Phoenician Women 913–1018, 1586–1588). In Euripides’ Heracles, Creon’s daughter is Megara, wife of Heracles (Heracles 9–12); Apollodorus adds that he gave a younger daughter to Iphicles (Library 2.4.11).

Creon and the Sphinx

After Laius was buried, Creon, son of Menoeceus, succeeded to the kingdom, and during his reign Hera sent the Sphinx against Thebes. The Sphinx carried off one Theban after another, and the last was Creon’s son Haemon. Creon then proclaimed that whoever solved her riddle would receive the kingdom and the wife of Laius. Oedipus solved it, the Sphinx threw herself from the citadel, and Oedipus became king and married Jocasta, not knowing she was his mother (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8). In this version Haemon dies long before the quarrel over Polynices’ burial, in which Sophocles’ Haemon plays his part.

Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus

In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus sends Creon to Delphi to learn why the plague has struck Thebes, and Creon brings back the god’s command to drive out the pollution caused by the killing of Laius (Oedipus the King 69–98). When Oedipus accuses him of plotting to seize the throne, Creon answers that he has no wish to be king: he has all the power without the fear (Oedipus the King 378–389, 583–592). At the end of the play Oedipus, blinded, is left to Creon, who has become the only guardian of the land (Oedipus the King 1416–1418) and Oedipus asks him to look after his daughters (Oedipus the King 1459–1475).

In Oedipus at Colonus, Creon comes to Colonus with attendants to bring Oedipus back to Thebes. He seizes Ismene, and then Antigone, but Theseus, king of Athens, has the girls rescued and sends Creon away (Oedipus at Colonus 722–1043).

Creon and Antigone

Oedipus’ sons Eteocles and Polynices killed each other in the war of the Seven against Thebes, and Creon became ruler. He had Eteocles buried with honour, but proclaimed that the body of Polynices should lie unburied, to be eaten by the birds (Sophocles, Antigone 21–30, 211–214). Antigone buried her brother anyway. In Sophocles, Creon sentences her to be shut up alive in a rocky chamber (Antigone 773–780); in Apollodorus she is buried alive (Library 3.7.1). The prophet Tiresias warns him, and Creon, giving way at last, goes to free her; but he finds that Antigone has hanged herself with a linen noose, and that his son Haemon, who was to marry her, has tried to stab his father and, failing, has fallen on his own sword (Antigone 988–1114, 1220–1243). Creon’s wife Eurydice kills herself on hearing of her son’s death, cursing her husband as the killer of their children (Antigone 1301–1305).

Euripides tells it differently. In the Phoenician Women, Eteocles gives Creon the rule of the land and the hand of Antigone for his son Haemon; after the war, Creon exiles Oedipus and orders that Polynices be cast out unburied (Phoenician Women 1584–1592, 1627–1630). In Apollodorus, Theseus later marches against Thebes and recovers the Argive dead whom Creon had left unburied (Library 3.7.1).

The Death of Creon

Sophocles does not narrate Creon’s death. In Euripides’ Heracles, Lycus, a man from Euboea, kills Creon and takes power in Thebes while Heracles is in the underworld (Euripides, Heracles 26–34). In Statius’ Thebaid Creon is killed by Theseus in the fight before Thebes over the burial of the Argive dead (Statius, Thebaid 12.769–781).

Creon of Corinth

Another Creon was king of Corinth. He betrothed his daughter Glauce to Jason, who divorced Medea to marry her. Medea sent the bride a poisoned robe, which burned Glauce and her father when he tried to rescue her (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.28; Euripides, Medea).

Creon Sources

Sophocles, Antigone 21–30, 156, 211–214, 568–570, 773–780, 988–1114, 1180, 1220–1243, 1301–1305, Oedipus the King 69–98, 378–389, 583–592, 639, 1416–1418, 1459–1475, Oedipus at Colonus 722–1043; Euripides, Phoenician Women 10–11, 690–691, 913–1018, 1584–1592, 1627–1630, Heracles 8–12, 26–34, Medea; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.28, 2.4.11, 3.5.7–8, 3.7.1; Statius, Thebaid 12.769–781.

See Also: Eurydice, Oedipus, Jocasta, Antigone, Polynices, Eteocles, Haemon, Theseus