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Sophocles · c. 496-406 BC

Antigone

Ἀντιγόνη
Ancient Sources / Sophocles / Antigone

Antigone was staged in Athens around 441 BC. After the brothers Eteocles and Polyneices have killed each other at Thebes, King Creon forbids the burial of Polyneices, and the play follows the clash between Creon's decree and Antigone's duty to her brother. The sections follow the play's own units (prologue, choral songs and episodes) and keep the standard line numbers of the Greek text.

Read our guide to Antigone for the plot, the characters and what the play meant to its audience.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 18 passages, about 12000 words in English.
Translator
Richard C. Jebb (modernised by Perseus) (1891)
Edition
Greek text: Francis Storr (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1912, as digitised by Perseus. English: Richard C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, Part III, The Antigone, Cambridge University Press, 1891 (Perseus's modernised version of Jebb's prose translation)
Cite as
Sophocles, Antigone 1 (by line number)

Contents · 18 passages

  1. 1–99Prologue: Antigone and Ismene1020 words
  2. 100–161bParodos: the Chorus of Theban elders430 words
  3. 162–236First episode: Creon's edict729 words
  4. 237–331First episode (cont.): the guard reports the burial947 words
  5. 333–440First stasimon: the ode on man; Antigone is brought in895 words
  6. 441–525Second episode: Antigone defies Creon845 words
  7. 526–581Second episode (cont.): Ismene shares the blame586 words
  8. 583–630Second stasimon: the curse on the house of Labdacus354 words
  9. 631–723Third episode: Creon and Haemon889 words
  10. 724–780Third episode (cont.): the quarrel of father and son640 words
  11. 781–882Third stasimon: the ode to Eros, and Antigone's lament714 words
  12. 883–943Creon's order and Antigone's last words394 words
  13. 944–987Fourth stasimon: those shut in stone309 words
  14. 988–1032Fourth episode: Teiresias warns Creon457 words
  15. 1033–1114Fourth episode (cont.): Creon yields827 words
  16. 1115–1182Fifth stasimon: the hymn to Dionysus; the Messenger's news490 words
  17. 1183–1256Exodos: Eurydice, and the news from the tomb740 words
  18. 1257–1353Exodos: Creon's lament713 words

More by Sophocles

English translation by Richard C. Jebb (modernised by Perseus) (1891). Original text: Greek text: Francis Storr (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1912, as digitised by Perseus. English: Richard C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, Part III, The Antigone, Cambridge University Press, 1891 (Perseus's modernised version of Jebb's prose translation).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.