The Theban Plays

"Oedipus the Tyrant"; "Oedipus at Colonus"; "Antigone"

Sophocles, Peter J. Ahrensdorf, Thomas L. Pangle, Peter J. Ahrensdorf, Thomas L. Pangle

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780801478710
• eBook ISBN: 9780801468896
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Drama
• Index: Literature

The timeless Theban tragedies of Sophocles—Oedipus the Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone—have fascinated and moved audiences and readers across the ages with their haunting plots and their unforgettable heroes and heroines. Now, following the best texts faithfully, and translating the key moral, religious, and political terminology of the plays accurately and consistently, Peter J. Ahrensdorf and Thomas L. Pangle allow contemporary readers to study the most literally exact reproductions of precisely what Sophocles wrote, rendered in readily comprehensible English.These translations enable readers to engage the Theban plays of Sophocles in their full, authentic complexity, and to study with precision the plays' profound and enduring human questions. In the preface, notes to the plays, and introductions, Ahrensdorf and Pangle supply critical historical, mythic, and linguistic background information, and highlight the moral, religious, political, philosophic, and psychological questions at the heart of each of the plays. Even readers unfamiliar with Greek drama will find what they need to experience, reflect on, and enjoy these towering works of classical literature.

Oedipus at Colonus

Characters

Oedipus [exiled tyrant of Thebes]1

Theseus [king of Athens]

Antigone [daughter of the union of Oedipus with his mother, Jocasta]

Creon [brother of Jocasta, emissary of Thebes]

Stranger

Polyneices [elder son of the union of Oedipus with his mother, Jocasta, brother of Antigone and Ismene, and exiled ruler of Thebes]

Chorus of old Attic men

Messenger

Ismene [sister of Antigone, born of the same union]

Oedipus:	Child of a blind old man, Antigone, to what Lands have we come, or to the city of which men? Who will today receive with scanty gifts The wanderer Oedipus? It is little that I ask for and still less than little	5
	That I receive—and this is sufficient for me. For my sufferings and the long time that has Accompanied me and, thirdly, nobility, teach me to acquiesce. But, child, if you see some place to sit, Either on ground upon which we may tread or in the sacred groves of the gods,	10
	Set me there and sit me down so that we might find out Where we are. For we as strangers have come To learn from the townsmen, and to do what we may be told.
Antigone:	Father, suffering Oedipus, the towers that Protect the city are, to my eyes, far off.	15
	This land is sacred, as I would guess—teeming With sweet bay, olive, and grapevine. Within, thick-feathered Nightingales are singing sweetly. Rest your limbs here on this rough rock. For you have been sent forth on a road that is long for an old man.	20
Oedipus:	Now, sit me down and watch over the blind man.
Antigone:	Thanks to the passage of time, I do not need to be taught this!
Oedipus:	Can you instruct me as to where we are?
Antigone:	I do know that it is Athens, but not what spot.
Oedipus:	Yes, every one of the wayfarers told us this.	25
Antigone:	Shall I go and find out what place this is?
Oedipus:	Yes, child, if indeed it is inhabited.
Antigone:	But it is...

Table of contents

• Translators’ Preface
• Introduction to Oedipus the Tyrant
• Oedipus the Tyrant
• Introduction to Oedipus at Colonus
• Oedipus at Colonus
• Introduction to Antigone
• Antigone