Editing Sophocles (section)

===Theban plays===
The Theban plays comprise three plays: ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' (also called ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' or ''Oedipus the King''), ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', and ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]''. All three concern the fate of [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]] during and after the reign of King [[Oedipus]].<ref name="Grene pp. 1–2">Sophocles, ed Grene and Lattimore, pp. 1–2.</ref> They have often been published under a single cover;<ref>See for example: ''Sophocles: The Theban Plays'', Penguin Books, 1947; ''Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone'', University of Chicago, 1991; ''Sophocles: The Theban Plays: Antigone/King Oidipous/Oidipous at Colonus'', Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company, 2002; ''Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone'', Harvest Books, 2002; Sophocles, ''Works'', [[Loeb Classical Library]], Vol I. London: W. Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912 (often reprinted) – the 1994 Loeb, however, prints Sophocles in chronological order.</ref> but Sophocles wrote them for separate [[Dionysia|festival competitions]], many years apart. The Theban plays are not a proper [[trilogy]] (i.e. three plays presented as a continuous narrative), nor an intentional series; they contain inconsistencies.<ref name="Grene pp. 1–2"/> Sophocles also wrote other plays pertaining to Thebes, such as the ''[[Epigoni (play)|Epigoni]]'', but only fragments have survived.<ref name="theatermania.com">Murray, Matthew, "[http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/5913 Newly Readable Oxyrhynchus Papyri Reveal Works by Sophocles, Lucian, and Others]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060411145654/http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/5913 |date=11 April 2006 }}", ''Theatermania'', 18 April 2005. Retrieved 9 July 2007.</ref>

====Subjects====
The three plays involve the tale of [[Oedipus]], who kills his father and marries his mother, not knowing they are his parents. His family is cursed for three generations.

In ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'', Oedipus is the [[protagonist]]. His infanticide is planned by his parents, Laius and Jocasta, to prevent him fulfilling a prophecy; but the servant entrusted with the infanticide passes the infant on, through a series of intermediaries, to a childless couple, who adopt him, not knowing his history. Oedipus eventually learns of the [[Delphic Oracle]]'s prophecy of him, that he would kill his father, and marry his mother; he attempts to flee his fate without harming those he knows as his parents (at this point, he does not know that he is adopted). Oedipus meets a man at a crossroads accompanied by servants; Oedipus and the man fight, and Oedipus kills the man (who was his father, Laius, although neither knew at the time). He becomes the ruler of Thebes after solving the [[riddle of the Sphinx]] and in the process, marries the widowed queen, his mother Jocasta. Thus the stage is set for horror. When the truth comes out, following from another true but confusing prophecy from Delphi, Jocasta commits suicide, Oedipus blinds himself and leaves Thebes. At the end of the play, order is restored. This restoration is seen when Creon, brother of Jocasta, becomes king, and also when Oedipus, before going off to exile, asks Creon to take care of his children. Oedipus's children will always bear the weight of shame and humiliation because of their father's actions.<ref>Sophocles. ''Oedipus the King''. ''The Norton Anthology of Western Literature''. Gen. ed. Peter Simon. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1984. 648–52. Print. {{ISBN|0-393-92572-2}}.</ref>

In ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', the banished Oedipus and his daughter Antigone arrive at the town of [[Hippeios Colonus|Colonus]], where they encounter [[Theseus]], King of [[Athens]]. Oedipus dies and strife begins between his sons [[Polyneices]] and [[Eteocles]]. They fight, and simultaneously run each other through.

In ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'', the protagonist is Oedipus' daughter, Antigone. She is faced with the choice of allowing her brother Polyneices' body to remain unburied, outside the city walls, exposed to the ravages of wild animals, or to bury him and face death. The king of the land, Creon, has forbidden the burial of Polyneices for he was a traitor to the city. Antigone decides to bury his body and face the consequences of her actions. Creon sentences her to death. Eventually, Creon is persuaded to free Antigone from her punishment, but his decision comes too late and Antigone commits suicide. Her suicide triggers the suicide of two others close to King Creon: his son, Haemon, who was to wed Antigone, and his wife, Eurydice, who commits suicide after losing her only surviving son.

====Composition and inconsistencies====
[[File:Giroust - Oedipus At Colonus.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.3|''Oedipus at Colonus'' by [[Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust]] (1788), [[Dallas Museum of Art]]]]

The plays were written across thirty-six years of Sophocles' career and were not composed in chronological order, but instead were written in the order ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'', ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'', and ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]''. Nor were they composed as a ''trilogy'' – a group of plays to be performed together, but are the remaining parts of three different groups of plays. As a result, there are some inconsistencies: notably, [[Creon of Thebes|Creon]] is the undisputed king at the end of ''Oedipus Rex'' and, in consultation with Apollo, single-handedly makes the decision to expel Oedipus from Thebes. Creon is also instructed to look after Oedipus' daughters [[Antigone]] and [[Ismene]] at the end of ''Oedipus Rex''. By contrast, in the other plays there is some struggle with Oedipus' sons [[Eteocles]] and [[Polynices]] in regard to the succession. In ''Oedipus at Colonus'', Sophocles attempts to work these inconsistencies into a coherent whole: Ismene explains that, in light of their tainted family lineage, her brothers were at first willing to cede the throne to Creon. Nevertheless, they eventually decided to take charge of the monarchy, with each brother disputing the other's right to succeed. In addition to being in a clearly more powerful position in ''Oedipus at Colonus'', Eteocles and Polynices are also culpable: they consent (l. 429, Theodoridis, tr.) to their father's going to exile, which is one of his bitterest charges against them.<ref name="Grene pp. 1–2"/>