Three Theban Plays (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

By Sophocles and Pedro De Blas

Three Theban Plays, by Sophocles, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

• New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars

• Biographies of the authors

• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events

• Footnotes and endnotes

• Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work

• Comments by other famous authors

• Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations

• Bibliographies for further reading

• Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.

  The pinnacle of classical drama in Greece, the three-part, 2,500 year-old Oedipus cycle remains a touchstone of Western culture. Nearly perfect technically, the plays feature headstrong heroes, intense plots, and breathtaking imagery that have influenced generations of artists, philosophers, and statesmen. These fresh, historically faithful renditions by renowned translator Peter Constantine bring new life to civilization’s most meaningful dramas.   Rich in sex and violence, the plays follow the tragic downfall of King Oedipus, a man who mistakenly believes he can control his own destiny. In Oedipus the King, we watch as the hero learns the truth about his past, including his murder of his father, Laius, and marriage to his mother, Jocasta. Written just before the death of Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus features a more subdued tone as the blind, exiled king reflects on his passing from this world. Antigone, the earliest written of the three, presents the powerful story of the iron-willed daughter of Oedipus as she takes a fatal stand against her uncle Creon, the new ruler of Thebes. Favoring her own moral code to the dictates of an unjust ruler, Antigone becomes the first heroine in Western literature and a model of civil disobedience.   Pedro de Blas holds degrees in law and classics and has taught Greek at Columbia University and the CUNY Latin/Greek Institute. He has acted in several productions of Greek tragedy in the original and he is the author of the introduction and notes to Essential Dialogues of Plato, also published by Barnes & Noble Classics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Release date: Jun 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781411433304

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than or contemporary with those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides.

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Table of Contents

From the Pages of THREE THEBAN PLAYS

Title Page

Copyright Page

SOPHOCLES

The World of Sophocles and THREE THEBAN PLAYS

Introduction

NOTE ON THE TRANSLATOR

OEDIPUS THE KING

OEDIPUS AT COLONUS

ANTIGONE

ENDNOTES

Inspired by THREE THEBAN PLAYS

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

FOR FURTHER READING

From the Pages of THREE THEBAN PLAYS

Do you even know your provenance?

You are unaware that you are the enemy of your kin

both beneath and above the earth, unaware

that the double-edged curse of your mother and father

will one day fiercely drive you from this land in darkness,

though now your eyes can see.

(from Oedipus the King, 11. 404-409)

But whoever is haughty in word or deed,

ignoring justice, not revering

the shrines of the gods:

may evil fortune seize him for his ill-fated pride.

(from Oedipus the King, 11. 844-847)

Unfortunate man, may you never find out who you are.

(from Oedipus the King, 1. 1022)

He tore off the golden pins

that fastened her dress, raised them high, and plunged them

into the sockets of his eyes, crying out that now his eyes

would see neither his suffering nor his evil deeds.

(from Oedipus the King, 11. 1231-1234)

Dwellers of our native city of Thebes, behold! This is Oedipus,

who solved the infamous riddle and was the most mighty of men,

on whose fortune no citizen could look without envy,

but who was overtaken by a wave of dreadful disaster!

(from Oedipus the King, 11. 1445-1448)

Alas, miserable wretch that I am! Where can I flee?

What gods can help me, what mortals?

(from Oedipus at Colonus, 11. 789-790)

Not to be born is the condition

that surpasses all others.

But once man is born,

the next best thing is to return

with utmost haste to where he has come from.

For even youth with all its airy thoughtlessness

finds that ample suffering

is never far away.

(from Oedipus at Colonus, 11. 1197-1204)

I shall lie, beloved, with my beloved brother, having committed

a pious crime, since the time I must please those below

is far longer than the time I must please those here above.

(from Antigone, 11. 65—67)

No baser custom ever arose among men

than money. It sacks cities and uproots men from their houses.

It is a masterful teacher in perverting the minds of just men,

inciting them to turn to disgraceful deeds.

(from Antigone, 11. 286-289)

Why should I, wretched as I am, still look to the gods?

Which of the gods can I appeal to, when it was

through my pious act that I have been charged with impiety?

(from Antigone, 11. 885-887)

Alas! My disastrous judgment!

Woe, my son, young in your untimely death,

Ai ai! Ai ai!

You are dead, you are gone,

not because of your bad judgment

but because of mine.

(from Antigone, 11. 1206-1211)

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Antigone was first produced in 442 or 441 B.C., Oedipus the King sometime

between 430 and 428 B.C., and Oedipus at Colonus in 402 or 401 B.C.

Published in 2007 by Barnes & Noble Classics in a new translation with

new Introduction, Note on the Translator, Notes, Biography, Chronology,

Inspired By, Comments & Questions, and For Further Reading.

Introduction and Notes

Copyright © 2007 by Pedro de Bias.

Note on the Translator and Translations of

Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone

Copyright © 2007 by Peter Constantine

Note on Sophocles, The World of Sophocles

and Three Theban Plays, Notes, Inspired by Three Theban Plays,

Comments & Questions, and For Further Reading

Copyright © 2007 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

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without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Barnes & Noble Classics and the Barnes & Noble Classics

colophon are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Three Theban Plays

ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-235-2

eISBN : 978-1-411-43330-4

ISBN-10: I -59308-235-5

LC Control Number 2007927682

Produced and published in conjunction with:

Fine Creative Media, Inc.

322 Eighth Avenue

New York, NY 10001

Michael J. Fine, President and Publisher

Printed in the United States of America

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FIRST PRINTING

SOPHOCLES

Sophocles—along with Aeschylus and Euripides one of the three greatest of the ancient Greek writers of dramatic tragedy whose works have come down to us—was born around 497 B.C. in the village of Colonus Hippius, just outside Athens. His father, Sophilos, is believed to have been a wealthy arms dealer. Sophocles was educated in the arts and won awards for both music and wrestling. His industriousness, or perhaps the humming smoothness of the language in his plays, earned him the nickname Attic Bee, and his physical beauty and grace of character were also notable; in his play The Frogs, Aristophanes described Sophocles as good natured. In 480 he led the boys’ chorus in the victory celebration in Athens of the defeat of the Persians in the battle of Salamis.

By 468 Sophocles had completed his studies and was prepared to enter the City Dionysia, a theatrical festival held every March in Athens; his play Triptolemus won first place, defeating an entry by Aeschylus. He would write about 120 more plays, winning first prize for about eighteen and never coming in less than second for the rest. In this period—Greece’s Golden Age—Sophocles was influenced by the currents of skepticism, empiricism, and relativism that were running through formal thinking and politics; the lives of his characters are governed more by their own flaws than by the gods.

Sophocles brought many innovations to Greek theater. He dispensed with telling a tragic tale in three separate plays, packing an entire story into one drama. Around 460 he introduced a third actor (previously only two appeared on the stage at one time). He used longer stretches of dialogue and reduced the importance of the chorus, although he increased the number of chorus members to fifteen from twelve. He was also the first to use painted background scenes, and he introduced the heroic maiden (such as Antigone and Electra) and the ingenuous young man (Haemon).

For many years Sophocles held the priesthood of the healing gods Alcon and Asclepius. He is credited with introducing the cult of Asclepius to Athens in response to the suffering brought on by the great plague during the early years of the Peloponnesian War (431-404); he turned over his house for Asclepius’ worship while a proper temple was being built.

In 443 and 442 Sophocles held the post of hellenotamias, one of the state treasurers who controlled the funds of the Delian League. In 441 he produced Antigone, whose success may have helped his election as a general, along with the great Greek statesman Pericles, in the Samian War (440-439). He produced Trachiniae in the mid 430s and served as general again during the first ten years of the Peloponnesian War. He produced Oedipus the King around 429, and Electra around 420. In 413 he became a member of a committee of ten older citizens (probouloi) that later played a part in establishing a temporary oligarchy in Athens. In 409 he produced Philoctetes, winning first prize in the City Dionysia.

Sophocles died in 405. Oedipus at Colonus was produced around 401 by his grandson.

The World of Sophocles and THREE THEBAN PLAYS

INTRODUCTION

Most of us think of theater today as cultural entertainment bought at the price of an admission ticket. But even if theater is regarded purely as entertainment, it still seems to be a special sort of activity: It requires a deliberate effort and expense; it demands a high level