Irlandos at 11:25, December 27, 2006

2006-12-27T11:25:12Z

New page

The so-called '''three Theban plays''', written by [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek dramatist]] [[Sophocles]] in the [[5th century BC]], follow the tragic downfall of the mythical king [[Oedipus]] of [[Thebes]] and his descendants. See the individual articles for more information on the specific plays:

*''[[Oedipus the King]]'' (also known as ''Oedipus Rex'' or ''Oedipus Tyrannos'')
*''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]''
*''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]''

Often mistakenly believed to be a trilogy, the plays were written across forty years of Sophocles' career and were not composed in chronological order with ''Antigone'' written first (in fact the only surviving Greek trilogy is ''[[the Oresteia]]'' of [[Aeschylus]]). As a result, either of Sophocles forgetting what he had written or through ignoring previous plots, there are some inconsistencies. Notably, [[Creon]] is the undisputed king at the end of ''Oedipus the King'', but in the other plays there is some struggle with Oedipus' sons [[Eteocles]] and [[Polynices]]. Creon is also instructed to look after Oedipus' daughters [[Antigone]] and [[Ismene]] at the end of ''Oedipus the King'' but elsewhere they are on their own, or have fled with Oedipus, or are actively opposing Creon.

However, because the plays were not produced at the same time, these inconsistencies were not important. Sophocles' overall themes were fate, guilt, and divine and human justice, not necessarily logical continuity between works written decades apart.

==External links==
*[http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.html Text of Oedipus the King]
*[http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/colonus.html Text of Oedipus at Colonus]
*[http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/antigone.html Text of Antigone]

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek plays]]

Three Theban plays - Revision history

Irlandos at 11:25, December 27, 2006