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Sophocles

The doomed king of Thebes brings shame on his family in this iconic three-play cycle of ancient Greek literature, a foundational work of Western drama.
 
Oedipus Rex: As a young man, Oedipus was told of a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Fleeing his home to escape his destiny, he becomes the king of Thebes by marrying the former king’s widow. But now Thebes is cursed until Oedipus discovers who killed his predecessor—a mystery that will lead him to his own doom.
 
Oedipus at Colonus: Blind and exiled from his own country, Oedipus takes up residence in Colonus while his two sons battle for the throne of Thebes. An oracle has pronounced that the location of their disgraced father’s final resting place will determine which of them will win. But an old enemy has his own plans for the burial.
 
Antigone: The war is over and Thebes’s ruler, Creon, decrees that the body of Polynices—Oedipus’s son—is not to be buried. But Antigone, the late warrior’s sister, answers to a higher authority. When she breaks the law to bury her brother with proper rites, her act of civil disobedience will unleash great upheaval.

Open Road Media

The Oedipus Cycle

The Oedipus Cycle: Antigone, Oedipus at Colonus, and Oedipus Rex

F. Storr

A king tries in vain to avert a horrific fate in this epic tragedy, widely considered a masterpiece.

Oedipus was warned that his destiny is for him to kill his father and marry his mother. So he fled his home and has now become the king of Thebes, taking the throne after the death of its previous occupant, Laius, and marrying his widow, Jocasta.
 But just as Laius long ago labored to defy a prophecy and ultimately failed, so will Oedipus, in this masterpiece by the great tragedian of ancient Greece.

Oedipus Rex: A Play

The ancient Greek tragedy about the exiled king’s final days—and the power struggle between his two sons.

 The second book in the trilogy that begins with Oedipus Rex and concludes with Antigone, Oedipus at Colonus is the story of an aged and blinded Oedipus anticipating his death as foretold by an earlier prophecy. Accompanied by his daughters, Antigone and Ismene, he takes up residence in the village of Colonus near Athens—where the locals fear his very presence will curse them. Nonetheless they allow him to stay, and Ismene informs him his sons are battling each other for the throne of Thebes. An oracle has pronounced that the location of their disgraced father’s final resting place will determine which of them is to prevail. Unfortunately, an old enemy has his own plans for the burial, in this heart-wrenching play about two generations plagued by misfortune from the world’s great ancient Greek tragedian.

Oedipus at Colonus: A Play

The classic Greek tragedy about a woman who valiantly defies a tyrant to honor her brother and please the gods.

When Polynices—a military leaders in Thebes’s civil war—dies on the battlefield, Thebes’s ruler, Creon, decrees that Polynices’s body will lie unburied and left as prey for the vultures. But Antigone, the late warrior’s sister, answers to a higher authority than the state, and breaks the law to follow her conscience and bury her brother with the proper rites.
 Antigone’s act of civil disobedience urges great upheaval in this timeless play that explores the conflicts that can arise between worldly and divine law, and the questions raised by the idea of individual freedom.