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Oedipus at Colonus

by Sophocles

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Pages: 63

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About this book

An old, blind wanderer reaches a sacred grove near Athens with his daughter Antigone as his guide. Oedipus asks for rest and help, but a local stranger warns that he has stepped onto holy ground. The encounter turns a small request for shelter into a dispute about divine authority, civic duty and the treatment of an outcast. Antigone's practical care gives the opening an intimate scale beside its public concerns.

Written as a tragedy in verse, the play sets individual appeals against the voices of a citizens' chorus. Its tensions become immediate when Creon has Antigone taken away and threatens to carry off her father. Theseus intervenes, insisting that the daughters be returned and that the laws of Athens govern the dispute. Readers interested in ancient drama will find a concentrated conflict over protection, coercion and the obligations a community assumes when it receives a vulnerable stranger.

About the author

Sophocles

Sophocles (c. 497-406 BC) was one of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Athens. Of his many plays, seven survive, including the Theban plays centered on Oedipus and Antigone.