Phoenissae
Phoenissae (Phoinissai, ‘Phoenician women’). 1. Greek tragedy (which has not survived) by Phrynichus.
2. Greek tragedy by Euripides, produced between 412 and 408 BC. The play derives its name from the chorus of Phoenician maidens dedicated by the citizens of Tyre to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, who happen to be at Thebes on their way to Delphi and witness the events while having no connection with them. The subject is the same as Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes. It is the longest Greek tragedy in existence and covers the greatest stretch of story.
The drama takes up the legend of Oedipus at the start of the quarrel between his two sons: Polyneicēs has been refused by his brother Eteoclēs his share of their alternating rule of Thebes, and has come with Adrastus, king of Argos, and the five other leaders of the Argive army, to enforce his rights. Jocasta, wife of Oedipus, endeavours to reconcile their two sons, but her efforts fail and the attack on Thebes becomes inevitable. The seer Teiresias predicts the victory of Eteocles and Thebes if a son of Creon (brother of Jocasta and friend of Eteocles) is sacrificed. Accordingly Menoeceus, Creon's younger son, gives his life heroically for his city, in spite of his father's resistance. The Argives are driven back in the first onset, and it is arranged that the quarrel shall be settled by a single combat between the brothers. In this each kills the other, and Jocasta in despair takes her own life with one of their swords; their sister Antigonē brings the news to Oedipus. Creon takes over the government and proclaims that Polyneices' body will lie unburied and that the blind Oedipus will be expelled; moreover, Antigone will marry Creon's son Haemon. Antigone refuses, and accompanies her father into exile, announcing that she will return and secretly bury her brother.
3. Roman tragedy by Seneca
