Pestilence and pollution of the city's sacred altars are Thebes' latest plague that challenges Creon in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, a pestilence arises from the unburied bodies of the disloyal Theban dead. Birds and dogs consume the blood and flesh of the dead. They then eliminate human body parts on the city's altars. They thereby pollute the altars, upon which ritual sacrifices cannot be made and read in order to understand divine will.
Eurydice, Haemon, Ismene, and Teiresias are characters in the play 'Antigone' by Sophocles [495 B.C.E.* - 406 B.C.E.]. Eurydice is the Queen of Thebes, and the wife of Theban King Creon. Haemon is her son, and the first cousin and fiance of her niece Antigone. Ismene also is her niece, and the sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polyneices. Teiresias is the blind prophet whom Theban King Creon consults about the plague that is ravaging the city of Thebes. *Before the Christian Era.
A plague.
The murderer of King Laius must be found and punished so the gods will end the plague on Thebes.
The plague would be lifted when the murderer of old king Laius was found.
The fact that Laius's murderer (Oedipus) lives unpunished.
The Latest Plague was created in 2006.
Eurydice, Haemon, Ismene, and Teiresias are characters in the play 'Antigone' by Sophocles [495 B.C.E.* - 406 B.C.E.]. Eurydice is the Queen of Thebes, and the wife of Theban King Creon. Haemon is her son, and the first cousin and fiance of her niece Antigone. Ismene also is her niece, and the sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polyneices. Teiresias is the blind prophet whom Theban King Creon consults about the plague that is ravaging the city of Thebes. *Before the Christian Era.
A plague.
The murderer of King Laius must be found and punished so the gods will end the plague on Thebes.
The plague would be lifted when the murderer of old king Laius was found.
The fact that Laius's murderer (Oedipus) lives unpunished.
The sphinx was sent by the gods. To plague the town of thebes for a ancient crime they comitted.
Oedipus must find out how to lift a plague from Thebes.
The people of Thebes have been stricken by plague at the beginning of the play. The city is dying and the people are begging Oedipus to save them.
The Plague
Apollo instructs the citizens of Thebes to seek out the murderer of King Laius, as the plague has been sent as punishment for the unresolved crime. He commands them to find and expel the culprit from the city, promising that doing so will lift the curse afflicting Thebes. This directive sets the stage for the unfolding tragedy in Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex."
Crops are blighted. The cattle are dying. Women are miscarrying or dying or both.