What was the myth-background of 'Antigone'?

Answer 1

The myth-background of the play 'Antigone' was summarized in the chorus' discussion about the staying power of curses from the gods. The chorus specified the gods' curse on the house of Labdacus from which the main character, Antigone, descended. And so the myth-background began with the main character's, and indeed her uncle and Theban King Creon's, descent from Cadmus, the founder of Thebes in about 2000 B.C.E.* Cadmus was the son of King Agenor and Queen Telephassa of Tyre, in Phoenicia. By his father, Cadmus was the grandson of Poseidon the sea god and Libya; the great grandson of the siblings Cronus and Rhea; and the great great grandson of the original couple, Saturn and Gaia. By his mother, Cadmus was the great grandson of the siblings Oceanus and Tethys. Oceanus and Tethys in turn were the siblings of Cronus and Rhea. They therefore numbered among the original couple's children. The marriage of Cadmus to Harmonia was the first earthly wedding to be attended by the gods. In the play 'Antigone', the chorus warned against those times when the gods have made direct contact with mortals. And the warning retroactively may have applied to that wedding. Indeed, one of Harmonia's wedding presents was the cursed Necklace of Misfortune from Hephaestus, the god of fire and metals. Additionally, Cadmus was cursed for having killed a dragon sacred to Ares, the war god. The Cadmean curse was passed on to the Cadmean descendants. It was worsened by the curse on Theban King Labdacus, Cadmus' grandson. The King was critical of Dionysus, the wine god. The gods brooked no criticism. And so the King was killed by Dionysus' followers. The curse continued to pass on down through the generations. No remorse, regrets, penance, or atonement stopped, slowed or softened its devastating effects on the Cadmean descendants. It culminated in Cadmus' great great grandson, Theban King Oedipus. Specifically, the King unknowingly killed his father and his king, Laius. Then he equally unknowingly married his mother, Queen Jocasta. And so the siblings Antigone, Eteocles, Ismene, and Polyneices became the cursed offspring of incest and murder. All but Antigone shunned their father once the incestuous and murderous news came out. The disgraced Theban King Oedipus then further worsened the Cadmean curse by cursing his sons, the twins Eteocles and Polyneices. The twins were their father's successors to the Theban throne in a royal power-sharing arrangement. But they quarreled, and Polyneices was exiled. Polyneices came back with an invading army of Argive supporters and Theban discontents. But what with all the curses on the Cadmean descendants, and what with the specific Oedipal curse on his own children and half-siblings, the brothers ended up killing each in mortal combat on the battlefield. And that was the myth-background to the taking and losing of power by Theban King Creon. The King was brother to Queen Jocasta. What with all the Cadmean curses, and wholesale fatalities from the twins' civil war, he was the royal family member most eligible to wear the crown. With his disgrace, he was succeeded by Theban King Laodamas, Eteocles' son. Laodamas in turn was killed in a royal challenge by Thersander, the son of Polyneices and Argeia of Argos. From that point on, the Theban crown passed only through the descendants of Polyneices. Specifically, Thersander was succeeded by his son Tisamenus and then by his grandson Autesion. *Before the Christian Era