Antigone

An initial refusal to help is the reaction of Teiresias the blind prophet to Theban King Oedipus pleading for help. He doesn't want to cooperate, because he knows the ugly reality behind the beautiful illusion of happy royal married life in Thebes. He knows that albeit unknowingly Oedipus is a murderer and a sex offender.

Specifically, Tiresias knows that Oedipus kills his father and royal predecessor, Theban King Laius. Then as a reward for saving Thebes from the beastly Sphinx, Oedipus marries Laius' grieving widow, Theban Queen Jocasta. So Jocasta becomes wife and, albeit unknowingly, mother to her only son.

Teiresias knows that Oedipus will find this information completely unbelievable. So the prophet is in a bind. He may lose his life by telling his superior the shocking truth.

At the same time, Teiresias may lose his life by saying nothing. A pestilence is ravaging the Theban population, livestock and harvests. If not stopped, it may kill the entire city. The only way of stopping it is identifying and punishing Laius' killer[s]. And that killer is the prophet's and the entire city's superior and king.

Eteocles is the brother whom Creon buries with honor in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Eteocles is the nephew of Theban King Creon. He is killed during the first civil war over the Theban royal succession. He and Creon fight on the same side so Creon buries Eteocles with full military honors.

That the body of Polyneices is covered with dust is the news that the Sentry is reluctant to deliver to Creon in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Sentry guards the exposed bodies of the disloyal Theban dead. He is ordered to do so because of Theban King Creon's edict of non-burial of Theban traitors. Many oppose the edict, which denies to Polyneices and his Theban supporters the god-given rights of all Thebans to below ground burials and proper funeral rites. The Sentry reels with fear at the thought of his sovereign's reaction to the civil disobedience.

That he opposes it is the way in which Haemon feels about Antigone's execution in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Prince Haemon is the first cousin and husband-to-be of Princess Antigone. He loves his betrothed. He thinks that she is courageously correct in breaking his father King Creon's law and in burying her brother Polyneices' body. He wants Antigone to be released.

Sympathetic to her plight as an unmarried young girlappears to be the tone of the chorus' dialogue with Antigone in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the chorus compares her live burial to a marriage bower. The members describe her isolation in terms of preparation for her deathly bridegroom. They seem a bit depressed over what happens to such a young girl who does not get to experience marriage and parenting. But they state that ultimately her own uncontrolled misbehavior puts her where she is.

That he prioritizes law and order is what Creon's speech suggests about his values in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon talks about a city running smoothly because rulers are respected, laws are obeyed and criminals are punished. He seems to value organizations over people. This tentative impression is backed up by subsequent interactions in which Creon shows himself to be completely lacking in people skills.

Once is the number of times that Theban King Oedipus gets exiled. The decision of exile is made by his brother-in-law and uncle, Theban King Creon. Albeit unknowingly, Oedipus is guilty of the murder of his royal predecessor and father, Theban King Laius. The punishment that he pronounces, and that is pronounced by the Oracle at Apollo's Shrine, is death or exile.

Before the action of the play, it may be said that Oedipus is in exile from what he thinks is his hometown of Corinth. But that isn't the result of any official decision. Oedipus leaves the town to consult the Delphic Oracle. The Oracle lets him know of his fate as the killer of his father and the husband of his mother. That's such a dreadful fate that Oedipus prefers not to go back home. So if the decision is one of exile, it's self-imposed.

Plot tension temporarily is relieved in 'Oedipus Rex' when a messenger announces the death of Corinthian King Polybus. The tension is relieved somewhat, because Polybus widely is believed to be the father of Theban King Oedipus. A long ago oracle describes Oedipus as the murderer of his own father and the husband of his own mother. And yet Polybus' death passes without Oedipus' presence or fatal treachery.

But the relieved tension is only temporary. Soon it comes out that Oedipus isn't the biological son of Polybus. Instead, he's the son of Theban King Laius, whom he kills in self-defense in a street brawl over a right-of-way. He also soon discovers that he's the husband of his own mother, Theban Queen Jocasta, with whom he has children who therefore are his half-siblings too.

The chorus leader is not the person who fears telling Creon about Polyneices' burial in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, it is the Sentry and his colleagues who fear informing Theban King Creon of the illegal burial of Polyneices. The guards do not know who the violator is and are afraid that they will be blamed. They draw lots, and it is the Sentry's misfortune to speak of two violations of Creon's non-burial edict regarding the disloyal dead.

Yes, Theban King Oedipus and Zeus, the king of the ancient Greek gods, are related.

Specifically, the sea god Poseidon and Zeus are brothers. Poseidon is the father of Prince Agenor of Tyre, the father of Theban King Cadmus. Cadmus is Oedipus' great-great grandfather. So that makes Zeus Cadmus' great great great great great uncle, and Oedipus Zeus' great great great great great nephew.

That when dead all Thebans are to receive below-ground burials and Theban-style funeral rites is the law of the gods in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the general practice is to leave the enemy dead unburied and exposed to ravaging weather and wildlife. It is a particularly cruel punishment to add to a fallen foe. It causes the unburied to seek entrance on a disfigured, dismembered basis into the Underworld of the afterlife. Thebans accept that general practice, but not if the enemy dead is a fellow Theban who therefore gets to be anointed and buried underground.

That they are divinely sanctioned for all Thebans is the reason why Antigone performs funeral rites on her brother in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone's uncle, King Creon, issues a royal edict that respects for some and denies to others god-given rights of all Thebans to below-ground burials and proper funeral rites. Antigone lacks the strength to bury her brother Polyneices other than partially, by which the body remains above ground but covered by a layer of dust. She manages to carry out, completely and perfectly, the mandatory funeral rites by which the body is anointed with sacred liquid from a ewer.