1. Chapter 18 Lecture Two of Two Oedipus and Thebes ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

2. OBSERVATIONS Heroic Sufferer for Truth or Victim of Curiosity ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

3. Hero or Victim Oedipus not like other “cosmic” heroes – Not of divine birth – He overthrows his father but creates not order but chaos In Homer’s version, Oedipus continues as king after truth is discovered In Sophocles’s, he blinds himself and eventually is exiled ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

4. Hero or Victim The discovery combines the anagnorisis and the peripateia Was he just a toy of fate? For the Greeks, he had no moral fault and did what any intelligent person would have done in the same situation He is confused about his true self, between what he appears to be and what he is ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

5. Hero or Victim He dies as the pharmakos for the city, outcast His intelligence is restless and he solves riddles, including his own – Typically for the Greeks, the truth is an awful one ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

6. THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES Aeschylus ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

7. The Seven Against Thebes Eteocles and Polynices rule in alternate years Eteocles reneges Polynices goes into exile Adrastus (Argos) – Daughters must be yoked to a boar and a lion – Polynices and Tydeus ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

8. The Seven Against Thebes Adrastus will restore the two to their kingdoms – First Thebes, then Calydon Great leaders are summoned – Amphiaraüs (a prophet who knew that all but Adrastus would die on the campaign) – Eriphylê (sister of Adrastus and wife of Amphiaraüs) is bribed to decide on behalf of the campaign ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

9. The Seven Against Thebes Amphiaraüs makes his sons swear to avenge his death The seven heroes 1.Adrastus 2.Amphiaraüs 3.Capaneus 4.Hippomedon 5.Polynices 6.Tydeus 7.Parthenopeus ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

10. Fig. 18.4 Polynices bribes Eriphylê with the necklace of Harmonia. ©2012 Pearson Education Inc. Musée du Louvre, Paris; Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, New York

11. OEDIPUS AT COLONUS Sophocles ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

12. Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus, now in exile, arrives in Athens as the Grove of the Furies with his daughter Antigonê Delphi: wherever Oedipus is buried that city will never be captured Eteocles and Polynices both want him back Theseus (king of Athens) refuses to give him back ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

13. Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus curses both his sons and goes off to disappear mysteriously ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

14. THE BATTLE BEFORE THEBES Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes Euripides, Phoenician Women ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

15. The Battle Before Thebes Seven Theban heroes each defend one of the seven gates of Thebes, drawing lots for which gate would be his – Menoeceus kills himself to fulfill the condition for the safety of Thebes Capaneus is killed by Zeus for an impious boast ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

16. The Battle Before Thebes Amphiaraüs savagely prevents Tydeus from becoming immortal by giving his skull to Melanippus who eats the brains Amphiaraüs himself is protected from being hit in the back by a spear by Zeus – He’s swallowed alive into the ground ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

17. The Battle Before Thebes Eteocles finds himself paired with Polynices They kill each other with a mutual blow Thebes is spared Only Adrastus escapes – In a chariot drawn by Arion (< Poseidon + Demeter) ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

18. Fig. 18. 5 Tydeus kills Ismenê caught in the act of intercourse. ©2012 Pearson Education Inc. Musée du Louvre, Paris; Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, New York

19. SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONÊ ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

20. Sophocles’ Antigonê Creon (now ruling at Thebes) forbids the burial of Polynices Antigonê defies the order She is condemned to be shut in a cave and left to die Creon’s son Haemon (who’s engaged to Antigonê) tries to intervene, but Creon will not listen ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

21. Sophocles’ Antigonê Creon finally listens to the prophet Tiresias, but it is too late: – Antigonê hanged herself in the cave – Haemon tries to kill Creon, but fails. Then he kills himself ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

22. OBSERVATIONS Revenge of the Parthenos ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

23. Revenge of the Parthenos The play is a circle of opposites – male | female – young | old – state | family – the living | the dead – humans | gods ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

24. Revenge of the Parthenos Politically Antigonê is the conservative and Creon is the progressive Philosophically Creon advocates nomos and Antigonê physis As to gender roles, Antigonê is the untamed parthenos which no civic power can stop ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

25. THE EPIGONI ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

26. The Epigoni Ten years later, the “descendents” of the original seven attack Thebes again Eriphylê bribed again, this time by the robe of Harmonia Orders her son, Alcmaeon to lead an expedition against Thebes. Thebans abandon their city and it is sacked ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

27. The Epigoni Now Alcmaeon, son of Eriphylê and Amphiaraüs, avenges his father’s death by killing his mother – As he was ordered to do by his father before the Seven Against Thebes expedition He is driven insane for the matricide and later killed ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

28. End ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.