Oedipus Influence On Antigone

Antigone is one of the famous plays written by Sophocles in around 441 B.C.E. This play is a dramatic and eye-opening play that really shocks the characters in the play as well as the readers. Sophocles wrote this play in no chronological order but it is better to understand the story is Oedipus the King is read before Antigone, that way it gives readers an understanding of how the time changed the characters.

Sophocles was one of the most influential writers of Ancient Greece. He was thought to be born around 496 B.C.E. in Colonus, near Athens Greece, and died at around 406 B.C.E. meaning that he only lived for about 90 years. He was born into a wealthy family, his father being Sophillius, and he was an amour manufacturer in the rural community

It is believed that Oedipus the King was written around 441 B.C.E. Oedipus the King begins when Oedipus is an infant and his real parents the king and queen of Thebe, Laius and Jocasta want to get rid of him because “…a prophecy warned them that their son would kill his father and marry his mother”(Meyer 1124). Therefore, the king and queen instruct a servant to leave him on a mountain to die. Oedipus’s feet were pierced and pinned together, but the servant did not leave him to die. Instead of leaving Oedipus on the mountain the servant felt pity, and gave him to a shepherd who gave Oedipus to the king and queen of Corinth. They raised Oedipus as their own so and named him Oedipus for “swollen foot” (Meyer 1124). As time passed by Oedipus “… learned from an oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother” (Meyer 1124). To avoid his fate Oedipus left Corinth forever. On his way to leave Corinth he encountered with a chariot that was blocking his way at a crossroads. He was angry that he killed the servants and their passenger. That passenger was his real father but he was not aware of it. In Thebes, Oedipus answered the riddle of the Sphinx (the face of a woman with the body if a lion and wings). The reward

Antigone was written during the 5th century. The fifth century was century was considered the Golden Age. During this age the government was democratic which gave people liberty to write and act in plays. However, during this time women had very little political rights, and women could not act because they were expected to stay at home and do house work. Also in this time the Persian war was happening during the year of around 490’s to around 480’s B.C.E. The Athenian Empire-Pericles laid the foundation of imperial rule around 495 B.C.E. to 429 B.C.E. Also Athens began regulating other states and setting up troops. In 440s was their peak time with 172 tributes paying states. With all this finance Athens flourished with literature, art, democratic intuitions everything that made the Golden