English II
Antigone Allusions
Eteocles and Polyneices-brothers of Antigone, who fight over control of
Thebes and eventually kill each other; Creon sides with Eteocles in
the battle and sees Polyneices as the enemy and a traitor.
Dirce-a former queen of Thebes who was murdered and thrown into a
stream, which was later named after her.
Zeus-king of the gods
Olympus-mountaintop in Greece; home of the gods and goddesses.
Acheron-one of the rivers in the underworld
Niobe-a former queen of Thebes who was punished by the gods for
boasting that her fourteen children made her greater than the
goddess Leto, who had only two (Apollo, and Artemis). Leto ordered
her children to kill all of Niobe’s children, and Zeus turned Niobe
into a column of stone. Niobe’s sadness was so great that her tears
continued to flow from the column of stone like a waterfall.
Tantalos-father of Niobe, who was punished for killing his son and
serving him to the gods to eat. In the underworld, Tantalos was
forced to stand in water up to his chin with fruit hanging on a tree
above him. Whenever he tried to drink, the water would disappear;
whenever he tried to eat the fruit, the branches of the tree would be
blown out of reach. Thus, Tantalos suffered constant thirst and
hunger. The word tantalize comes from his name.
Danae-a beautiful princess imprisoned in a bronze tower by her father;
Zeus visited Danae in the form of a shower of gold and impregnated
her.
Drya’s son-a king who was imprisoned in stone for attacking Dionysus,
god of wine and revelry
Nine Sisters-the nine muses, goddesses of the arts and sciences
Ares-god of war
Hephaistos-god of fire
Furies-three goddesses who avenge crimes against kinship
Kadmos-founder of Thebes
Amphion-former king of Thebes
Pallas-a goddess of wisdom
Hecate-a goddess of the underworld
Pluto-ruling god of the underworld known as Hades
Dionysus-god of wine, fertility, revelry, and harvest.
Menoikeus-an early hero, the father of Creon and Jocasta