English
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Greek Drama: Antigone
Name
Period _____
SAME MYTH, SECOND VERSE…
PART I: Using the annotation notes on our online in the textbook, complete the following chart.
MYTHICAL
CHARACTER
Niobe
(page 27 line 671-676)
“How often I have heard
the store of Niobe, /
Tantalos’ wretched
daughter, how the stone /
Clung fast about her, ivyclose: and they say / The
rain falls endlessly / And
rifting soft snow; her tears
are never done. / I feel the
loneliness of her death in
mine.”
Tantalos
(page 27 line 671-672)
“How often I have heard
the store of Niobe, /
SUMMARY
OF MYTH
She is the daughter of
Tantalus and she was also the
queen of Thebes. Niobe had
14 children and she mocked
Leto for only having 2
children, so he sent his two
sons Apollo and Artemis to
kill her whole family and they
did, so she ran to the
mountains and cried she
turned into stone and the rock
formed into a stream from her
tears. She became the symbol
of eternal mourning. Her
children were left unburied for
9 days because Zeus had
wanted to turn all the people
in Thebes into stone as well.
Son of Zues. King of Sipylos.
Invited to share food with the
Gods but abused the guesthost relationship by
COMPARE
TO ANTIGONE
They both offend very important person
and face divine curses and deal with
unburied love ones. Antigone deals with
her unburied brother while Niobe deals
with her unburied dead children. They
both have offensive attitudes and
behavior towards their important loved
ones. As well they both die in the end of
the myth because they lost on their
family so they were in sorrow.
Both Anitgone and Tantalos desired to
please the Gods. Both died alone.
CONTRAST
WITH ANTIGONE
Antigone did nothing to offend gods, only
wanted to please them.
Tantalos’ wretched
daughter…”
attempting to share the divine
ambrosia with other mortals.
He then invited them to a
banquet where he served the
Gods his dismembered son.
When the Gods realized what
he did, they restored his son
Pelops back to life. He was
punished by being tantalized
in Tartarus.
Danae
She was the Princess of
(page 29 line 738)
Argos. A prophecy was made
“All Danae’s beauty was
that Danae’s son would kill
locked away / In a brazen
her father and take his throne
cell where the sunlight
in Argos, so her father
could not come: / A small
imprisoned her, but Zeus
room, still as any grave,
impregnated her anyway, so
enclosed her.”
her father locked her and her
child in a chest and threw
them into the sea but the gods
delivered them safely, and her
and her son Perseus defeated
her father, and Perseus took
the throne.
Dyras’ son Lycurgos
*Be sure to look at the nine
(page 29 line 747)
Implacable Sisters mentioned
And Dryas’ son 8 also, that in that antistrophe!
furious king, Bore the
Lycurgus, King of Thrace,
god’s prisoning anger for
banned Dionysus and his cult
his pride: Sealed up by
from entering his lands. When
Dionysos in deaf stone,
Lycurgus learned that
His madness died among
Dionysus was in Thrace,
echoes.
educating people in the ways
Both Danae and Antigone were
imprisoned by the king of their
kingdom. Both women were also
influenced by the Gods in the choices
that they made.
Danae was locked up for a prophecy she
could not control, where Antigone was
imprisoned for breaking the law to bury her
brother.
Lycurgus, according to Sophocles, was
locked in a prison of stone by Dionysus
as punishment, similar to Creon
sentencing Antigone to death in a cave.
Lycurgus defied the gods, banning
Dionysus and his followers from his land.
Antigone, on the other hand, revered the
gods and believe it was their will to give
Polynieces a proper burial.
of wine, he attacked Dionysus
and imprisoned his followers.
Dionysus cursed him to a life
of madness, causing him to
kill his wife and son. The nine
Implacable Sisters are the
Muses.
Eidothea (page 30 line
759)
“How a king’s new
woman, sick / With hatred
for the queen he had
imprisoned, / Ripped out
his two son’s eyes with her
bloody hands”
*Look at her father, god of the
North Wind, as well as the Fates.
Why would Ares grin at this
while this shuttle plunged four
times, four blind wounds crying
for revenge? What’s with this
shuttle and these wounds???
Goes against greater rule like Antigone
by revealing they need to give sacrifices
to Zeus
More violent than Antigone
Both were locked away in a cave and
had family members who were blinded.
Cleopatra was released from her prison
alive.
Ares grins because he likes
fighting—four wounds
because four eyes were
stabbed.
Daughter of the shape-shifting
god Proteus, an early sea god.
Cleopatra
(page 30 line 760)
“With hatred for the queen
he had imprisoned,”
Daughter of Boreus, the North
Wind. First wife of King
Phineus. Phineus locked her
awy in a cave. Phineus’s
second wife, Eidothea,
acussed her two sons of
attempted rape and tricked
Phineus into blinding them.
Cleopatra’s brothers, Calais
and Zetes, freed her, put her
sons on Phineus’s throne and
set Eidothea away to her own
land.
PART II: What do all of these characters have in common?
Part III: Look up these are allusions and provide a brief summary. Then write down the connection you see
between this reference and Antigone.
Mythical Character
Persephone
(line 716)
O tomb, vaulted bride-bed in eternal rock,
Soon I shall be with my own again / Where
Persephone welcome the thin ghost
underground:
Acheron
(lines 664)
Now sleepy Death / Summons me down to
Acheron, that cold shore: / There is no
bridesong there, nor any music.
Summary of Myth
Connection to our play: Why
reference this? How is it
significant? Think of context and
culture!
She is the queen of the underworld, Her myth is a symbol of living and
wife of Haides. Cursed to stay in
dying. She, Antigone, is rewarded
the underworld; because, she ate a for her sacrifice as she feels she
pomegranate.
has been wronged as
Persephone; and thus she
welcomes death to be with her.
One of the rivers of the underworld
ruled by Hades where souls are
ferried across. Known as river of
woe.
Antigone accepts her death.
Alludes to her death.
Hephaistos
I began the rites of burnt-offering at the altar, /
But Hephaistos failed me: instead of bright
flame, / There was only the sputtering slime of
the fat thigh-flesh / Melting:
Iacchos
(page 35)
O Iacchos son of Kadmeian Semele O born of
the Thunder! Guardian of the West Regent of
Eleusis’ plain O Prince of maenad Thebes and
the Dragon Field by rippling Ismenos. . . the
nymphs of Iacchos dance at the spring of
Castalia. . . oh come from
Parnasos:
God of blacksmiths and fire
He failed to start the fire for the
alter, a bad sign. Allusion to war
and conflict.
*Be sure to include Semele, the
Eleusis’ plain, maenad Thebes, the
Dragon Field, Ismenos, Castalia, and
Parnasos. Kudos if you can explain
Dionysus is distantly related to
Antigone’s family. Many places in
Thebes have sacred connections
to him. The tragedies were
performed in honor of him.
Amphion
(line 901-902)
Men of the line of Kadmos you who live Near
Amphion’s citadel:
Pallas
(line 928)
As I was unlocking the gate of Pallas’ shrine,
For I needed her help today
What is his citadel?
Built wall around Thebes.
Story is set in Thebes
Athena, often given the epithet “Pallas”, is
the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage,
inspiration, civilization, law and justice,
strategic war, mathematics, strengths,
strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in
ancient Greek religion and mythology.
*Why would Eurydice need her help?
Eurydice’s name means “wide justice”
and she seeks help from Pallas,
another name for the goddess
Athena, who is goddess of justice
and wisdom which is the guidance
Eurydice is seeking.
why his female followers chant
“Evohe
evohe.’
Also called Bacchus(Dionysus). Son of
Zeus and Semele, demigod. Ismenos,
river god, son of Amphion and Niobe.
Castalia, nymph at Mount Parsanos
where the Oracle of Delphi is. Evohe
is a cry of joy in nature
Hecate and Pluto
(line 940)
To the outer plain where Polyneices was lying,
No friend to pity him, his body shredded by
dogs. We made our prayers in that place to
Hecate And Pluto, that they would be
merciful.
Io Fire
(page 35 lines 896)
Io Fire! Chorister of the throbbing stars! O
purest among the voices of the night! Thou
son of God, blaze for us!
The Furies
(lines 848 page 33)
And the Furies and the dark gods of Hell Are
swift with terrible punishment for you.
Deities of the underworld
Creon was trying to appease the
gods because he angered them
with his pride
Why reference Io Fire?
Three sisters Alecto (the angry),
Megaera (the grudging), and Tisiphone
(the avenger) were created from the
blood of Uranus when his son Cronus
castrated him to take revenge on the
loss of his siblings.
They persecute crimes such as
disrespect, injustice, perjury, or
arrogance, and Creon was afraid
of them.