glish
__________________________________________
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,
ivy-close: 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.”
SUMMARY
OF MYTH
She was boastful about
how many kids she had.
This provoked the
mother of Apollo, Leto.
Leto destroyed her
children and eventually
turned her to stone on a
mountain where the
rivers that flow are her
tears.
Tantalos
(page 27 line
671-672)
“How often I
have heard the
store of Niobe, /
Tantalos’
wretched
daughter…”
Tortured in Tartarus
(Hell): Had to stand in
a pool of water beneath
a tree bearing fruit,
with the fruit being just
out of his reach, and the
water receding before
he could drink; why we
have the word
“tantalize”
COMPARE
TO ANTIGONE
CONTRAST
WITH 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.
Antigone references
Tantalos when she is
expressing her fear of
being imprisoned, this
usage reiterates her
fear.
Suffers from Pride like
Creon and Antigone.
Antigone did nothing to
offend gods, only
wanted to please them.
Danae
(page 29 line
738)
“All Danae’s
beauty was
locked away / In
a brazen cell
where the
sunlight could
not come: / A
small room, still
as any grave,
enclosed her.”
Dyras’ son
Lycurgos
(page 29 line
747)
And Dryas’ son 8
also, that furious
king, Bore the
god’s prisoning
anger for his
pride: Sealed up
by Dionysos in
deaf stone, His
madness died
among echoes.
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”
Greek king and son of
Zeus. When Zues
invited him to Olympus
he stole their food. He
invited the gods to his
house and tried to feed
them his son, Pelops.
She was the mother of
perseus by Zeus
Perseus Is the one who
killed medusa and cut
off her head. She
founded the city of
Ardea
Was imprisoned in a
tomb
She was alive when she
was freed
*Be sure to look at the
The ivy tree is the tree
nine Implacable Sisters of the god Dionysus, a
mentioned in that
relative of Antgione.
antistrophe!
Dyras was the son of
King Lycurgos. Dyras
was killed when King
Lycurgos went mad and
mistaked him for an ivy
tree. Nine muses relate
to the “echoes” that
killed the King.
*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???
Daughter of the shapeshifting god Proteus, an
Goes against greater
rule like Antigone by
revealing they need to
give sacrifices to Zeus
More violent than
Antigone
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.
Both were locked away
in a cave and had
family members who
were blinded.
Cleopatra was released
from her prison alive.
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
Summary of Myth
Persephone
(line 716)
O tomb, vaulted bride-bed in eternal rock,
Persephone is
the Queen of
Connection to our
play: Why reference
this? How is it
significant? Think of
context and culture!
Antigone is going to
die and go to the
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.
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:
the Underworld
at Hades’ side.
She is stuck/
trapped in the
Underworld and
can not leave
Underworld with
Persephone.
However, this is
ironic because they
are both trapped.
A river of the
Where Antigone
underworld, which was going to die.
was ruled by
Alludes to death
Hades
This is the God
Greek God of fire, Teresias offers to.
sculpture,
This is significant
craftsmanship,
because, maybe
and forging.
Teresias wanted
Hephaistos to “fix”
the situation.
*Be sure to include
Semele, the Eleusis’
plain, maenad
Thebes, the Dragon
Field, Ismenos,
Castalia, and
Parnasos. Kudos if
you can explain
why his female
followers chant
“Evohe evohe.’
Iacchos – (commonly
referred to as
Dionysus) god of
fertility and wine,
later called the patron
of the arts
Ismenos, Castalia,
and Parnasos are
referenced because
they are sacred to
Dionysus. Eleusis’
Plain references the
location of the play.
Semele – Mother of
Iacchos
Eleusis’ Plain –
reference to Athens,
location of the play
Maenad Thebes –
female followers of
Dionysus
Dragon Field –
named after Cadmus
defeated the Ismenian
dragon and sowed the
teeth of the dragon
into the field
Ismenos is a river
east of Thebes.
Castalia is a spring
on Parnasos.
Parnasos is a
mountain that
towers over Delphi.
Amphion
(line 901-902)
Men of the line of Kadmos you who live Near
Amphion’s citadel:
What is his citadel?
Kadmos was the
founder of the city
of Thebes;Amphion
played the lyre so
sweetly that
Kadmos used
stones to build a
wall to surround
him.
Pallas
(line 928)
As I was unlocking the gate of Pallas’ shrine,
Athena is the
Goddess of
*Why would Eurydice
need her help?
Eurydice feels like
A bunch of walls
that Kadmos built
to surround
Amphion.
For I needed her help today
wisdom and
Justice
Hecate and Pluto
(also known as
(line 940)
hades) deities of
To the outer plain where Polyneices was lying,
the underworld
No friend to pity him, his body shredded by
dogs. We made our prayers in that place to
Hecate And Pluto, 18 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.
Moon of Jupiter
She is loved by
Zeus then
transformed into a
heifer
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.
she needs wisdom on
what to do and
justice against Creon
for what he has
done. 
The body of
Polyneices was not
properly buried.
This was something
very important in
their culture, for the
soul of the body.
They prayed in
hope that the soul
would pass despite
not having a proper
burial
Why reference Io
Fire?
The best star and
Choragos is referring
to her for help.
They persecute
crimes such as
disrespect,
injustice, perjury, or
arrogance, and
Creon was afraid of
them.