3.5**** rounded up

Money! Money's the curse of man, none greater.
That's what wrecks cities, banishes men from homes,
Tempts and deludes the most well-meaning soul,
Pointing out the way to infamy and shame.

At 176 pages and consisting of 3 plays I was able to read this in one sitting (which never happens to me!).

After reading “Greek Tragedy” the other day- one of the plays was Oedipus Rex (or known in this book as Oedipus the King) and I was keen to find out more of what happened after the events in this first play.

Luckily Sophocles’ “The Theban Plays” details this. In Oedipus at Colonus we get to see what became of the exiled and, now blind, Oedipus as he travels with his daughter, Antigone, from place to place. This play also mentions (and features) Oedipus’ children by Jacosta and what has happened to them: Antigone the faithful helper, Ismene his loyal spy, and then the two sons fighting for the crown of Thebes: Eteocles the current ruler of Thebes and Polynices- the exiled brother seeking vengeance and control of the throne.
This play was interesting as we get to see what became of Oedipus after the first play and how his children developed/his relationship with them.

The third play is Antigone. This is set after Oedipus has died and what happens to the next generation of this family line (of course this is a tragedy so expect a downfall). This focuses particularly on Antigone who is ruled by her conscience regardless of law and the consequences of defying King Creon- a very prideful King.
I enjoyed the Antigone tragedy as it was great to see her stream of consciousness and doing what she believes in. This also focuses largely on Creon and his rule of “it’s my way, or the highway” style- which of course has consequences.

While I would’ve this the full 4**** as I really enjoyed them- my copy of this book just did not have the notes that I needed for the plays to fully make sense. Some points I had to pick up my phone to research what a line was referring to and this was made especially difficult by the “Chorus” of the play which could be difficult to understand. Having to pick up my phone to research some things took out some of the enjoyment of the play for me.
If this book (translation) expanded on its notes (like with the “Greek Tragedy” book) it would’ve been a much nicer reading experience for me.

Oedipus Rex: A.K.A. The Shittest Day EVER
“But all eyes fail before time’s eyes/All actions come to justice there” (1163-1164).

I'm creating a new shelf entitled "Kids Dig It," and to it I will add works kids of all ages dig --- bedtime stories like the Pokey Little Puppy and stories like Oedipus, which I am currently reading with 11th grade IB students.

It is bull shit to think teenagers don't like the classics. I'd like to bake a bull shit pie and slam it in the face of all such negative Nellies.

When studying O.R. in a classroom of 25, two will be swooning into absolute love (slaves, already, to the Muse), 19 are reading and speaking with considerable animation, and the usual 4 are hating me, their peers, and all humanity, including Sophocles. (Reader, they are also hating you.)

What matters to Ms. h. in room 211? Every eyeball is glued to the page! Even the snarlers are like "Holy fuck, this is fucked up. Are you even allowed to teach us this?"

Sophocles gives no answers and no solutions. It's terrifying. Do we, like O.R., "weave our own doom"? Are we equally benighted? That’s why the angry kids in the room are paying attention: their spidey senses are tingling. Might they to be a "child of endless night?"

Could it be that life is often a horror show? And that in the sorry end "our lives like birds take wing/like sparks that fly when a fire soars/to the shore of the god of evening"?

And even when we feel the divine move our souls with radiant beauty, aren't we still afeared? I will die. My children will die. All I love or will love must die. How I quake when Choragos turns toward me in my joy. Her ancient voice rings in my ears, and I hear her words sung so long afore: “Let every women in humanity's frailty/Consider her last day; and let none/Presume upon on her good fortune until she find/Life, at her death, a memory without pain.”

Tragedy. The Greeks looked unflinchingly at what we cannot understand but must experience. Are we brave enough to look?

So, if you clicked on this review because you are looking for a book your kid might dig, believe me, this is it. Granted, it is rated PG 13. Read it with your teen, again or for the first time.

However, if you still have a toddler to tuck in, please click over to my review of the Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss, which is a fantastic satirical yarn disguised as silly farce. You will enjoy reading this aloud. You will be for real laughing with your sweet Jessica, rather than yearning to Oedipus your eyeballs out.

Three plays that stand the test of time. 5 stars for Antigone, although I prefer Jean Anouilh’s version, 4 for the others.

Towering over the rest of greek tragedy, these three plays are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles' translation conveys all of Sophocles' lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters.

"I know of no better modern English version." -Sir Hugh Llyod-Jones, Oxford University

عدة قراءات متأخرة لتعويض العمر اللي فات.

This is an edition of the Theban plays with lengthy introductions on both Greek theatre in general and each one of the plays in particular. They are presented in their chronological order, starting with Antigone, then Oedipus the king and finally the lesser known Oedipus at Colonus. Almost every line from Sophocles is quotable in an everyday situation. He has a hold on essential questions humans have faced throughout ages, which explains why for 24 centuries every reader found a deep meaning and a great wisdom in his words.


Greek theatre is first of all a religious phenomenon. It is really hard to imagine how the Greeks transitioned from a ceremony honoring their Gods to a sophisticated reflection on human condition. It is true that Gods occupy an important place in the plays, but the events and the feelings are always approached from the point of view of the humans. This makes the humans more central than the Gods. We follow characters, victims of an arbitrary and cruel divine will, who demonstrate great ingenuity and determination, to escape their fate only to discover by the end that there was no way out from the very start.


The modern reader might not be convinced of how these dark forces control our existence. We don’t believe in arbitrary Gods anymore. We live after all, in an age of meritocracy and egalitarianism, a king is no longer seen as more fortunate than everybody else and there is possibility for social ascension for everybody and fortunes can be made by individual hard work. But this is exactly the case for Oedipus, his status in Thebes and even his kingship was achieved through his own talent, and also the luck which put him, the right man, in the right spot at the right time. He keeps repeating this throughout the play. Only to discover that those exact events for which he was considered the most fortunate of men were also the causes of his ultimate doom. His skill and determination to save his people from the plague will only uncover the calamities he thought he could escape. This is where the limits of man are dawned. Limits in terms of knowledge, after all we do not know where our own good lies. We strive for or regret what we consider can bring us happiness, assure us a good life, make us the envy of everyone, but we do not know if these promises are real or completely the opposite of what we hoped for. Man constantly fights the wrong battles, misses the point and errs when it comes to the nature of his own Good.


The plays also have a heavy political dimension to them. Not any political theory developments but raw and fundamental matters about life in community. In Antigone, we witness the struggle between bonds of kinship, in the form of the natural rights of the individual to honor his diseased kin, and on the other side, the bonds of citizenship, in the form of the public order which ought to be respected by man made laws. In a context of a war waging society in which individuals are constantly called to sacrifice their lives for the state, the conflict of interests between the individual and the state is taken to astronomical proportions.


In Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus is promised refuge and protection in Athens by its king Theseus. The chorus dwells at length on this act of accepting a new citizen regardless of the extremely profane nature of his past. We have a demonstration of the cohesion of the Atheniens and their desire to collectively respect laws of hospitality and obligation to protect the less fortunate. What makes the life in community one of the most fragile creations of man is that it relies heavily on mutual trust between individuals, a trust without any guarantees. Oedipus keeps asking for reassurances from Thesseus, but the king keeps repeating that it is of no need to renew his promises. Doing so will only make them vulnerable, he keeps strengthening his words with actions, without which this whole edifice of trust which binds him to his citizens will fall apart.


By the end, we go back to the theme of fate to have a glimpse at the views of Oedipus at the end of his life. He reflects on all those events, not rebellious or angry at the Gods, but a man much sure of himself. Although blind, old and destitute, he knows more, more than he ever had. Suffering bears fruits of knowledge. He rejects his individual responsibility, having committed both parricide and incest not knowing what he was doing. He emphasized on his innocence, but without anger, regret or frustration. He came to a total acceptance of what the Gods have decided for him. And so do we, as readers, even if the worst nightmares come to life, after the fear, the rage then the pity, comes a sense of release, after all it is all okay.

Trebuie să recunosc că mi-au plăcut toate.

Star missing because I don't know Greek, and this translation is older than I am. I read Antigone in trans as a college freshman, taught Oedipus a couple dozen times, always applicable to the current epidemic--AIDS/ HIV, or whatever, first scene, citizens prostrate before the ruler who brought on the disaster, unbenownst. NOW we have a BENOWNST disaster-bringer to prostrate ourselves before--the Swamp-Drainer with his Cabinet of Swamp Monsters. And the Congress, the Full Swamp, has just eliminated the non-partisan Ethics Committee, made it part of the partisan Congressional Ethics, as my physician friend has said, "Didn't take 'em long to hook up the sewer system to the swamp."
But I still don't know what to think of reading lit in trans., which I usually avoid. Just haven't committed to learn ancient Greek. I've read a bit of Seneca's Oedipus, but.. And here's a translation from 1939. Classic, but not classical, what?

می‌تونم بگم که از جزء جزء سطرهای این کتاب لذت بردم (البته مقاله‌ی بونار روی آنتیگونه چندان برام جالب نبود). ترجمه‌ی فوق‌العاده‌ی مسکوب هم البته تاثیر زیادی داشت
خلاصه که توصیه می‌کنم حتما بخونیدش

What an absolute whirlwind, started off strong with Oedipus the king, which was a WILD time, (Sigmund Freud eat your heart out) & ended tragically with Antigone, crazy to think that she was 12-13 in the original play. I devoured and loved these which is so surprising as I went in thinking I'd have NO idea what was going on. Pleasantly surprised.

چه لذتی بردم از خوندن این سه تراژدی یونان باستان.

اصلا باورم نمی‌شد ۲۰۰۰ سال پیش یا همچین حدودی نوشته شده باشن و هنوز انقدر جذاب و گیرا برای من مخاطب قرن بیست و یکمی باشن.

سه نمایشنامه «ادیپوس شهریار»، «ادیپوس در کلونس» و «آنتیگنه».

ادیپوس فرزند کایدوس نفرین شده که تقدیرش کشتن پدر و به همسری گرفتن مادر خودش هست. قطعا میدونید که فروید نظریه «عقده ادیپ» رو از این نمایشنامه برداشت کرده.
داستان ادیپوس در مواجهه با تقدیرش و داستان فرزندانش که یکی از اونها آنتیگنه باشه در ادامه نفرین ابدی که خاندانشون بهش گرفتاره توی این سه نمایشنامه نقل میشه.
یک نکته جالب این بود که خب چون نمیتونستن جنگ‌ها رو اون زمان روی صحنه اجرا کنن، یک گروه همسرایان داستان جنگ‌ها رو با آب و تاب نقل میکنه، یعنی رویدادها هم دیالوگ‌طور روایت میشن.

نمایشنامه‌‌ منظوم با ترجمه بی‌نظیر شاهرخ مسکوب که منتج شده به یک نثر کهن فاخر آهنگین که لذت خوندن رو صدچندان میکنه.

علاوه بر همه این نکات من عاشق خدایان یونانی و قصه‌هاشون هستم و چه نقش پررنگی داشتن توی این کتاب. و من از تلفظ اسمهاشون و نیرنگ‌هاشون و بازی‌هایی که با انسان فانی میکنن چقدر کیف کردم.

یک مقدمه مترجم نوشته بر این اثر که شاهکار مسلمه. یک موخره بسیار جذاب هم اضافه کرده راجع به تراژدی آنتیگنه.

اصلا در خوندن این اثر شک نکنید که از هر لحاظ باارزشه.

هر چه که از دنیا می‌خواهید ، در تراژدی‌های یونان باستان می‌توانید پیدا کنید !