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Disregard for messages from the oracles and gods doesn't turn out well for characters in Greek stories, and Oedipus is no exception. Encompassing murder and betrayal, incest and patricide, this set of three plays follows the life of a man doomed to suffer from birth. Sophocles wrote these classic Gr... More

Oedipus was the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. Before he was born, his parents consulted the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle prophesied that Oedipus would murder his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to prevent this prophecy's fulfillment, Laius ordered Oedipus's feet to be bound togethe... More

Sophocles' play is a famous retelling of Aias's (Ajax's) demise. After the armor is awarded to Odysseus, Aias feels so insulted that he wants to kill Agamemnon and Menelaus. Athena intervenes and clouds his mind and vision, and he goes to a flock of sheep and slaughters them, imagining they are the ... More

Sophocles addresses themes of civil disobedience, fidelity, and love for family; and questions which law is greater: the gods' or man's--in this play that challenged many established mores of Ancient Greece.... More

Set in the city of Argos a few years after the Trojan war, 'Electra' recounts the tale of Electra and the vengeance that she and her brother Orestes take on their mother Clytemnestra and step father Aegisthus for the murder of their father, Agamemnon.... More

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Greek tragedies, 'King Oedipus' (or 'Oedipus Rex') is the first play in the Oedipus trilogy (followed by 'Oedipus at Colonus' and then 'Antigone'). After defeating the Sphinx and freeing the kingdom of Thebes from her curse, the flawed hero unwittingly fulfills... More

Oedipus was the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. Before he was born, his parents consulted the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle prophesied that Oedipus would murder his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to prevent this prophecy's fulfillment, Laius ordered Oedipus's feet to be bound togethe... More

The winner of the Festival of Dionysus in 409 BC, 'Philoctetes' describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring disabled master archer, Philoctetes, with them to Troy. The play covers several deep, contentious themes, including moral relativity, trauma, love vs. hatred, and friendship vs.... More

Included herein are the seven surviving plays of Athens' pre-eminent playwright, Sophocles, masterfully translated by Lewis Campbell, M.A., LL.D. The plays included are: 'Antigone,' 'Aias,' 'King Oedipus,' 'Electra,' 'The Trachinian Maidens,' and 'Oedipus at Colonus.'... More

The Trachinian Maidens' (also 'Women of Trachis' or 'The Trachiniae') is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, in which Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, is distraught over her husband's neglect of her family. Unable to cope with the thought of losing him, she decides to use a love charm on him, a magic ... More

Considered by many the greatest of the classic Greek tragedies, Oedipus Rex is Sophocles' finest play and a work of extraordinary power and resonance. <P><P>Aristotle considered it a masterpiece of dramatic construction and refers to it frequently in the Poetics. <P>In presenting the story of King ... More

Classical Greek tragedy. [This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 9-10 at http://www.corestandards.org.] ... More

In his long life, Sophocles (born ca. 496 B.C., died after 413) wrote more than one hundred plays. Of these, seven complete tragedies remain, among them the famed Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. In Antigone, he reveals the fate that befalls the children of Oedipus. With its passionate speeches a... More

This outstanding drama of classical antiquity, part of the Cadmean trilogy that includes Oedipus Rex and Antigone, was first presented in 405 B.C. Thought to be among Sophocles' last works, it represents the great playwright's crowning achievement in depicting the painful quest for truth and self-kn... More

Masterpiece of drama concerns the revenge Electra takes on her mother for the murder of her father. One of the best-known heroines of all drama and a towering figure of Greek tragedy.... More

English versions of Sophocles' three great tragedies based on the myth of Oedipus, translated for a modern audience by two gifted poets, Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. [This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 9-10 at http://www.core... More

This anthology includes English translations of three plays of Sophocles' Oidipous Cycle: Antigone, King Oidipous, and Oidipous at Colonus. The trilogy includes an introductory essay on Sophocles life, ancient theatre, and the mythic and religious background of the plays. Each of these plays is avai... More

Linked by their common setting in Thebes, Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus stand at the fountainhead of world drama. This volume presents a new, and accurate yet poetic and playable translation by playwright Don Taylor, who has also directed plays for a BBC-TV production.... More

<p>The classic Greek tragedy about a woman who valiantly defies a tyrant to honor her brother and please the gods.<p> <p>When Polynices—a military leaders in Thebes’s civil war—dies on the battlefield, Thebes’s ruler, Creon, decrees that Polynices’s body will lie unburied and left as prey for the... More

The doomed king of Thebes brings shame on his family in this iconic three-play cycle of ancient Greek literature, a foundational work of Western drama.  Oedipus Rex: As a young man, Oedipus was told of a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Fleeing his home to escape his dest... More

Sophocles’ Theban Plays—Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone—lie at the core of the Western literary canon. They are extensively translated, universally taught, and frequently performed. Chronicling the downfall of Oedipus, the legendary king of Thebes, and his descendants, the Theban ... More

Famed translator David Slavitt lends his distinctly contemporary voice to four lesser-known plays of Sophocles.There are seven surviving tragedies by Sophocles. Three of them form the Theban Plays, which recount the story of Thebes during and after the reign of Oedipus. Here, David Slavitt translate... More

Fresh, new translations of Sophocles's three Theban plays by acclaimed theater director Bryan Doerries, which emphasize the contemporary relevance of these classic Greek tragedies.Here are Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone in fresh new versions for contemporary readers and audiences... More

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Oedipus the King is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. Oedipus the King is the ancient world’s most s... More

"Oedipus?Tyrannos?is the first Greek play many readers encounter, and this version is their ideal gateway. Emily Wilson's verse line is effortlessly graceful, whether in taut, tense dialogue exchanges or in the lyrical choral odes.”?  —JAMES ROMM,?Bard College?? ... More