The king of Thebes, Creon, prohibits the burial of Polynices, who had led a foreign army against his homeland. Antigone, the brother of the deceased and Creon's sister-in-law, defies the command and is sentenced to death. Creon's son and wife commit suicide, and he himself seeks to find death. The conflict of moral law with state law in Sophocles' most glorious tragedy.

Sophocles (497-406 BC) was from Colonus. He first participated in a dramatic competition in 468 BC, when he defeated the older tragic poet Aeschylus. He lived his entire life in Athens during its peak and held both financial and political positions. A devout and sensitive man, he was loved and honored by his fellow citizens.

During the sixty years of his writing career, he wrote about one hundred and thirty works, of which seven have survived intact. He introduced many innovations to dramatic art and emerged as an undisputed shaper of tragedy. In Sophoclean drama, the god has the power to regulate human fate, yet man is left free in front of his choices, ready to take on his responsibilities and suffer the consequences.

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