The Greek drama Antigone, written by Sophocles in the fifth century, is a play about how far a sister will go to honor her recently deceased brother. It seems that the king of Thebes, Oedipus, had two sons: Eteocles and Polyneices. Eteocles drove Polyneices out of Thebes into Argos after their father passed away. Polyneices went on to marry the princess of Argos and tried to take control of Thebes from his brother. In the ensuing battle, Polyneices and Eteocles both fell at the hands of the other.
Upon their deaths, Polyneices and Eteocles uncle, Creon, became king of Thebes and declared that no one was to honor Polyneices with a funereal or even a simple prayer, but allowed a grand burial service fit for a hero in honor of Eteocles. The two brothers had two sisters as well, Antigone and Ismene. Antigone did not believe Polyneices should not receive a burial and thus disobeyed the newly enacted law and prepared plans to give her brother a proper burial.
Antigone believed it was against the law of the gods not to honor a man who had fought bravely in battle and instead let his body waste away and be torn apart by scavengers. Antigone seeks her sister Ismene for help in preparation for the secret burial to honor their deceased brother. Ismene objects, saying that they are just women and have no place breaking laws made for the good of the public. Antigone tells Ismene that she must do what she feels is right, but that Antigone will carry out her plan to bury Polyneices, alone if needed.
Because Ismene swore to tell no one of the secret burial, Antigone begins the burial ritual of Polyneices, but is caught in the process and taken to Creon for judgment on her crime. Creon demands that Antigone tell him why she held a burial for Polyneices when she knew the severity of the crime she was committing. Antigone tells Creon that she is only doing what every man in the kingdom was thinking of doing. Creon responds by telling her that she is the only one who would honor a traitor to the kingdom. Antigone proclaims that she is not alone in thinking what she did was right, however, the rest of the public merely keep their opinions to themselves. Creon then orders for the arrest of Ismene, deducing that Antigone would have likely enlisted the help of her sister. However, at this time Ismene agrees with Antigone and wishes for death along with her sister.
Based on this play and the readings from my Western Civilization class, I have come to a conclusion about men and women in ancient Greece. It seems that in Greek society, men, as long as they were loyal to the state, were held in higher regards than women were. It seems that while men could go off to war, run the government and speak their opinions, women were to stay at home, take care of the family needs and generally stay out of the way of the men of the community.
