Theban Plays

The collective designation for Sophocles' three tragedies dealing with the royal house of Thebes: Antigone (c. 441 BCE), Oedipus the King (c. 429 BCE), and Oedipus at Colonus (c. 401 BCE, posthumous). Though composed separately and out of chronological order with their narrative, they are now read together as the definitive Greek treatment of fate, knowledge, suffering, and the conflict between divine and human authority.

Establishes the tragic form as the supreme vehicle for exploring the limits of human knowledge (Oedipus), the conflict between divine and human law (Antigone), and the redemption of the outcast through sacred suffering (Oedipus at Colonus). Created archetypal figures -- Oedipus and Antigone -- who have shaped Western literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis for 2,500 years.