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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.