Antigone (Greek Tragedy in New Translations) - Hardcover

Segal's introduction and notes by themselves make this book worth buying: they are a product of a lifetime of scholarship and will spread enlightenment, generate enthusiasm and endlessly provoke and fascinate readers as they examine Segal's theories, as well as absorbing the wealth of information on offer. (The Journal of Classics Teaching)

Gibbons's translation is the most faithful to the original Greek I know ... his translation is the truest to Sophocles' language. (The Journal of Classics Teaching)

Oedipus, the former ruler of Thebes, has died. Now, when his young daughter Antigone defies her uncle, Kreon, the new ruler, because he has prohibited the burial of her dead brother, she and he enact a primal conflict between young and old, woman and man, individual and ruler, family and state, courageous and self-sacrificing reverence for the gods of the earth and perhaps self-serving allegiance to the gods of the sky. Echoing through western culture for more than two millennia, Sophocles' Antigone has been a touchstone of thinking about human conflict and human tragedy, the role of the divine in human life, and the degree to which men and women are the creators of their own destiny. This exciting new translation of the play is extremely faithful to the Greek, eminently playable, and poetically powerful. For readers, actors, students, teachers, and theatrical directors, this new translation of one of the greatest plays in the history of the western world provides the best combination of contemporary, powerful language, along with superb background and notes on meaning, interpretation, and ancient beliefs, attitudes, and contexts.