Antigone
Daughter of Oedipus who defied King Creon's decree to bury her brother Polynices. Her story is one of mythology's most powerful explorations of conscience versus authority.
The Legend of Antigone
Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Antigone defied King Creon of Thebes by burying her brother Polynices, whom Creon had declared a traitor after the siege. Zeus's unwritten laws, she argued, outranked any mortal decree. Creon sealed her alive in a tomb. The seer Tiresias warned him that the gods were angry, but his reversal came too late — Antigone hanged herself, Creon's son Haemon died by her side, and his wife followed. Her act of conscience, set against Apollo's oracles and the curse of Thebes, became the archetype of individual defiance against unjust power.
Parents
Oedipus and Jocasta
Symbols
Fun Fact
Antigone's dilemma — obey an unjust law or follow your conscience and accept the consequences — remains one of philosophy's central ethical questions.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Creon
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Thebes who ruled after Oedipus and decreed death for Antigone
Haemon
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Creon and fiancé of Antigone who died beside her in defiance of his father
Ismene
🗡 heroNone recorded
Daughter of Oedipus and sister of Antigone, cautious where Antigone was defiant
Macaria
🗡 heroSelf-Sacrifice, Female Heroism, Heraclidae
Daughter of Heracles who voluntarily sacrificed herself so that the Heraclidae could defeat Eurystheus.
Alcmene
🗡 heroMother of Heracles
Alcmene was the mortal woman whom Zeus seduced by disguising himself as her husband — she bore Heracles, the greatest hero of Greek mythology.
Alcippe
🗡 heroNone recorded
A daughter of Ares whose assault by Halirrhothius led to the first murder trial in Greek mythology, held on the hill that became the Areopagus
Alcimede
🗡 heroMotherhood, nobility
Noble Thessalian woman and mother of Jason, leader of the Argonauts
Hypermnestra
🗡 heromercy
The only one of the fifty Danaids who refused to murder her husband Lynceus on their wedding night.
Hippolytus
🗡 heroSon of Theseus destroyed by Aphrodite
Hippolytus was the chaste son of Theseus who rejected Aphrodite and was destroyed when his stepmother Phaedra fell in love with him.
Eriphyle
🗡 herobetrayal
Wife of Amphiaraus who twice accepted bribes to send her male relatives to their deaths in war.
Anteia
🗡 heroDesire, false accusation
Queen of Tiryns who falsely accused Bellerophon of assault, setting in motion his legendary trials
Heracles
🗡 heroGreatest of all Greek heroes
The son of Zeus and Alcmene who performed twelve impossible labours and was the only hero to achieve full godhood after death.