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The Theban Plays

"Oedipus the Tyrant"; "Oedipus at Colonus"; "Antigone"

Sophocles author Thomas L Pangle translator Peter J Ahrensdorf translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cornell University Press

Published:15th Jan '14

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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The Theban Plays cover

The timeless Theban tragedies of Sophocles—Oedipus the Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone—have fascinated and moved audiences and readers across the ages with their haunting plots and their unforgettable heroes and heroines. Now, following the best texts faithfully, and translating the key moral, religious, and political terminology of the plays accurately and consistently, Peter J. Ahrensdorf and Thomas L. Pangle allow contemporary readers to study the most literally exact reproductions of precisely what Sophocles wrote, rendered in readily comprehensible English.These translations enable readers to engage the Theban plays of Sophocles in their full, authentic complexity, and to study with precision the plays’ profound and enduring human questions. In the preface, notes to the plays, and introductions, Ahrensdorf and Pangle supply critical historical, mythic, and linguistic background information, and highlight the moral, religious, political, philosophic, and psychological questions at the heart of each of the plays. Even readers unfamiliar with Greek drama will find what they need to experience, reflect on, and enjoy these towering works of classical literature.

In emphasizing the political elements of the plays, Professors Ahrensdorf and Pangle spur their readers — our students — to engage deeply with Sophocles' masterpieces....Their incisive reflections interrogate the texts in original and thought-provoking ways, particularly in regard to their political elements. Even where we disagree with them, their ideas merit serious consideration.... The translators situate Oedipus the Tyrant in its political context and ask probing questions about the nature of tyranny, guilt, and knowingness.... The introductions to Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone are similarly rich in ideas. Alternately considering matters of justice, allegiance and political legitimacy, Ahrensdorf and Pangle mine themes of timeless interest and application. In Antigone, they question Creon’s injunction to obey — son to father, young to old, ruled to ruler — and his admonition that there is no greater evil than anarchy. In these two principles, one finds the root of arguments, both ancient and contemporary,over the nature of political legitimacy and stability.

-- Michael Fontaine and Richard Fontaine * Bryn Mawr Classical Revi

ISBN: 9780801478710

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 16mm

Weight: 454g

216 pages