I [Charles Segal] have profited from the commentaries of Andrew Brown, Sophocles:
Antigone (Warminster, 1987), Mark Griffith, Sophocles: Antigone (Cam-
bridge, 1999), and Richard Jebb, Sophocles, The Plays and Fragments,
III (Cambridge, 1900); and also from R. D. Dawe, ed., Sophokles, Tra-
goediae, vol. 2 (Leipzig, 1985); from J. C. Kamerbeek, The Plays of
Sophocles, Commentaries, Part III, The Antigone (Leiden, 1978); and
from H. Lloyd-Jones and N. G. Wilson, Sophoclea (Oxford, 1990).

Line numbers are given in this order: translation (bold type) / Greek text. Quotations
from the translation are in italics; paraphrases or other renderings are
in quotation marks.

ISMENE: probably a little younger than Antigone, as the latter is to
be married first, but the play gives no clear indication.

THE CHORUS: Sophokles has chosen a chorus of elderly citizens, men
of stature and importance, to emphasize the civic and political aspects
of his theme. One should keep in mind that classical Athens also con-
tains a large population of resident aliens (“metics”) and slaves, and
that neither are citizens. Freeborn Athenian women, though they have
many rights, do not have the right to vote, hold public office, or own
property in their own names. They are expected to remain primarily
in the house and to be concerned with the rearing of children and the
management of domestic affairs. They do, however, have important
religious functions (many cults had priestesses), particularly in the area
of funerary ritual.

MESSENGER, and VARIOUS MALE ATTENDANTS; SERVANTS; SLAVES:
Though the Guard is probably a lower-class citizen, the other minor
figures on the stage are probably slaves. Slavery was an accepted part

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