The story of Oidipous and his children is referred to in Homer and
was told in a number of epic and probably lyric poems of the seventh
and sixth centuries BCE, of which only sparse fragments survive. We
know very little of the story of Antigone herself prior to Sophokles. The
ancient sources report various versions, many of uncertain date, no one
of which exactly tallies with Sophokles' version. ^* It is uncertain
whether Sophokles is the first to have Antigone sacrifice her life to bury
her brother. It is probable (but by no means certain) that the framing
of the conflict between Kreon and Antigone, her and Haimon's deaths
in the cave, and the figure of Eurydike are Sophokles' inventions. The
dramatists always felt free to add new details and to interpret the story
in their own way. Euripides' lost Antigone of 431, for example, probably
ended with Dionysos as deus ex machina rescuing the heroine from
death.

Sophokles' most important predecessor is Aiskhylos, whose Seven
against Thebes was performed in 467, and is the only surviving play of
a trilogy that included Laios and Oidipous. Echoes of Aiskhylos' lan-
guage suggest that Sophokles has Seven against Thebes in mind at sev-
eral points.

Seven against Thebes dramatizes the events that immediately precede
the action of Antigone—that is, the conflict between the two sons of
Oidipous, Eteokles and Polyneikes, for the throne of Thebes. Eteokles,
the defender of the city against his brother's army from Argos, puts a
Theban warrior in command at six of the seven gates to defend them

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