# The Theban Plays

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/sophocles/the-theban-plays/9780140440034

![The Theban Plays](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/sophocles/the-theban-plays_978-01-4044-003-4.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2004%3A22%3A14)

- Book: [The Theban Plays](https://www.bookquiver.com/sophocles/the-theban-plays) ([The Theban Plays.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/sophocles/the-theban-plays.md))
- Authors: [Sophocles](https://www.bookquiver.com/sophocles)
- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-01-4044-003-4
- Pages: 176
- Published: 2003-06-26
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

The legends surrounding the royal house of Thebes inspired Sophocles to create a powerful trilogy of mankind's struggle aginst fate. KING OEDIPUS tells of a man who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he doesn't realise he has committed, and then inflicts a brutal punishment on himself. It is a devastating portrayl of a ruler brought down by his own oath. OEDIPUS AT COLONUS provides a fitting conclusion to the life of the aged and blinded king, while ANTIGONE depicts the fall of the next generation through the conflict between a young woman ruled by her conscience and a king too confident in his own authority.