Source Verification: Antigone

Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.

What the Sources Attest

Is Antigone the daughter of Oedipus?

Yes. Sophocles, Euripides, and Apollodorus all make Antigone the daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes. They also make her mother Jocasta, who was Oedipus's own mother. That makes Antigone both his daughter and his half-sister, a fact she laments in Sophocles's play. Pausanias records a different view. He doubted that Jocasta bore Oedipus any children at all. Citing the lost epic Oedipodia, he names the mother of all four children as Euryganeia, daughter of Hyperphas.

Source: Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8

What is the main story of Antigone?

After her brothers Eteocles and Polynices killed each other in the war over Thebes, their uncle Creon became king. He ordered Eteocles buried with honor and Polynices left unburied as a traitor, on pain of death by stoning. Antigone refused to obey. She covered her brother's body with dust and poured libations, was caught, and told Creon that his decree could not override the unwritten laws of the gods. Creon condemned her to be shut alive in a rock tomb, and his decision destroyed his own family.

Source: Sophocles, Antigone 21-38

What happened to Antigone at the end?

In Sophocles's play, Antigone hangs herself with a linen noose inside the tomb where Creon walled her up. Creon, warned by the seer Tiresias, arrives too late. His son Haemon, her betrothed, is found embracing her body. He draws his sword on his father, misses, and kills himself beside her. Apollodorus says only that she was buried alive. Euripides's Phoenissae ends differently, with Antigone leaving Thebes to share her blind father's exile.

Source: Sophocles, Antigone 1192-1240

Did Antigone marry her cousin?

Haemon was her cousin, since his father Creon was Jocasta's brother. In Sophocles she is only betrothed to him, and they are joined in death rather than marriage. Other versions let the marriage happen. An ancient summary of Sophocles's play reports that in Euripides's lost Antigone she was given to Haemon in marriage and bore a son, Maion. Hyginus's Fabulae also has Haemon save her, live with her secretly, and father a son, before Creon discovers them and Haemon kills her and himself.

Source: Hyginus, Fabulae 72

What is Antigone's tragic flaw?

Sophocles never labels a single flaw, and readers have argued about it for centuries. The chorus comes closest. It tells Antigone that she has rushed to the far limits of daring, that she is paying for her father's crime, and that her own self-willed temper has destroyed her. Yet the same play ends by condemning Creon's arrogance, not hers. Tiresias and the gods side with the burial, and the chorus's final lesson is aimed at the proud words of the king.

Source: Sophocles, Antigone 853-875

Where Accounts Differ

Antigone's mother
how Antigone buried Polynices
who was left unburied
how Antigone died
source of Hyginus's version
authenticity of the Seven Against Thebes ending
when Antigone left Thebes with Oedipus

Antigone's mother is Jocasta in Sophocles, in Euripides's Phoenissae, and in Apollodorus's Library. Pausanias disagrees: citing the epic Oedipodia, he names the mother of Oedipus's four children as Euryganeia, daughter of Hyperphas.
How Antigone buried Polynices differs by source. Sophocles has her sprinkle dust and pour libations over the body. Hyginus has her and Argia place it on Eteocles's pyre by night, and Pausanias records a Theban spot called the Dragging of Antigone, where she hauled the body onto that pyre.
Sophocles's Creon forbids burial to Polynices alone. Apollodorus says Creon cast out all the Argive dead unburied and set watchmen over them.
Her death is told four ways. Sophocles has her hang herself in the tomb. Apollodorus says only that she was buried alive. Hyginus has Haemon hide her for years and finally kill her and himself. An ancient summary of Sophocles's play says that in Euripides's lost Antigone she married Haemon and bore a son, Maion.
Whether Hyginus's tale reflects Euripides's lost Antigone is disputed. Welcker identified the two; Jebb, following Heydemann, argued that the ancient summary puts the marriage at the end of Euripides's play, so Hyginus must be summarizing some other, unknown tragedy.
The closing scene of Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes, where Antigone vows to bury Polynices against the herald's decree, is widely suspected of being a later addition to the play. Some scholars have defended it, and the question remains open.
Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus has Oedipus die at Colonus before his sons' war, with Antigone returning to Thebes afterward. Euripides's Phoenissae keeps Oedipus in Thebes through the war and ends with Antigone leading him into exile toward Colonus, while still vowing to bury Polynices in secret.

Sources

Primary sources

Sophocles, Antigone 21-38
Sophocles, Antigone 192-206
Sophocles, Antigone 407-440
Sophocles, Antigone 450-470
Sophocles, Antigone 692-700
Sophocles, Antigone 773-780
Sophocles, Antigone 853-875
Sophocles, Antigone 1064-1076
Sophocles, Antigone 1115-1125
Sophocles, Antigone 1192-1240
Sophocles, Antigone 1301-1305
Sophocles, Antigone 1348-1353
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 345-352
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1181-1189
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1405-1413
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1414-1446
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1768-1772
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 1005-1025
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 1026-1053
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 1054-1078
Euripides, Phoenissae 55
Euripides, Phoenissae 1625-1682
Euripides, Phoenissae 1683-1707
Euripides, Phoenissae 1710-1766
Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8
Apollodorus, Library 3.5.9
Apollodorus, Library 3.7.1
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.5.10-9.5.11
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.25.2
Hyginus, Fabulae 72