What has drawn so many writers and dramatists to the story of Oedipus or Antigone?

The first 200 words of this essay...

What has drawn so many writers and dramatists to the story of Oedipus or Antigone?

Sophocles' Antigone, written circa 441BC, deals with the protagonist Antigone's fight to give her brother, Polyneices, the proper burial that had been denied him by the king, Creon. It is considered among the great Greek tragedies of the time, and is still translated in modern times. When Greece was succeeded by Rome as the great city of the West, the Romans were more concerned with power and commerce rather than culture, therefore Greek drama was pushed aside by the majority, except a small number of Roman playwrights (Bowra, 1970, p. 154), such as Seneca. However, around 16 centuries after the birth of Christ, a collection of the plays were put into print, heralding the return of Greek drama, which is now present in countless different ways in our culture.

As Knox explains in his preface to the plays, Sophocles was known to be one of nine generals campaigning against the revolt of Samos at the time the play is assumed to have been written (Sophocles, 1984, p. 35). His knowledge of politics is clearly reflected in his writing, and Antigone is no exception,