English versions of Sophocles' three great tragedies based on the myth of Oedipus, translated for a modern audience by two gifted poets. Index.

Oedipus the King is the first tragic play in Sophocles' classic Oedipus trilogy. The plays tells the story of a man who eventually becomes the King of Thebes while fulfilling an extremely tragic prophecy.

The doomed king of Thebes brings shame on his family in this iconic three-play cycle of ancient Greek literature, a foundational work of Western drama. Oedipus Rex: As a young man, Oedipus was told of a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Fleeing his home to escape his destiny, he becomes the king of Thebes by marrying the former king’s widow. But now Thebes is cursed until Oedipus discovers who killed his predecessor—a mystery that will lead him to his own doom. Oedipus at Colonus: Blind and exiled from his own country, Oedipus takes up residence in Colonus while his two sons battle for the throne of Thebes. An oracle has pronounced that the location of their disgraced father’s final resting place will determine which of them will win. But an old enemy has his own plans for the burial. Antigone: The war is over and Thebes’s ruler, Creon, decrees that the body of Polynices—Oedipus’s son—is not to be buried. But Antigone, the late warrior’s sister, answers to a higher authority. When she breaks the law to bury her brother with proper rites, her act of civil disobedience will unleash great upheaval.

The stirring tale of a legendary royal family's fall and ultimate redemption, the Theban trilogy endures as the crowning achievement of Greek drama. Essential reading for English and classical studies majors.

Plays of Sophocles is a set of three plays by Sophocles, an ancient Greek tragedian whose plays have survived until modern times. Included are Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone.

King Oedipus/Oedipus at Colonus/Antigone Three towering works of Greek tragedy depicting the inexorable downfall of a doomed royal dynasty The legends surrounding the house of Thebes inspired Sophocles to create this powerful trilogy about humanity's struggle against fate. King Oedipus is the devastating portrayal of a ruler who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he does not realize he has committed and then inflicts a brutal punishment upon himself. 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 of his own authority. Translated with an Introduction by E. F. WATLING

An English version of the trilogy recounting the tragedy of Oedipus, King of Thebes. The verse rendering of Oedipus Rex and Antigone are collaborative, Oedipus at Colonus is by Fitzgerald alone.