CREON (THEBAN CYCLE) IN THE WORKS OF SOPHOCLES AND EURIPIDES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Creon was a character in Greek mythology during the Theban cycle. This cycle was made up of a group of myths represented in both tragedies and epic poems. These recounted the events around one of the kings of Thebes, Oedipus. In these stories, Creon served as a counterweight to the stories of Oedipus and his associates.

According to mythology, this character was a descendant of Cadmus, founder of Thebes. According to the Oedipus legend, Creon ruled Thebes as regent (ruler in charge) on several occasions. His name means prince or ruler in ancient Greek.

Antigone sentenced to death by Creon, 1845, Giuseppe Diotti. By Waltramp, from Wikimedia Commons

Without coming to belong to the royal house or having inheritance rights, he had to govern Thebes on several occasions. To mention some of them, he had to rule after the death of King Laius, after Oedipus was blind and after the death of his children.

On the other hand, Creon had four boys and three daughters with his wife, Eurydice. In the works of Sophocles Oedipus the King, Oedipus in Colonus and Antigone, he has outstanding performance. It also appears in Euripides's The Phoenicians. In all the works he is represented as a man passionate about the law, especially that of the gods.

Creon in the Sophocles trilogy

Accused of conspirator in Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex is a tragedy written by the tragic poet Sophocles (495 BC-406 BC). The play presents Oedipus being king of Thebes and married to Jocasta, who had given him two sons and two girls. Also related in the work is a plague epidemic that the city was going through at that time.

In this tragedy Creon appears being the object of accusations by King Oedipus, who is his brother-in-law. He accuses him of conspiring together with the blind fortune teller Tiresias to overthrow him and take his place on the throne. This fortune teller had been brought in at the request of the king to advise him on how to stop the epidemic.

According to the seer, the un avenged death of Oedipus' predecessor on the throne was the reason for the epidemic. In the course of the revelations, the king learns that his predecessor was his own father, who had died in a dispute at the hands of Oedipus himself before he could know the parentage between them.

Faced with the revelation, Oedipus sinks into despair. Later, he becomes dejected when he learns that his wife, Jocasta, was his mother and that, therefore, he had committed incest while having children with her. Faced with such an impact, Oedipus refuses to believe and prefers to think that it is a plot concocted by Creon to take over his kingdom.

Plan for Oedipus to die in Theban lands

Oedipus at Colonus is another tragedy written by Sophocles. The scholars date this work between 406 a. C. and 405 a. However, it was staged for the first time around 401 BC by his grandson, Sophocles the Younger, after his death.

In this work, the relationship between Oedipus and Creon is again recounted. This time Oedipus is in Athens sick and blind in the company of his two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. They had brought their father to that place to fulfill the prophecy made by the oracle. According to him, he should die in those lands.

Creon, for his part, refuses to allow it. In his opinion, Oedipus must perish in Theban territory. That is why he sends some of his men to capture him along with his daughters and force the return to Thebes. However, the intervention of the king of Athens, Theseus, prevents Creon's plans from crystallizing and Oedipus dies on Athenian land.

In addition, the story tells of Creon's actions to calm the confrontation between the two sons of Oedipus, Polynices and Eteocles. These brothers were fighting for the right to rule Thebes in the absence of their father.

Disobeyed by Antigone

Antigone was another of works belonging to the trilogy that Sophocles dedicated to Oedipus. In it, the deceased Oedipus and his children are shown taking turns on the throne of Thebes. At some point, Eteocles refused to surrender the throne, so Polyneices went to war with his brother.

To fulfill his mission, Polinices requests help from a foreign king and with a foreign army he attacks Thebes. Despite the fact that the battle was won by the Thebans, both brothers are killed in combat. Creon then ascends the throne and buries Eteocles with honors. In the case of Polynices, he refuses to bury him as a traitor to Thebes.

In this part of the work, Antigone, Polinices' sister, appears requesting Creon to reconsider his refusal to bury her brother. Creon keeps her decision, so Antigone, in an act of disobedience, performs a secret burial. Discovered the insubordination, the body is unearthed by orders of Creon.

In a fit of determination, Antigone buries her brother again. In punishment, Creon condemns her to die alone in a cave. Later, Creon reconsiders and orders to release Antigone.

However, when uncovering the cave they discover that she had committed suicide. This discovery fills Hemon with regret, who commits suicide. In the same way does his mother Eurydice. Both deaths fill Creon with pain.

Euripides' Creon

The Phoenicians, belonging to the Theban cycle, was written by Euripides (484-480 BC-406 BC) around 410 BC. In it you can see Jocasta, mother and wife of the late Oedipus, trying to mediate the dispute between his sons Eteocles and Polynices. They fought for the throne left by their father Oedipus.

Although Yocasta is successful in achieving the reunion between the brothers, she does not get Eteocles to hand over the throne to his brother Polinices. The latter retreats indignant and prepares to invade the city with an army that he already had organized.

Then, Eteocles entrusts the defense of Thebes to Creon. Additionally, he asks her to marry his son Hemon to Antigone, Polinices' sister and his own. He also asks him not to bury his brother if the Thebans win the battle.

Before the fight, which was won by the Thebans, the brothers faced each other in a duel where both perished. Jocasta, upon learning of the death of her children, committed suicide by thrusting her throat with a sword. Creon then became the new king of Thebes.

References

1. Snitchler, T. (2016) Creon and the Pressures of Being King. Taken from dc.cod.edu.
2. Coello Manuell, J. (2012, March 26). Meditations on Creon or Creon. Taken jaimecoellomanuell.wordpress.com
3. Eweb. (s / f). Theban cycle. Taken from eweb.unex.es.
4. Bonfante, L. and Swaddling, J. (2009). Etruscan myths. Madrid: AKAL Editions.
5. Avial Chicharro, L. (2018). Brief history of the mythology of Rome and Etruria. Madrid: Nowtilus SL Editions