In this book, Wm. Blake Tyrrell and Larry J. Bennett examine Sophocles' Antigone in the context of its setting in fifth-century Athens. The authors attempt to create an interpretive environment that is true to the issues and interests of fifth-century Athenians, as opposed to those of modern scholars and philosophers. As they contextualize the play in the dynamics of ancient Athens, the authors discuss the text of the Antigone in light of recent developments in the study of Greek antiquity and tragedy, and they turn to modern Greek rituals of lamentation for suggestive analogies. The result is a compelling book which opens new insights to the text, challenges the validity of old problems, and eases difficulties in its interpretation.

A text of and commentary on Sophocles' tragedy Antigone.

''I would call the register 'restrained colloquial'. The language ranges between the straightforward and the genuinely poetic, its dominant characteristic being freshness. This is not the usual dull translationese, which reads as if the original were not in a language people once spoke and wrote and created art with... One of the most effective styles I have seen in a translation.'' -- Reader's report. Paul Woodruff is Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin.

The collection consists of the galley proof of Sophocles' tragedy, Antigone, translated by Palmer, published in 1899 by Houghton Mifflin; galleys include some corrections and commentary, in pencil. Antigone defies the king by planning to bury her brother; her capture and punishment lead to tragedy.