The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

by Sophocles, Robert Fagles (Translator)

Sophocles’ The Three Theban Plays—Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus—remain cornerstones of classical literature, exploring fate, justice, and the human condition. Through the tragic lives of Oedipus and his family, Sophocles examines the consequences of pride, moral choices, and the inescapable power of destiny. His masterful storytelling and profound philosophical insights continue to resonate across generations.

A timeless collection of Greek tragedy, these plays offer readers a powerful blend of drama, moral reflection, and enduring literary brilliance.

Genres: Classics

509 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 23, 2025

About the author

Sophocles (497/496 BC – 406/405 BC; Greek: Σοφοκλής ; German: Sophokles ; Russian: Софокл ; French: Sophocle ; Catalan: Sòfocles ) was an ancient Greek tragedian and one of the three great Athenian playwrights whose works have survived in complete form. His earliest plays were written after, or around the same time as, those of Aeschylus, and before, or contemporaneously with, those of Euripides.

Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, although only seven have survived in their entirety: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. For nearly fifty years, he was among the most celebrated playwrights in Athens, competing in dramatic festivals held in honour of Dionysus, particularly the City Dionysia and the Lenaia. According to ancient accounts, he participated in approximately thirty competitions, winning twenty-four and never placing lower than second. By comparison, Aeschylus won thirteen competitions, while Euripides won four.

Among Sophocles' best-known tragedies are those concerning Oedipus and Antigone. These are commonly referred to as the Theban plays, although they were originally written for different dramatic tetralogies, the other plays of which have largely been lost. The three surviving works are Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.

Sophocles played an important role in the development of ancient Greek drama. He is traditionally credited with introducing a third actor, an innovation that allowed for more complex dramatic interactions and reduced the relative importance of the chorus in the development of the plot. This innovation is attributed to Sophocles by Aristotle, although Themistius credits Aeschylus. Sophocles also developed his characters with greater psychological depth and individuality than had been customary in earlier Greek tragedy, helping to shape the dramatic tradition inherited by later generations.

Reviews

[Logan Drury · Rating 5 out of 5]

“O the generations of men / the dying generations—adding the total of all your lives I find they come to nothing… / does there exist, is there a man on earth who seizes more joy than just a dream, a vision? / And the vision no sooner dawns than dies / blazing into oblivion. / You are my great example, you, your life / your destiny, Oedipus, man of misery— / I count no man blest.”

This trilogy of drama is the greatest Greek tragedy ever written. And I’m willing to say that two of these plays, Antigone and Oedipus the King, are two of the greatest plays of all time. Sophocles uses myths completely known to the Athenians at the time and are even commonly understood today, yet still provides a shock factor. How does he do it? By masterfully and ironically presenting the royal family of Thebes in a way that explores themes of Free Will, divine existence, and divine law. Everyone knows that Oedipus killed his dad and married his mother. But when Oedipus the King starts no one does. The audience is almost given the perspective of “the gods” since we know the truth and have to slowly watch Oedipus blindly pursue the revealing of that agonizing truth.

I particularly enjoyed the Penguin Classics edition since this is my first time reading this trilogy in release order which provided a unique take on the events and a more accurate representation of how the original viewers would’ve experienced it. If you haven’t read these plays, you haven’t experienced true tragedy🤷‍♂️

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

First about the edition I read. I chose the Fainlight, Littman translation to read, and I was very pleased with it. The book as available on Kindle with this translation, and I was displeased with the amount of editing errors in the text. It seemed to me that the book was digitized using automatic character recognition that made quite a few errors that were not corrected. I regularly found words misspelled, and often it was obvious what the spelling should be. But, there were times when I hit a sentence that I could not make sense of, and I felt that the meaning was being obscured by a typographical error that was not obvious and obscured the meaning.

To the content of the book. I was, of course, familiar with the story in Oedipus the king, and it's place as a part of the Western Canon is well established. I was not familiar with the other two stories of Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Of the three stories, Oedipus at Colonus was the least interesting. But, I enjoyed both Oedipus the King and Antigone. I thought the translation did a good job at being understandable while still being poetic. Sometimes, translations try so hard to maintaing the poetic nature of a work that they become inscrutable. This one is understandable, with a degree of archaism that feels appropriate given that the source material is about 2400 years old.

[Zachary Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this is kind of the point but it’s annoying no one listens to the prophecies or seers and actively seeks out their own doom.

[Tylerjohn DePasquale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this. It put all three of the Oedipus stories into one consolidated book so that you can easily read them in order. Beginning with Oedipus the King, leading to Oedipus at Colonus and finally arriving at Antigone.

The translation was very good, however they attempted to recreate an “Old English” feeling with the translation. Making some of it a bit dense to understand with phrasings and spellings. It didn’t prove too challenging to get through if you are already familiar with the stories of Oedipus.

I picked this up for a mere $0.99 on Kindle and can definitely recommend picking it up if on sale. Or full price if you really appreciate the subject matter.