The History of Antigone

Survival of Antigone

One of my first thoughts was that it's amazing that Antigone has survived for so long. Although it may not be the first, the oldest known script of Antigone was written over 500 years after it was first shown. For 500 years the play managed to survive solely through performance and memorization, which I think is incredible.

What We Lost

Unfortunately, despite Antigone's long survival, we have doubtless lost much of the story. With incorrect memorizations, erroneous manuscripts, and lost copies, large amounts of Antigone-related information has been lost. There are also issues of context, as we have little context regarding when Antigone was written, and translation, as the story has been translated countless times through different languages, resulting in certain phrases being lost in translation. With different scholars' interpretations and disagreements, it is now impossible to know what is the "correct" version of the play, as no records exist of the play when it was originally written. In addition, it is very difficult to analyze the word choice and symbolism in the play, as without reading it in the original Greek one isn't truly experiencing the play as the author intended.