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.

"This book is a contribution to one of the core projects of classical scholarship in recent years: highlighting the importnace of social and political context in the interpretation of ancient works. Tyrrell and Bennett are probably best known for their suggestions about links between Antigone and the Athenian public funerals and funeral orations. In this book they expand on those suggestions, drawing also on particular historical events such as the Samian war, and on other literary texts, such as Iliad, to establish how Antogone's, Creon's, and other characters' attitudes to the burial might have been percieved." - The Classical Review

"The authors' writting is clear, their research thorough, their reading of the text a close one, and their observations generally sound. Anyone intending to pursue scholalry work on any aspect of of the Antigone will surely have to include this work. While the book contains numerous passages in the original Greek, the authors provide translations so that this book would also provide an excellent companion to the play for the Greek-less reader." - Religious Studies Review

"This book is valuable." - The Journal of Hellenic Studies

"Tyrrell and Bennett's articulation of the tension between these traditional Greek family customs and the importance of state funerals for war dead is their special contribution to the understanding of Sophocles'Antigone. Extensive reference to the Greek text is made in this careful analysis, accessible to advanced undergraduates." - The Classical Outlook

"Tyrrell and Bennett's book is a valuable addition to the literature on this fascinatingly complex play and is of use to students of the play at all levels, from the advanced undergraduate to the serious scholar of tragedy and ritual....." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Tyrrell and Bennett's book is a valuable addition to the literature on this fascinatingly complex play and is of use to students of the play at all levels, from the advanced undergraduate to the serious scholar of tragedy and ritual." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review