#22 in Drama & theatre
Antigone
- 101
- Pages
- about 2 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Antigone” sets family loyalty against a king’s authority in about a hundred pages, and the argument has not gone stale. Some readers come to it for its questions about law, which a legal training only sharpens. By its events it closes the Theban plays, yet Sophocles wrote it first and it stands well alone: dark, moving, and over in one sitting.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Antigone is an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles in either 442 or 440 BC and first performed at the Festival of Dionysus of the same year. It is thought to be the second-oldest surviving play of Sophocles, preceded by Ajax, which was written around the same period. The play is one of a triad of tragedies known as the three Theban plays, following Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Even though the events in Antigone occur last in the order of events depicted in the plays, Sophocles wrote Antigone first. The story expands on the Theban legend that predates it, and it picks up where Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes ends. The play is named after the main protagonist Antigone.
Reading order · The Theban Plays
Full order & progress →- Oedipus RexStart hereOedipus Rex–Not ranked yet
- Oedipus at ColonusOedipus at Colonus–Not ranked yet
- AntigoneThis book
7.47.4 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.3 across 296 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 67% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Drama & theatre average of 7.6. That is how 7.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.3 | 296 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is Antigone?
It has 101 pages — shorter than 89% of the ranked books in Drama & theatre.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Drama & theatre — with scores between 7.3 and 7.5, closest to this book.
