Antigone by Sophocles and Ancient Greek Civilization Essay

Antigone by Sophocles and Ancient Greek Civilization - Essay Example Creon fails to acknowledge her plea and is condemned to death. Creon had presented the rule that the person who would bury Polyneices would be subjected to death. This is because he had termed him as an intruder and a murderer to his predecessor Eteocles in the battle for the throne (Sophocles 2) Creon had made the ruling that the body would be left to rot instead of a proper burial, a ruling that Antigone defied. Unlike his brother, Eteocles had been given a proper burial, and the angry Antigone sought to place her brother’s body to rest in peace. The actions of the woman to disobey his ruling angered the king and sentenced both Antigone and her sister Ismene to death (Sophocles 1). Consequently, Creon’s son Haemon pleaded with his father to overturn his ruling because he had been engaged to Antigone, and had not wished to lose his fiance. Creon failed to adhere to his so wishes, but releases Ismene banishing her from the land. Furthermore, the prophet Teiresias warned the king against defying the gods wishes to bury Polyneices and warning him of a tragedy. The events witnessed Theban citizens recite a chorus that reminded the king that the prophet had never been wrong and that, his ruling that he would lose his son would happen. He hurriedly changes his mind for fear of the misfortune and performs a proper burial ceremony to bury Polyneices body (Sophocles 9). On the attempt to free the imprisoned Antigone, he is too late to avoid tragedy and finds a dead prisoner bringing more sorrow in the death of his son who chose to stab himself. The heartbroken Creon returns to his palace to meet an added misfortune in the death of his queen Eurydice who, chose to kill herself on the news of her son’s death. The story teaches on poor leadership skills and the consequences of defying the wishes of the gods. Democracy in Athens The reek had been a barbaric tribe that had migrated from the European nation to Aegean in the quest for a new land. The inte raction led to the integration of their traditions and those of the natives that they had encountered in the region. After settlement within the region, the individuals became influenced by Crete establishing an organized civilization by 1600B.C. known as Mycenaean civilization (Lewis 46). The Greeks adopted the trend from the Babylonians and Hittites to incorporate found civilization and practices to their own creating a different civilization form. Greek civilization had been created to present an organized system that had not failed to achieve organization. The states had been minute consisting of contained towns built at the center of a higher ground with temples created to present a civilization that defined the state. The Greek created fortress and temples that presented significant importance to the Greeks and a center of unity. The example was presented in Athens that had been termed the city of Athena the goddess who had been charged with the town and offered protection to the members. Democracy stretched in Greek to accord participation of all the members developing a term, polites in their language to define the citizens. The Greeks had been organized in city-states lacking a universal empire and protected through an extended land and sea. With the lack of an organized government, the states did not possess the value to employ professional forces that would offer the needed protection. Brave men who had chosen