This new edition of Sophocles’ Antigone includes the masterful translation by Sheila Murnaghan, which vividly brings to life the conflict between Antigone and her uncle Creon, the new ruler of Thebes. This translation allows the reader to engage with the text in a new and fresh way that avoids the challenges for which Sophocles’ verse is notorious. The directness of the language allows the reader to seamlessly engage with the raw emotion of the plot. This edition also includes ancient sources (Lysias and Herodotus) in translation to provide historical context and cultural context for Sophocles’ work, along with essays about modern reception of the work and critical essays on gender, politics, and the legacy of the work.

Antigone challenges the reader to deal with the conflicting interests that one has to one's own family and those that one has to one's community or state; those interests one has to own's religion and those one has to one's country; those interests one faces between one's freedom and the law. Should Antigone's obligations towards her brotheroutweigh her obligations towards the dictates of Creon? This brilliant new translation allows the reader to directly experience the nuances of the plot and to delve into the perennial questions of justice and morality, without the stumbling block of other more awkward or cumbersome translations.