Pausanias, Description of Greece: Boeotia 25
“Not too far off from Menoeceus’ grave is where people claim that Oedipus’ sons fought each other in single combat and died at each other’s hands. The battle is commemorated by a pillar on top of which is a stone shield. They also mark out the place where the Thebans claim Hera was tricked by Zeus into nursing Herakles as a child.
The whole area is called Antigone’s Drag. When she realized that she did not have the strength to carry her brother’s body, even though she wanted to, she came up with the back-up plan of dragging him. So she hauled him right up to Eteokles’ burning pure and pushed him on top.”
τοῦ δὲ Μενοικέως οὐ πόρρω τάφου τοὺς παῖδας λέγουσιν Οἰδίποδος μονομαχήσαντας ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὸ ἀλλήλων· σημεῖον δὲ τῆς μάχης αὐτῶν κίων, καὶ ἀσπὶς ἔπεστιν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ λίθου. δείκνυται δέ τι χωρίον ἔνθα Ἥραν Θηβαῖοί φασιν Ἡρακλεῖ παιδὶ ἔτι ἐπισχεῖν γάλα κατὰ δή τινα ἀπάτην ἐκ Διός· καλεῖται δὲ ὁ σύμπας οὗτος τόπος1 Σῦρμα Ἀντιγόνης· ὡς γὰρ τὸν τοῦ Πολυνείκους ἄρασθαί οἱ προθυμουμένῃ νεκρὸν οὐδεμία ἐφαίνετο ῥᾳστώνη, δεύτερα ἐπενόησεν ἕλκειν αὐτόν, ἐς ὃ εἵλκυσέ τε καὶ ἐπέβαλεν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἐτεοκλέους ἐξημμένην τὴν πυράν.
Juvenal, Satire 8 227-230
“Have the ancestors’ statues wear the prizes from your voice.
Put on your long Thyestes outfit in front of Domitius’ feet
Or maybe the mask of Antigone or Melanippe
And hang your lyre from a marble colossus.”
maiorum effigies habeant insignia vocis,
ante pedes Domiti longum tu pone Thyestae
syrma vel Antigones aut personam Melanippes,
et de marmoreo citharam suspende colosso.
Greek Anthology, 8.37.5-8
“You have obtained a blessed station! What about the mask
Of the girl in your hand, what play is she from?
Call her Antigone if you want or Electra–you’re not wrong either way
For both are at the peak of the playwright’s achievement.”
Ὄλβιος, ὡς ἁγνὴν ἔλαχες στάσιν· ἡ δ᾿ ἐνὶ χερσὶν
κούριμος, ἐκ ποίης ἥδε διδασκαλίης;
α. Εἴτε σοι Ἀντιγόνην εἰπεῖν φίλον, οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις,
εἴτε καὶ Ἠλέκτραν· ἀμφότεραι γὰρ ἄκρον.
Sallustius, Arg, in Soph Ant ii.
‘There’s some conflict in the stories about the heroine Antigone and her sister Ismene. For example, Ion claims in his dithyrambs that both sisters were burned to death in the temple of Hera by Laodamas, Eteocles’ son. Mimnermus, however, insists that Ismene was killed by Tydeus at Athena’s direction as she had sex with Periklymenos. These are the strange stories recorded about the heroines.”
στασιάζεται δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἡρωίδα ἱστορούμενα καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῆς Ἰσμήνην. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἴων ἐν τοῖς διθυράμβοις) καταπρησθῆναί φησιν ἀμφοτέρας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Ἥρας ὑπὸ Λαοδάμαντος τοῦ Ἐτεοκλέους· Μίμνερμος δέ φησι τὴν μὲν Ἰσμήνην προσομιλοῦσαν Περικλυμένῳ ὑπὸ Τυδέως κατὰ Ἀθηνᾶς ἐγκέλευσιν τελευτῆσαι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐστιν τὰ ξένως περὶ τῶν ἡρωίδων ἱστορούμενα.
