Creon's Culture Of Death In Antigone

The ancient Greeks are known for their elaborate mythology and traditions. With a pantheon of 12 Olympian gods as well as several minor deities, Greek life was enriched with religious ceremonies and practices. One of their most significant traditions involved the burial of their dead. They strongly believed that everyone had the right to a proper burial and posthumous honor, except in very rare circumstances. In the play Antigone, King Creon refuses to bury Antigone’s brother Polyneices on grounds of treason, but she believes her brother deserves a proper burial and acts against his orders. On the surface, it may seem foolish for Antigone to risk her life for someone who is already dead, but the intricate culture of death in ancient Greece

After Antigone’s brothers Eteocles and Polyneices killed each other in battle, King Creon has only Eteocles properly buried but proclaimed regarding Polyneices: “No Burial of any kind. No wailing, no public tears. Give him to the vultures, unwept, unburied, [to] be a sweet treasure for their sharp eyes and beaks” (Sophocles 2-3). Despite Creon’s direct orders and threat of stoning, Antigone covers Polyneices’s body in a layer of dirt as a sign, similar to the process described in “Ancient Greek Burial Customs.” When Ismene, Antigone’s sister, asks why she is so willing to risk her life for the dead, Antigone reasons that she “must be good to those [who] are below” because she “will be there longer than with [her]” (Sophocles 4). This sentiment can be seen in Emond’s Imagining the Afterlife in Greek Religion. Antigone also believed that the gods themselves ordered that she give Polyneices his burial rites and told Creon as much when she declared “[no] man could frighten me into taking on [the] gods’ penalty for breaking such a law” (Sophocles 19). However, Creon did have his reasons for refusing burial to Polyneices, and some can be traced to these same funeral traditions. He believed that Polyneices “was killing and plundering” while Eteocles “defended [their] land” (Sophocles 22). If Polyneices truly had turned traitor against his nation, he would fit the criteria to be thrown into a pit to rot and be devoured by birds, as Graves described in “The Burial Customs of the Ancient Greeks.” However, when the famous prophet comes to him to warn him of the consequences of not treating the dead with respect, it is clear that Polyneices did not deserve a traitor’s