Antigone’s tragic genome: transmission and mutations of the Theban myth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34624/fb.v0i21.41393Keywords:
Antigone, Greek literature, Theban myth, Genetic mutations, SegregationAbstract
Long before gaining an unequivocal prominence in the production of all the great tragediographers of the Classical Period - who seem to have almost obsessively poured the ominous shadow of contemporary fratricidal struggles into their symbolic flow - the mythical saga of Thebes, based on the unfortunate line of succession of the royal family inaugurated by Cadmus, occurs in multiple narrative allusions, from the primordial poetic testimony of the Iliad and the Odyssey, which will end up being replicated later in multiple allusions by the various archaic poets, and detailed in the narrative sequence of the so-called Theban Epic Cycle. Founded on the symbolic nucleus of a curse, transmitted hereditarily from parents to children, where patterns of deviance and mechanisms of subversion, similar to those of a segregating disease, multiply and worsen, the Theban saga will also occur in textual transmission, sequenced by very diverse narrative versions, marked by recurring inconsistencies. Under this peculiar thematic framework, we therefore set out, like a genetic sequencing exercise, to decode Antigone’s genome, comparatively analysing the ancient textual versions and identifying their deviations and narrative mutations. By comparing the different versions, we try to understand the extent to which the ancient worldview deepens the conviction that a mistake or deviation in behaviour, configured as a subversion of linearity, can become a driving force for tragic action for those in need.
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