Appendix C: Antigone's Personal Status under Athenian Law
| Author | Roger S. Fisher |
| Pages | 299-308 |
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APPENDIX
C
>
Antigone
’
s
Personal
Status
under
Athenian
Law
SOME
SCHOLARS
HAVE
argued
that
the
meaning
of
the
Antigone
is
hid
den
in
the
obscure
principles
of
the
Athenian
laws
of
inheritance.
1
Spe
cifically,
they
argue
that
Antigone
is
portrayed
in
the
play
as
an
Athenian
heiress
(or
epikléros),
that
the
audience
would
have
recognized
this
subtle
portrayal,
and
that
her
presumed
status
as
an
heiress
is
the
primary
clue
to
understanding
the
play.
But
there
are
several
objections
to
this
argu
ment.
First,
there
is
no
direct
evidence
in
the
play
for
the
institution
of
the
epiklerate,
which
considerably
reduces
the
probability
that
the
en
tire
play
turns
on
this
obscure
institution.
Second,
there
is
considerable
doubt
whether
the
Athenian
audience
would
have
regarded
Creon
as
Antigone
’
s
“
legal
guardian
”
(or
kurios).
And
third,
the
entire
argument
turns
on
regarding
Antigone
’
s
family,
a
“
family
”
that
only
exists
in
myth,
as
one
to
which
the
principles
and
practices
of
Athenian
law
can
be
ap
plied.
At
best,
Sophocles
might
have
depicted
Antigone
as
thinking
(er
roneously)
that
she
was
an
epikléros
(although
even
that
conclusion
is
doubtful).
To
argue
that
the
Antigone
is
about
the
performance
of
justice
in
a
trial
setting,
as
this
book
does,
is
not
at
all
the
same
thing
as
arguing,
as
some
scholars
do,
that
the
meaning
of
the
play
turns
on
the
relatively
complicated
Athenian
laws
of
inheritance.
An
Athenian
woman
lacked
independent
legal
capacity
and
had
to
be
represented
in
legal
transactions
by
a
guardian
(or
kurus'),
who
in
the
absence
of
her
father
would
be
the
nearest
male
relative
(her
son,
her
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