Aeschylean Reminiscences in the Parodos of Sophocles’ Antigone

Abstract

The paper discusses some similarities between Aeschylus and the parodos of Sophocles’ Antigone. The chorus in the Antigone is a group of royal counsellors whose social status reminds us of the choruses of Persians and Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. As such, it plays similar functions: it is dramatic and plays the role of a commentary. Like the choruses in Aeschylus, in which the old tragedian penetrates into the past following the principle of retrospection, Sophocles in the introductory part of his chorus also refers to a scene of the event from pre-action (Vorgeschichte) and submits it to a commentary in lyrical and reflective manifestations. Introducing narrative elements into the song of parodos, Sophocles – following Aeschylus – does not make his chorus relate the events in a chronological order, but uses “the technique of editing”. He cuts them into certain units and remodels them in time in order to submit them to poetization or reflection, or to expose them as meaningful for the further course of action. In the final part of the paper, the author discusses Aeschylean reminiscences which he noticed in the linguistic layer of the parodos.