130,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery 🚀 | Visit our Auckland bookstore • Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

Antigone

By Sophocles
Series: Student Editions
0.0 (0 reviews)
Brief Description
Sophocles’ great tragic play dramatises the clash between family and the city and, through high poetry and deep tragedy, presents an irreconcilable but equally balanced conflict. The Sophoclean heroine Antigone has become a cultural archetype — the personification of personal integrity and political freedom. The play... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2499
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

A Student Edition of Sophocles' classic play in Don Taylor's translation, which looks at the clash between family and the city and has at its centre one of the greatest heroines of Greek tragedy.

A Student Edition of Sophocles' classic play in Don Taylor's translation, which looks at the clash between family and the city and has at its centre one of the greatest heroines of Greek tragedy.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Sophocles’ great tragic play dramatises the clash between family and the city and, through high poetry and deep tragedy, presents an irreconcilable but equally balanced conflict.

The Sophoclean heroine Antigone has become a cultural archetype — the personification of personal integrity and political freedom. The play has been staged and adapted numerous times over the centuries.

It is published here in Don Taylor’s classic translation with commentary and notes by David Bullen. The commentary examines the original performance conditions that would have shaped the impact of Antigone in 441 BCE. It also explores key choices made by the translator, key ideas in the play taken up by philosophers such as Hegel and Butler, and more recent translations and adaptations by the likes of Bertolt Brecht, Anne Carson, Moira Buffini, Kamila Shamsie, and Inua Ellams.

Series: Student Editions

View all
  • Death of a Salesman
    Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be … when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am. Willy Loman is an ageing travelling salesman haunted, driven, and yet held back by empty dreams of prosperity and success. Justly celebrated as one of the most famous...
    By Arthur Miller
    Paperback
    $1999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Our Country's Good
    Australia 1789. A young married lieutenant is directing rehearsals of the first play ever to be staged in that country. With only two copies of the text, a cast of convicts, and one leading lady who may be about to be hanged, conditions are hardly ideal... Winner of the Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award in 1988, and many...
    By Timberlake Wertenbaker
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The House Of Bernarda Alba
    Bernarda Alba is a widow, and her five daughters are incarcerated in mourning along with her. One by one, they make a bid for freedom, with tragic consequences. Lorca's tale depicts the repression of women within Catholic Spain in the years before the war. The House of Bernarda Alba is Lorca's last and possibly finest play, completed shortly before he...
    By Federico García Lorca
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Blood Brothers
    Blood Brothers by Willy Russell is a 1983 play with music that tells the compelling story of twin brothers separated at birth because their mother cannot afford to keep them both. One of the twins is given away to the wealthy Mrs Lyons and they grow up as friends, unaware of their true relationship, until an inevitable quarrel unleashes a...
    By Willy Russell
    Paperback
    $2499
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Crucible
    Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! In a small tight-knit community, gossip and rumour...
    By Arthur Miller
    Paperback
    $1999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Wasted
    Three old friends in their mid-twenties. One remarkable day. For Ted, Danny and Charlotte, it’s time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it.A day trip through the parks and raves and cafes of South London, where life is what you make it. The rapid-fire words of Kate Tempest paint a picture of lives less ordinary in...
    By Kae Tempest and Kate Tempest
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
    This revised Student Edition includes an introduction by Bess Rowen, Assistant Professor at Villanova University, US, which looks in particular at the play's treatment of rape, vulnerable people, mental institutions (especially in connection to Williams's own family), sexuality and sexual desire. A Streetcar Named Desire shows a turbulent confrontation between traditional values in the American South – an old-world graciousness...
    By Tennessee Williams
    Paperback
    $2199
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • All My Sons
    ‘His drama is a piece of expert dramatic construction. Mr. Miller has woven his characters into a tangle of plot that springs naturally out of the circumstances of life today.’NEW YORK TIMES Three years on from the disappearance of his son, successful businessman Joe Keller has made a comfortable life for his family in America’s Midwest. Despite being accused of...
    By Arthur Miller
    Paperback
    $1999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Doll’s House
    This revised Student Edition of Ibsen’s popular play contains introductory commentary and notes by Sophie Duncan, which offer a contemporary lens on the play's gender politics and consider seminal productions and adaptations of the play into the 21st century. As well as the complete text of the play itself, this new Methuen Drama Student Edition includes a: Chronology of the...
    By Henrik Ibsen
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Importance of Being Earnest
    After all, who has the right to cast a stone against one who has suffered? Cannot repentance wipe out an act of folly? Why should there be one law for me and another for women? Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, a 'trivial play for serious people', is a sparkling comedy of manners that epitomises wit and style. This...
    By Oscar Wilde
    Paperback
    $2199
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Top Girls
    Marlene thinks the eighties are going to be stupendous. Her sister Joyce has her doubts. Her daughter Angie is just frightened. Since its premiere in 1982, Top Girls has become a seminal play of the modern theatre. Set during a period of British politics dominated by the presence of the newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Churchill’s play prompts us...
    By Caryl Churchill
    Paperback
    $2699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Williams’s favourite among his plays, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is perhaps his most impassioned and articulate statement on human isolation, the wrenching problems of communication between people and the ways in which death defines life. NEW YORK TIMES In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a Southern family meet to celebrate 'Big Daddy' Pollitt's 65th birthday. But as...
    By Tennessee Williams
    Paperback
    $2199
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781350510425

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 August 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Methuen Drama

Edition: 2nd edition

Contributors:

  • Translated by Don Taylor
  • Volume editor David Bullen

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 14.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 87g

Pages: 112

Collections

Arts & Culture Non-Fiction Series: Student Editions Sophocles

About the Author

Sophocles (c. 496 - 406 BCE) was one of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Greece, along with Aeschylus and Euripides. He wrote 123 plays during a career of 60 years and was still writing at the age of 90. Only seven of his tragedies survive in their entirety.

David Bullen is a lecturer in drama and theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. His research interests centre on myth, adaptation, feminist and queer theatre practice, and eco-dramaturgies. He is the author of Greek Tragedy in 21st Century British Theatre.

Also by Sophocles

View all
  • The Theban Plays
    The legends surrounding the royal house of Thebes inspired Sophocles (496-406 BC) to create a powerful trilogy about mankind's struggle against fate. King Oedipus tells of a man who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he does not realise he has committed and who then inflicts a brutal punishment upon himself. With profound insights into the human condition, it is...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $1999
    Backorder
    Ships mid October
  • The Three Theban Plays
    The heroic Greek dramas that have moved theatre-goers and readers since the fifth century B.C. Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, the three plays that tell the story of the fated Theban royal family—Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus—are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles's authoritative and acclaimed translation conveys all of...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3400
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Electra and Other Plays
    A new translation by David Raeburn, with introduction and notes by Pat Easterling Sophocles' innovative plays transformed Greek myths into dramas featuring complex human characters, through which he explored profound moral issues. Electra portrays the grief of a young woman for her father Agamemnon, who has been killed by her mother's lover. Aeschylus and Euripides also dramatized this story, but...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2100
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Greek Tragedy
    Greek Tragedy brings together the masterpieces of classical tragedy in one volume, making it the ideal single-volume introduction for theatre-goers, actors, general readers, and students of Classics, English Literature, and Drama. Agememnon is the first part of Aeschylus's Orestian trilogy, where the leader of the Greek army returns from the Trojan War only to be murdered by his treacherous wife,...
    By Euripides and Sophocles and Aeschylus
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Oedipus the King, Second Edition
    An updated stand-alone edition of Sophocles's Oedipus the King taken from Chicago's renowned translations of the Greek tragedies. Over the years, David Grene and Richmond Lattimore's Complete Greek Tragedies have been the preferred translations of millions of readers—for personal libraries, individual study, and classroom use. Drawn from the authoritative third edition of the University of Chicago Press's classic series, this...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $2299
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Antigone. Women of Trachis. Philoctetes. Oedipus at Colonus
    Sophocles (497/6–406 BCE), with Aeschylus and Euripides, was one of the three great tragic poets of Athens and is considered one of the world's greatest poets. The subjects of his plays were drawn from mythology and legend. Each play contains at least one heroic figure, a character whose strength, courage, or intelligence exceeds the human norm—but who also has more...
    By Sophocles
    Hardback
    $5999
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Antigone
    A stand-alone edition of Sophocles's Antigone taken from Chicago's renowned translations of the Greek tragedies. Drawn from the authoritative third edition of the University of Chicago Press's Complete Greek Tragedies series, this stand-alone edition of Elizabeth Wyckoff's elegant rendition of Antigone reminds readers why it endures as one of the most widely read and admired of Sophocles's plays. Though the...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $2299
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • The Greek Tragedies
    Chicago's renowned translations of the greatest surviving plays of ancient Greece, collected into a single volume. Drawn from the authoritative third editions of David Grene and Richmond Lattimore's collections of the complete Greek tragedies, expertly updated by Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most, this collection brings together seventeen of the greatest surviving plays of ancient Greece. Combining accuracy, poetic immediacy,...
    By Aeschylus and Sophocles and Euripides
    Paperback
    $6400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Sophocles II
    Sophocles II contains the plays Ajax, translated by John Moore; The Women of Trachis, translated by Michael Jameson; Electra, translated by David Grene; Philoctetes, translated by David Grene; and The Trackers, translated by Mark Griffith. Sixty years ago, the University of Chicago Press undertook a momentous project: a new translation of the Greek tragedies that would be the ultimate resource...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $3199
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Antigone
    When her dead brother is decreed a traitor, his body left unburied beyond the city walls, Antigone refuses to accept this most severe of punishments. Defying her uncle who governs, she dares to say ‘No’. Forging ahead with a funeral alone, she places personal allegiance before politics, a tenacious act that will trigger a cycle of destruction. Renowned for the...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Oedipus the King
    Oedipus the King
    Since it was first performed in Athens in the 420s BC, Oedipus the King has been widely regarded as Sophocles' greatest tragedy and one of the foundation stones of western drama. Taken as a model by Aristotle in his Poetics, it became a yardstick for future generations. Since the play's rediscovery in the Renaissance, audiences—including Sigmund Freud—have found new interpretations...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Antigone
    Antigone
    Thebes is under attack. In a bloody battle outside the city’s gates, the sons of Oedipus fight to the death. King Creon issues an edict: Eteocles, who nobly defended Thebes against his brother and the invading army, is to be buried a hero; the body of his treacherous brother must be left to rot. Antigone and her uncle are locked...
    By Sophocles
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Arts & Culture

View all
  • Dylan's Pick
    Bold Types
    A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...
    By Jane Ussher
    Hardback
    $5999
    Elsewhere:
    $7000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Signed Copy
    New Release
    Shirl's Pick Shirl's Pick
    Home Again
    Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoir Home Again.This is more than a rock story. Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it. From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...
    By Jon Toogood
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Odyssey
    Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travellers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative....
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3599
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Iliad
    When Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017—revealing the ancient poem in a contemporary idiom that was "fresh, unpretentious and lean" (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)—critics lauded it as "a revelation" (Susan Chira, New York Times) and "a cultural landmark" (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an...
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...
    By Monique Fiso
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $5299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Birdlands Birdlands
    New Release
    Birdlands
    A rare, intimate journey into the wild islands where Aotearoa's birds live beyond the reach of most human lives. In the most remote outposts of Aotearoa, our islands are populated not with people, but with birds. From the storm-lashed Subantarctic Islands in the deep south to the scattered volcanic islands of Tikapa Moana/Hauraki Gulf in the north, Birdlands offers a...
    By Edin Whitehead
    Hardback
    $4199
    Elsewhere:
    $5000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    By Layne Staley
    Hardback
    $7299
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    I’ll Believe in Anything
    From Jacob Tierney, the creator of Heated Rivalry, in partnership with Brendan Brady and Accent Aigu, comes I’ll Believe in Anything, an official and complete collection of annotated scripts for the biggest cultural sensation of the year, with all new exclusive behind-the-scenes content.Based on Rachel Reid’s blockbuster Game Changers book series, Heated Rivalry premiered on Crave and HBO in late 2025 and immediately took the world by storm. I’ll...
    By Jacob Tierney
    Hardback
    $5499
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • They Bloom Because of You
    Bestselling author and Instagram sensation Jessica Urlichs returns with a new collection of beautifully observed poems about the ever-evolving journey of motherhood - the hard, the magic and the fleeting. ‘A raw and honest read that makes you feel seen and understood in a way that will bring you to tears.’ - Hilary Swank ‘A book to keep close and...
    By Jessica Urlichs
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Split Enz
    New Release
    Split Enz
    'My favourite band. Ever! And certainly the best dressed.' Sam Neill Split Enz were never designed to fit. Emerging from art school mischief in early-1970s New Zealand, they turned pop into surreal theatre: costume, character and melody colliding in a rock band that refused to behave like one. At the centre of that vision was Noel Crombie—percussionist, performer and the...
    By Michael Dwyer and Noel Crombie
    Hardback
    $5199
    Elsewhere:
    $6500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Starside
    Enter the enchanting and deadly world of Starside, where swords have magic and power isn’t inherited – it’s claimed, from No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Alex Aster.Hundreds of years ago, a brutal war split a land in two. Starside is the realm of magic and immortals – the descendants of the gods, living in a power-rich paradise. Stormside...
    By Alex Aster
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3899
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Did I Ever Tell You This?
    In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his...
    By Sam Neill
    Paperback
    $3799
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

Arts & Culture lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all