Kreon, the king of Thebes, has decreed that his nephew, the rebel soldier Polynices, will lie where he died in battle, as food for the birds and dogs. But Polynices' sister Antigone gives him a proper burial, even knowing that Kreon's penalty is death by stoning. Kreon's son Hamon, who is engaged in marriage to Antigone, pleads for her life, but is rebuffed by his father, and Hamon renounces him. The fortune-teller Tiresias warns Kreon that his son will die by the end of the day — dead for the dead — and the Chorus persuades the shaken Kreon to relent and save Antigone. But it is too late. Both Antigone and Hamon have killed themselves.
