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| Antigone in front of the dead Polyneices by Lytras |
Ἀντιγόνη:
εἰ τὸν νεκρὸν ξὺν τῇδε κουφιεῖς χερί.
Antigone:
If you will bury his corspe with these here hands.
It seems so pathetic and yet powerful. Antigone , a very proud character, wants to bury her brother and asks her sister if she will help with her hands. Not with the task, but her hands. One can see the pain it would take these sister to bury their brother with only their hands. Bleeding, sore and torn hands hurrying to bury him before Creon discovers.
I can only imagine the gestures on that Attic stage to be grand and heart wretching.
I do not know why, but this line pulls at me so deeply. Perhaps, it something I would say in similiar situation. It is a pity that no one really talks like this, butt perhaps that it also part of what makes this beautiful.
How many of you have translated Antigone in the Ancient Greek?
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