Editing Ismene (section)

== Mythology ==
=== Early works ===
[[File:Tydeus Ismene Louvre E640.jpg|thumb|[[Tydeus]] and Ismene, [[Corinth]]ian black-figure [[amphora]], ca. [[560s BC|560 BC]], [[Louvre]] (E 640).]]

The seventh-century BC poet [[Mimnermus]] accounts that Ismene was murdered by [[Tydeus]], one of the Seven against Thebes. In this account, Ismene and her lover [[Theoclymenus]] met outside of the city during the siege. Tydeus had been told their whereabouts by the goddess [[Athena]], and apprehended Ismene while Theoclymenus escaped. While she begged for sympathy, Tydeus was unaffected by her pleas and killed her.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Penguin dictionary of classical mythology|last=Grimal, Pierre, 1912-1996.|date=1991|publisher=Penguin Books|others=Kershaw, Stephen.|isbn=0140512357|edition=[Abridged ed.]|location=London, England|oclc=25246340}}</ref><ref name="mim">[[Mimnermus]] frag [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/mimnermus-fragments/1999/pb_LCL258.101.xml 21] [=[[Sallust]]'s preface to [[Sophocles]] ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]''.]</ref> This tradition cannot be reconciled with the events depicted in later works by Aeschylus and Sophocles, in which Ismene appears alive after the battle is over and Tydeus is dead; it is also incompatible with Ismene's later timid and meek characterization.<ref name="elec"/>

This version is mentioned in no other extant classical writing, but the scene is represented on a sixth-century BC [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] [[Black-figure pottery|black-figure]] [[amphora]] now housed in the [[Louvre]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Early Greek Poetry|last1=Easterling|first1=P. E.|last2=Knox|first2=B. M. W.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1989|isbn=0-521-35981-3|volume=1, part 1|page=95|author-link=P. E. Easterling}}</ref> The vase depicts Tydeus brandishing his sword at Ismene, who is nude and reclining on a couch, while Theoclymenus flees and looks back, not at Ismene, but at Tydeus's sword.<ref name="elec">{{cite news|url=https://electricliterature.com/did-translators-of-sophocles-silence-ismene-because-of-her-sexual-history/|title=Did Translators of Sophocles Silence Ismene Because of Her Sexual History?|last1=Salazar|first1=Fortunato|date=December 19, 2018|work=[[Electric Literature]]|access-date=December 21, 2018}}</ref>

In another tradition by early fifth-century poet [[Ion of Chios]], Eteocles's son [[Laodamas]] burned Ismene alive together with Antigone inside Hera's temple.<ref name="mim"/>

=== In Sophocles ===
[[File:Baschet, André Marcel - Ödipus verurteilt Polyneikes - 1883.jpg|thumb|upright|''Oedipus (with Ismene and Antigone) condemns Polyneikes''. Oil painting by [[Marcel Baschet]] (1883)]]

==== Oedipus Rex ====
Ismene is not named, but is seen at the end of Oedipus Rex as her father/brother laments the "shame" and "sorrow" he is leaving her and her sister. Oedipus begs [[Creon of Thebes|Creon]] to watch over them, but in his grief reaches to take them with him as he is led away. Creon prevents him from taking his daughters out of the city with him.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths|last=Thury, Devinney|first=Eva M., Margret K.|publisher=Oxford|year=2017|isbn=978-0-19-026298-3|location=New York|pages=436, 437}}</ref>

==== Oedipus at Colonus ====
Ismene appears in [[Oedipus at Colonus]] to tell her father of the situation in Thebes and the rivalry of his sons. She explains that Eteocles has taken the throne from Polynices and driven him out of the city. As a result of this, Polynices gathered his own army to either take back the city "or to die there with honor." According to the Oracle of Delphi, the location where Oedipus is buried will determine the result of the war between the brothers. Ismene tells her father that Creon plans to have him buried on the border of Thebes so that they will have the desirable outcome. Hearing this, Oedipus curses his sons and refuses to leave Colonus.

[[Greek chorus|The chorus]] (in this play the elders of Colonus) tell him that because he has walked on the sacred ground of the [[Erinyes|Eumenides]], he has to "perform rites of purification." Due to his blindness and age, Oedipus is unable to fulfill this task and asks one of his daughters to instead. Ismene agrees and exits to do so.

Later in the play, in an attempt to force Oedipus to return to [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], Creon tells him that he has seized Ismene and takes Antigone away as well. However, [[Theseus]] and the Athenians overpower them and exit to free the girls.

Ismene appears again at the end of the play with her sister as they mourn the death of their father and lament that they cannot join him. Theseus tells them that Oedipus has been buried but the location is secret and he has forbidden that they be told of it. Antigone resolves to return to Thebes, and Ismene goes with her.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Theban plays : Oedipus the king, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone|last=Sophocles.|date=2009|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|others=Fainlight, Ruth., Littman, Robert J., 1943-|isbn=9780801895418|location=Baltimore|oclc=608624785}}</ref>

==== Antigone ====
In the opening scene of the play Antigone tells Ismene of her plans to bury their brother Polynices, and asks her to join her. While Ismene laments the fate of Polynices' corpse, she refuses to defy the laws of the city. She advises her sister to be secretive if she is determined to take this course of action, and says she will do the same. Antigone, however, tells her not to keep silent but to tell everyone in the city. Ismene does not stop her sister, but makes her opinion of her foolishness clear.

Once Antigone is caught, in spite of her betrothal to his son [[Haemon]], Creon decrees that she is to be buried alive. Ismene then declares that she has aided Antigone and wants to share her fate, though she did not participate in the crime. Antigone refuses to let her be martyred for a cause she did not stand up for, telling her to live. Antigone expresses that while Ismene's "choices seemed right to some--others agreed with [hers]," but Ismene tells her that the both of them were "equally wrong."<ref name=":0" />

=== Seven Against Thebes ===
Aeschylus' play, ''Seven Against Thebes'', depicts the war and demise of Eteocles and Polynices. At the end of the play the Chorus narrates Ismene and Antigone entering to sing a funeral [[dirge]] together for both of their brothers. While Antigone exits with the First Semichorus, escorting the body of Polynices, Ismene and the Second Semichorus exit with the body of Eteocles.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Persians and other plays|last=Aeschylus.|date=2009|publisher=Penguin|others=Sommerstein, Alan H.|isbn=9780140449990|location=London|oclc=434561936}}</ref>