The Relationship between Autocracy and Freedom in a Political Myth: Sophocles' Antigone

The political thought of the ancient Greeks is rooted in the myths of Greek civilization. It was due to changes in the society of Greece, especially in Athens, that Greek philosophers shifted from myth to rationalism. In some Greek city-states, aristocracy became democracy and in some other city-states, dictatorship replaced it. Due to these developments, all myths, especially the myths related to politics, made a fundamental change and the tragedy of political myth was created in the form of political theater. Antigone, as a political myth and one of the most important tragedies, shows the battle between freedom and autocracy; it explains the tragic results of autocracy on the city-state, the people and the ruler. By using descriptive-analytic method, the present article attempts to study this battle based on the political and social changes of the city-state of Athens and the Greek world.