Introduction: Reassessing Sophocles’ Final Vision

Professor Andreas Markantonatos’ annotated edition of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus constitutes a landmark contribution to contemporary classical scholarship. It offers a fresh, comprehensive approach to one of the most complex and spiritually charged texts in Greek tragedy. Combining philological precision, literary interpretation, and cultural insight, the edition not only clarifies Sophocles’ language and dramatic technique but also redefines the intellectual and ethical scope of the play. While many editions of Oedipus at Colonus focus narrowly on textual or linguistic aspects, Markantonatos situates the drama within a wider philosophical and civic context. His work reflects a deliberate effort to bridge classical philology with modern interpretive methodologies—narratology, performance theory, and cultural anthropology—to illuminate Sophocles’ engagement with themes of justice, sanctity, and human transformation. In doing so, this volume repositions Oedipus at Colonus as a key document of late fifth-century Athenian thought, one that fuses poetry, theology, and civic identity in a vision of redemptive humanism.