Becoming Sisters: Antigone and Argia in Statius’ Thebaid

What is it about?

The "Thebaid" offers two sets of mortal sisters to counterbalance the doomed brothers Eteocles and Polynices, Antigone and Ismene at Thebes, and Argia and Deipyle at Argos. Leaving their respective pairs, Antigone and Argia come together in the poem's final book in order to mourn and bury their beloved Polynices, a scene carefully prepared in the course of the epic by means of the heroines' modelling on Homeric sisters-in-law Andromache and Helen. The use of common models and their sister-like similarities turn Antigone and Argia momentarily into actual sisters who recall earlier epic and tragic heroines not only in their unanimity but also in their competitive rivalry, a trait these mythical representatives of the bond also share with Roman sisters-in-law.

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