Antigone (Sophocles play)
Antigone ( ; ) is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 441 BC.
History of anarchism
The usage of the words "anarchia" and "anarchos", both meaning "without ruler", can be traced back to Homer's "Iliad" and Herodotus's "Histories". The first known political usage of the word "anarchy" appears in the play "Seven Against Thebes" by Aeschylus, dated at 467 BC. There, Antigone openly refuses to abide by the rulers' decree to leave her brother Polyneices' body unburied as punishment for his participation in the attack on Thebes, saying that "even if no one else is willing to share in burying him I will bury him alone and risk the peril of burying my own brother. Nor am I ashamed to act in defiant opposition to the rulers of the city (Ἒχουσα ἄπιστων τήν ἀναρχίαν πόλει; "Ekhousa apistõn tēn anarkhian polei")". Sophocles used the same theme 50 years later, in his tragedy "Antigone", where the heroin challenges the established order of Thebes, coming in direct clash with Creon, the ruler of the town.
Ancient Greece also saw the first Western instance of anarchism as a philosophical ideal mainly -but not only- by the Cynics and Stoicists. The cynic Diogenes of Sinope and Crates of Thebes are both supposed to have advocated anarchistic forms of society, although little remains of their writings. Their most significant contribution was the radical approach of "Nomos" (law) and "Physis" (nature). Contrary to the rest of Greek philosophy, aiming to blend Nomos and Physis in harmony, Cynics dismissed Nomos (and in consequence: the authorities, hierarchies, establishments and moral code of Polis) while promoting a way of life, based solely on Physis.