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Antigone

by Sophocles
B1 · CEFR 30 days ~10 min / day pages original
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Greek Tragedy
Antigone
Sophocles
Read it in
🇬🇧English 🇫🇷French 🇪🇸Spanish 🇩🇪German 🇮🇹Italian 🇵🇹Portuguese 🇳🇱Dutch
Same book · seven languages
About this book

Twenty-five days with Antigone.

Two brothers have killed each other in a civil war. Their uncle Creon, now king of Thebes, decrees that one brother — the rebel — must lie unburied outside the city walls, food for dogs and birds. Anyone who tries to bury him will be put to death. Their sister Antigone goes out at night with a handful of dirt anyway.

Sophocles's Antigone, first staged in Athens around 441 BCE, is the play philosophers keep going back to. It is the original argument between civil law and what some call divine law, conscience, or simple human duty to the dead. Creon and Antigone both believe they are right. The play does not say either of them is wrong. Then it kills almost all of them by the final scene.

Storica adapts the Greek tragedy into twenty-five chapters of B1 prose — preserving the play's structure of dialogue, choral commentary, and slow accumulation of doom. Each daily passage ends with a writing prompt that asks where you stand. There is no neutral place in this story.

Why B1

Why this book at B1.

Sophocles wrote Antigone as a stage play, not a poem. Adapted to B1, it stays close to that origin: short scenes, dialogue between two or three characters at a time, and the Chorus weighing in. This is the structure that makes B1 readers actually fluent — back-and-forth conversation, motive, conflict. You're not memorising vocabulary, you're following an argument.

The cast

Who you'll meet.

Antigone
a young woman who buries her brother against the king's law; explains why in two of the most quoted speeches of Greek theatre
Creon
her uncle, the new king of Thebes; believes the city's law must outweigh family obligation; the play turns on whether he is right
Ismene
Antigone's sister, who refuses to join her at first and then tries to take the blame later
Haemon
Creon's son, engaged to Antigone; tries to argue with his father across one increasingly tense scene
Tiresias
the blind prophet, brought in late, who tells Creon what he refuses to hear
The Chorus
a group of Theban elders who narrate, reflect, and refuse to take a side
Words you'll meet

Vocabulary themes.

Law and authority
the law, the king, the decree, the power, the disobedience, to forbid
Burial and the dead
the tomb, the funeral, the body, the gods, the soul, unburied
Family and sister
the sister, the brother, the family, the blood, the promise, alone
Justice and conscience
justice, conscience, right, wrong, to choose, to obey
Tragedy and fate
the fate, the ruin, the pride, too late, the prophecy, the curse
What you'll practise

At B1, you read for real grammar.

Intermediate. You read narrative past tense fluently, handle dialogue, and understand short novellas. Vocabulary around 3,000 words. Subordinate clauses no longer slow you down.

Narrative past tenseConditionalPresent perfectVocabulary ~3,000 wordsSubordinate clauses
How a day works

Read a passage. Write back.

01
Read
~5 minutes. The day's passage from Antigone, adapted to your level. Tap any word to look it up — the rest stays in the language you're learning.
02
Notice
A single hook waits at the end of the passage — a question only you can answer about what you just read.
03
Write back
80–120 words in your target language. Storica catches the grammar so you can focus on the idea. Your reply joins your journal in this language.
Common questions

Reading Antigone, step by step.

Can I read Antigone in any language on Storica? +

Yes — every book in the Storica catalog is available in all seven supported languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, and English. Antigone was originally written in Ancient Greek, but you choose your reading language when you start.

What CEFR level is Antigone on Storica? +

B1. Intermediate. You read narrative past tense fluently, handle dialogue, and understand short novellas. Vocabulary around 3,000 words. Subordinate clauses no longer slow you down.

How long does it take to finish Antigone? +

About one month at fifteen minutes a day. The adaptation runs to 25 short chapters — short enough to read before bed, long enough to actually move your level.

Do I need to have read the original Antigone first? +

No. Storica's adaptation is the version you read. We keep the characters, plot beats, and tone of the original — and rewrite the language to fit the level. If you've read the original before, you'll recognise the story; if you haven't, the adaptation is a complete reading of the book.

What if I miss a day? +

Pick up where you left off. There are no streaks, no penalties, and no notifications begging you back. Day 12 is still Day 12 a week later.

Is Antigone suitable for absolute beginners? +

Antigone is rated B1, so we'd suggest starting with one of our A0 or A1 books first if you're brand-new to your target language. Check our shelf at /library/ — the readers there are short, gentle, and built specifically for week one.

Start Antigone tomorrow.

Your first 30-day book is free. No card. No streak. Just a passage every morning.

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