Antigone and Ismene's family has suffered great tragedy. Their father, Oedipus, gouged out his own eyes and was exiled from Thebes. Their mother, Jocasta, took her own life after discovering the truth about her relationship with Oedipus. Their two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, fought against each other in a civil war and killed each other. This is revealed in the opening lines of the play when the Chorus describes the curse that has befallen the house of Oedipus: "Oedipus, once king, now dead, he was a mighty king! How often he saved Thebes from the enemy. Then he was taken in incest by his mother wife! Out of this union crazed children came!... They fell in bitter conflict, each against the other, father, son, brother, slaying brother, shedding kindred blood. And now these maidens, both of one mother, lie here dead, ripped from one another, caught in a common ruin of death."
