Haemon- Greek FigureMortal"Prince of Thebes"
Also known as: Αἵμων, Haimōn, and Haimon
Titles & Epithets
Description
Torn between love and filial duty, Haemon pleaded with his father Creon to spare Antigone's life — then drove his sword into himself when he found her hanging in her sealed tomb.
Mythology & Lore
The Death of Haemon
In Sophocles' Antigone, Haemon first appears to confront his father Creon after learning of Antigone's death sentence. He initially professes loyalty, but when Creon proves immovable, Haemon argues that the entire city of Thebes sympathizes with Antigone and that stubborn inflexibility will destroy his father. The confrontation ends with Haemon storming out, warning that Antigone's death will bring another death with it.
When Creon finally relents, moved by the prophet Tiresias's warning of divine wrath, he arrives at the sealed tomb too late. Antigone has hanged herself. Haemon, finding her body, lunges at his father with a sword, misses, then turns the blade on himself. He dies embracing Antigone's corpse. The messenger who reports the scene describes it as a marriage consummated in the house of Death. When Eurydice, Creon's wife and Haemon's mother, learns of her son's death, she too takes her own life. Creon is left utterly alone.