brother, even though he is already dead, and there's nothing she can do to save him. Part of the reason for this is her faith in the gods and in the ancient traditions of her people, but Antigone also chooses to bury him, in spite of the risk, because of the intensity of her love for him and the depth of her grief. Though Antigone does not turn to stone because of this love, she ends up dying because of it.

The reference to Niobe underscores Antigone's pride. Niobe was a figure in Greek mythology who was the queen of Thebes. Daughter of a a goddess, Niobe objected when the citizens of Thebes were celebrating a festival in honor of Latona, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, saying that she herself was the mother of seven times as many children with seven sons and seven daughters. Even if she lost some, she would still have more than Latona. Niobe believed she was more worthy of worship than Latona. Outraged, Latona, who considered herself second only to Hera, complained to her son and daughter, who quickly began to punish Niobe by killing her children. As one by one they all died, Niobe was grief-stricken and begged them to allow the youngest to survive, but her request was denied. She lost them all, and as she sat among her dead offspring, she turned to stone, but her tears continued to flow.

Antigone compares herself to Niobe as a gesture of her helplessness; events beyond her control are happening, and she seeks sympathy. Even so, she resembles Niobe because of her hubris; she believes that she alone can save her brother's soul. Only she can defy Creon's decree.

As she goes to her death, Sophocles's Antigone laments,

Nay, but the piteous tale I've heard men tell
Of Tantalus' doomed child [Niobe],
Chained upon Siphylus' high rocky fell,
That clung like ivy wild,
Drenched by the pelting rain and whirling snow,
Left there to pine,
While on her frozen breast the tears aye flow—
Her fate is mine.

There are several points of comparison between Niobe and Antigone. As Antigone mentions, Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus. This means that not only did she endure a terrible fate herself, but she was from a doomed family, just as Antigone is. Niobe was turned to stone, whereas Antigone is to be immured in a stone tomb, but perhaps the latter fate is even more horrifying.

Since Niobe was punished for boasting about her children, one might argue that she, like Antigone, was punished for loyalty to her family. In any case, Niobe lost her children as Antigone lost her brothers and went to a lonely death.

Niobe was a popular subject in Greek tragedy. Both Aeschylus and Sophocles himself wrote plays about her, though only a few fragments of the Aeschylus play survive and none of the Sophocles play remains. Although Tantulus is described as the king of various places in different sources, Aeschylus's play about Niobe was set in Thebes, like Antigone.

The fact that so few Greek plays have survived means that there are very likely aspects of references such as Antigone's to Niobe which would have been clear to contemporary audiences but have now been lost.