Antigone: Divine Law versus Human LawPerhaps the most important theme in Sophocles' "Antigone" is the concept of divine law versus human law. In the story, the two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, killed each other in battle. The new king Creon, who came to the throne after the death of Eteocles, decrees that because Polyneices committed treason against the king, he will not be buried, but "he will be left unburied for all to see. The corpse mutilated and eaten by carrion birds.” and by dogs” (Sophocles). Therein lies the dilemma; In Greek culture, the spirit of a body that is not buried at sunset on the day of its death cannot find rest but is condemned to roam the earth. This is the crux of the theme, the conflict between the law of King Creon and the law of the gods. In fact, according to Greek belief, Creon was ordained by the gods to be king, and so shouldn't his law also be their law? This is the obstacle that Antigone must face; must she respect Creon's law and let her brother rot, under penalty of death? Or should she ignore Creon's edict, follow the law of the gods and bury her brother? Creon is Jocasta's brother, and therefore the next in line to become king after Etocles' death in battle. The king is believed to be the chosen one of the gods and to rule in their place. Why then would the king try to punish Polyneices after his death and so blatantly violate the rules of the gods? However, Creon is the king, and the penalty for disobeying his law is very real and very brutal, death. On the other side of the argument, the law of the gods rules over everything, even the king. The punishment for breaking divine law is not death but, according to the Greeks, something much more eternal. Since the will of the gods is for Creon to be king, should they not then want Polyneices to be punished? Perhaps not, because the Greek gods are very different from the God of modern religions. The Greek gods were neither omnipotent nor omniscient, they had their own human flaws, and they were not ordained in advance. In fact, they spent much of their time bickering. Another question is whether Creon ever thought or realized that he was breaking a divine edict with his decree to punish Polyneices..