In Greek mythology, Ismene is a Theban princess. She is the daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, king of Thebes, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices. She appears in several tragic plays of Sophocles: at the end of Oedipus Rex, in Oedipus at Colonus and in Antigone. She also appears at the end of Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes.
Antigone and Ismene by Emil Teschendorff (1892).
Oedipus (with Ismene and Antigone) condemns Polyneikes. Oil painting by Marcel Baschet (1883)
Tydeus and Ismene, Corinthian black-figure amphora, ca. 560 BC, Louvre (E 640)
Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family.
Oedipus and the Sphinx by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Oedipus slaying the sphinx
Detail of ancient fresco in which Oedipus solves the riddle of the Sphinx. Egyptian Museum, 2nd c. CE
Oedipus at Colonus