Deinos in Antigone
In the process of "Hero-izing" the text of Antigone, we were confronted with a word—deinos—that launches the Chorus’ famous ode on man (starting at line 332): "Wonders (ta deina) are many and none more wondrous (deinoteron) than man" (334, Jebb translation). This confident statement about man's achievements shifted and became problematic once we considered that deinos means paradoxically both "wonderful" and "terrible." Read more