Yu-Yen Chang∗

The Greek term “κάκη ” complicates various meanings and concepts—evil, deformity, disaster, trouble, disease, curse and so on—all of which fashion the key issues elaborated in Sophocles ’ two tragedies Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone. In a nutshell, the semantic stretch of κάκη amounts to a reflection on the motif of “σχολῇ κακοῦ. ” Through analyzing the semantic complexities of the word “κάκη, ” the first section of this paper is to explore the vertical linkage among drama, medicine, politics, and religion. The second section, concentrating on the chiasmic interconnectedness between prophets and profits, will cast light on how the theme of evils is correlated to the context of the fifth-century economic prosperity