Sophocles ( c. 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least one play has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides . Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax , Antigone , Women of Trachis , Oedipus Rex , Electra , Philoctetes , and Oedipus at Colonus . For almost fifty years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens , which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia . He competed in thirty competitions, won twenty-four, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won thirteen competitions and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles; Euripides won four.
94-456: The most famous tragedies of Sophocles feature Oedipus and Antigone : they are generally known as the Theban plays , though each was part of a different tetralogy (the other members of which are now lost). Sophocles influenced the development of drama , most importantly by adding a third actor (attributed to Sophocles by Aristotle; to Aeschylus by Themistius), thereby reducing the importance of
188-417: A chariot driven by his birth-father, King Laius . They fought over who had the right to go first and Oedipus killed Laius when the charioteer tried to run him over. The only witness of the king's death was a slave who fled from a caravan of slaves also traveling on the road at the time. Continuing his journey to Thebes , Oedipus encountered a Sphinx , who would stop all travelers to Thebes and ask them
282-712: A boy outside the city walls for sex; and that the boy snatched Sophocles' cloak (χλανίς, khlanis ), leaving his own child-sized robe ("παιδικὸν ἱμάτιον ") for Sophocles. Moreover, when Euripides heard about this (it was much discussed), he mocked the disdainful treatment, saying that he had himself had sex with the boy, "but had not given him anything more than his usual fee" ("ἀλλὰ μηδὲν προσθεῖναι"), or, "but that nothing had been taken off" ("ἀλλὰ μηδὲν προεθῆναι"). In response, Sophocles composed this elegy: Ἥλιος ἦν , οὐ παῖς, Εὐριπίδη, ὅς με χλιαίνων γυμνὸν ἐποίησεν· σοὶ δὲ φιλοῦντι † ἑταίραν † Βορρᾶς ὡμίλησε. σὺ δ᾿ οὐ σοφός, ὃς τὸν Ἔρωτα, ἀλλοτρίαν σπείρων, λωποδύτην ἀπάγεις. It
376-731: A breath. Another account suggests he choked while eating grapes at the Anthesteria festival in Athens. A third holds that he died of happiness after winning his final victory at the City Dionysia. A few months later, a comic poet, in a play titled The Muses , wrote this eulogy: "Blessed is Sophocles, who had a long life, was a man both happy and talented, and the writer of many good tragedies; and he ended his life well without suffering any misfortune." According to some accounts, however, his own sons tried to have him declared incompetent near
470-512: A feud: Laius ordered Oedipus out of the road so his chariot could pass, but proud Oedipus refused to move. Second, in the play Jocasta has not killed herself at the discovery of her incest – otherwise, she could not play the prologue, for fathomable reasons – nor has Oedipus fled into exile, but they have stayed in Thebes only to delay their doom until the fatal duel of their sons/brothers/nephews Eteocles and Polynices : Jocasta commits suicide over
564-426: A messenger arrived from Corinth with the news that King Polybus had died. Oedipus was relieved, for the prophecy could no longer be fulfilled if Polybus, whom he believed to be his birth father, was now dead. Still, he knew that his mother was still alive and refused to attend the funeral at Corinth . To ease the tension, the messenger then said that Oedipus was, in fact, adopted. Jocasta, finally realizing that he
658-419: A riddle. If the travelers were unable to answer her correctly, they would be killed and eaten; if they were successful, they would be free to continue on their journey. The riddle was: "What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?". Oedipus answered: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a 'walking' stick". Oedipus
752-559: A single cover; but Sophocles wrote them for separate festival competitions , many years apart. The Theban plays are not a proper trilogy (i.e. three plays presented as a continuous narrative), nor an intentional series; they contain inconsistencies. Sophocles also wrote other plays pertaining to Thebes, such as the Epigoni , but only fragments have survived. The three plays involve the tale of Oedipus , who kills his father and marries his mother, not knowing they are his parents. His family
846-561: A son against Apollo's command. At some point in the action of the play, a character engaged in a lengthy and detailed description of the Sphinx and her riddle – preserved in five fragments from Oxyrhynchus , P.Oxy. 2459 (published by Eric Gardner Turner in 1962). The tragedy also featured many moral maxims on the theme of marriage, preserved in the Anthologion of Stobaeus . The most striking lines, however, state that in this play Oedipus
940-428: A terrible abomination and that the plague will only be lifted when the true murderer of old King Laius is discovered and punished for his crime. Oedipus swears to do this, not realizing that he is himself the culprit. The stark truth emerges slowly over the course of the play, as Oedipus clashes with the blind seer Tiresias , who senses the truth. Oedipus remains in strict denial, though, becoming convinced that Tiresias
1034-565: A way that was more natural to them and more expressive of their individual character feelings. Oedipus Oedipus ( UK : / ˈ iː d ɪ p ə s / , also US : / ˈ ɛ d ə -/ ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") 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. The story of Oedipus
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#17327652195271128-582: Is a passage of Plutarch 's tract De Profectibus in Virtute 7 in which Sophocles discusses his own growth as a writer. A likely source of this material for Plutarch was the Epidemiae of Ion of Chios, a book that recorded many conversations of Sophocles; but a Hellenistic dialogue about tragedy, in which Sophocles appeared as a character, is also plausible. The former is a likely candidate to have contained Sophocles' discourse on his own development because Ion
1222-523: Is adopted). Oedipus meets a man at a crossroads accompanied by servants; Oedipus and the man fight, and Oedipus kills the man (who was his father, Laius, although neither knew at the time). He becomes the ruler of Thebes after solving the riddle of the Sphinx and in the process, marries the widowed queen, his mother Jocasta. Thus the stage is set for horror. When the truth comes out, following from another true but confusing prophecy from Delphi, Jocasta commits suicide, Oedipus blinds himself and leaves Thebes. At
1316-438: Is also instructed to look after Oedipus' daughters Antigone and Ismene at the end of Oedipus Rex . By contrast, in the other plays there is some struggle with Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polynices in regard to the succession. In Oedipus at Colonus , Sophocles attempts to work these inconsistencies into a coherent whole: Ismene explains that, in light of their tainted family lineage, her brothers were at first willing to cede
1410-507: Is also largely unknown how the plays were grouped. It is, however, known that the three plays referred to in the modern era as the "Theban plays" were never performed together in Sophocles' own lifetime, and are therefore not a trilogy (which they are sometimes erroneously seen as). Fragments of Ichneutae ( Tracking Satyrs ) were discovered in Egypt in 1907. These amount to about half of
1504-653: Is cursed for three generations. In Oedipus Rex , Oedipus is the protagonist . His infanticide is planned by his parents, Laius and Jocasta, to prevent him fulfilling a prophecy; but the servant entrusted with the infanticide passes the infant on, through a series of intermediaries, to a childless couple, who adopt him, not knowing his history. Oedipus eventually learns of the Delphic Oracle 's prophecy of him, that he would kill his father, and marry his mother; he attempts to flee his fate without harming those he knows as his parents (at this point, he does not know that he
1598-467: Is defined as a male child's unconscious desire for the exclusive love of his mother. This desire includes jealousy towards the father and the unconscious wish for that parent's death, as well as the unconscious desire for sexual intercourse with the mother. Oedipus himself, as portrayed in the myth, did not have this neurosis – at least, not towards Jocasta, whom he only met as an adult (if anything, such feelings would have been directed at Merope – but there
1692-435: Is marked by "Aeschylean pomp in the language". Sophocles' second stage was entirely his own. He introduced new ways of evoking feeling out of an audience, as in his Ajax , when Ajax is mocked by Athene, then the stage is emptied so that he may commit suicide alone. Sophocles mentions a third stage, distinct from the other two, in his discussion of his development. The third stage pays more heed to diction. His characters spoke in
1786-482: Is no hint of that). Freud reasoned that the ancient Greek audience, which heard the story told or saw the plays based on it, did know that Oedipus was actually killing his father and marrying his mother; the story being continually told and played therefore reflected a preoccupation with the theme. Iophon Iophon ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἰοφῶν , fl. 428 BC – 405 BC) was a Greek tragic poet , son of Sophocles , and brother to Ariston . Iophon gained
1880-447: Is persuaded to free Antigone from her punishment, but his decision comes too late and Antigone commits suicide. Her suicide triggers the suicide of two others close to King Creon: his son, Haemon, who was to wed Antigone, and his wife, Eurydice, who commits suicide after losing her only surviving son. The plays were written across thirty-six years of Sophocles' career and were not composed in chronological order, but instead were written in
1974-515: Is put in a middle period. Most of Sophocles' plays show an undercurrent of early fatalism , and the beginnings of Socratic logic as a mainstay for the long tradition of Greek tragedy. The Theban plays comprise three plays: Oedipus Rex (also called Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus the King ), Oedipus at Colonus , and Antigone . All three concern the fate of Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus . They have often been published under
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#17327652195272068-404: Is said that Theseus took care of Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone . Creon eventually catches up to Oedipus. He asks Oedipus to come back from Colonus to bless his son, Eteocles. Angry that his son did not love him enough to take care of him, he curses both Eteocles and his brother, condemning them both to kill each other in battle. Oedipus dies a peaceful death; his grave is said to be sacred to
2162-456: Is said that Iophon accused his father before the court of the phratores of being incapable of managing his affairs, so that he might gain the guardianship of his father's fortune. Sophocles replied to this charge by reading the chorus of the Oedipus at Colonus (688 ff.), which he was currently writing. The piece so proved that he was still in possession of all his mental faculties that he
2256-553: Is somehow plotting with Creon to usurp the throne. Realization begins to slowly dawn in Scene II of the play when Jocasta mentions out of hand that Laius was slain at a place where three roads meet. This stirs something in Oedipus's memory and he suddenly remembers the men he fought and killed one day long ago at a place where three roads met. He realizes, horrified, that he might be the man he's seeking. One household servant survived
2350-407: Is the subject of Sophocles ' tragedy Oedipus Rex , which is followed in the narrative sequence by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone . Together, these plays make up Sophocles' three Theban plays . Oedipus represents two enduring themes of Greek myth and drama: the flawed nature of humanity and an individual's role in the course of destiny in a harsh universe. In the best-known version of
2444-473: Is unclear, but 497/6 is most likely. He was born into a wealthy family (his father was an armour manufacturer) and was highly educated. His first artistic triumph was in 468 BC, when he took first prize in the Dionysia , beating the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus . According to Plutarch , the victory came under unusual circumstances: instead of following the usual custom of choosing judges by lot,
2538-403: The Epigoni , of which only fragments have survived. As Sophocles ' Oedipus Rex begins, the people of Thebes are begging the king for help, begging him to discover the cause of the plague. Oedipus stands before them and swears to find the root of their suffering and to end it. Just then, Creon returns to Thebes from a visit to the oracle. Apollo has made it known that Thebes is harboring
2632-629: The Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus and the Phoenician Women by Euripides ). The two brothers killed each other in battle. King Creon , who ascended to the throne of Thebes, decreed that Polynices was not to be buried. Antigone , Polynices' sister, defied the order but was caught. Creon decreed that she was to be put into a stone box in the ground, this in spite of her betrothal to his son Haemon . Antigone's sister, Ismene , then declared she had aided Antigone and wanted
2726-684: The Peloponnesian War . Sophocles died at the age of 90 or 91 in the winter of 406/5 BC, having seen, within his lifetime, both the Greek triumph in the Persian Wars and the bloodletting of the Peloponnesian War. As with many famous men in classical antiquity, his death inspired a number of apocryphal stories. One claimed that he died from the strain of trying to recite a long sentence from his Antigone without pausing to take
2820-562: The Renaissance . It was adapted by John Dryden in his very successful heroic drama Oedipus , licensed in 1678. The 1718 Oedipus was also the first play written by Voltaire . A version of Oedipus by Frank McGuinness was performed at the National Theatre in late 2008, starring Ralph Fiennes and Claire Higgins . In the late 1960s Ola Rotimi published a novel and play, The Gods Are Not to Blame , which retell
2914-512: The Trojan War without Philoctetes' bow, the Greeks send Odysseus and Neoptolemus to retrieve him; due to the Greeks' earlier treachery, however, Philoctetes refuses to rejoin the army. It is only Heracles' deus ex machina appearance that persuades Philoctetes to go to Troy. Although more than 120 titles of plays associated with Sophocles are known and presented below, little is known of
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3008-427: The archon asked Cimon , and the other strategoi present, to decide the victor of the contest. Plutarch further contends that, following this loss, Aeschylus soon left for Sicily. Though Plutarch says that this was Sophocles' first production, it is now thought that his first production was probably in 470 BC. Triptolemus was perhaps one of the plays that Sophocles presented at this festival. In 480 BC, Sophocles
3102-517: The chorus in the presentation of the plot . He also developed his characters to a greater extent than earlier playwrights. Sophocles, the son of Sophillus, was a wealthy member of the rural deme (small community) of Hippeios Colonus in Attica , which was to become a setting for one of his plays; and he was probably born there, a few years before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the exact year
3196-457: The Oedipus myth happening in the Yoruba kingdom . In 2011, U.S. writer David Guterson published his Oedipus-inspired novel "Ed King". In folkloristics , the myth of Oedipus is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 931, "Oedipus". Sigmund Freud used the name " the Oedipus complex " to explain the origin of certain neuroses in childhood. It
3290-520: The addition of a third actor, which further reduced the role of the chorus , and increased opportunities for development and conflict. Aeschylus, who dominated Athenian playwriting during Sophocles' early career, adopted the third actor into his own work. Besides the third actor, Aristotle credits Sophocles with the introduction of skenographia , or scenery-painting; but this too is attributed elsewhere to someone else (by Vitruvius, to Agatharchus of Samos ). After Aeschylus died, in 456 BC, Sophocles became
3384-408: The attack and now lives out his old age in a frontier district of Thebes. Oedipus sends immediately for the man to either confirm or deny his guilt. At the very worst, though, he expects to find himself to be the unsuspecting murderer of a man unknown to him. The truth has not yet been made clear. The moment of epiphany comes late in the play. At the beginning of Scene III, Oedipus is still waiting for
3478-546: The body of his deceased fiancée but failing to kill Creon he killed himself. When Creon's wife, Eurydice , was informed of the death of Haemon , she too took her own life. At the beginning of Euripides ' Phoenissae , Jocasta recalls the story of Oedipus. Generally, the play weaves together the plots of the Seven Against Thebes and Antigone . The play differs from the other tales in two major respects. First, it describes in detail why Laius and Oedipus had
3572-407: The boy to a servant to abandon ("expose") on the nearby mountain. However, rather than leave the child to die of exposure, as Laius intended, the servant passed the baby on to a shepherd from Corinth , who then gave the child to another shepherd. The infant Oedipus was eventually adopted by Polybus and Merope, the king and queen of Corinth, as they were without children of their own. Little Oedipus
3666-462: The dead king – and the hand in marriage of the king's widow, who was also (unbeknownst to him) his mother Jocasta. Years later, to end a plague on Thebes, Oedipus searched to find who had killed Laius and discovered that he himself was responsible. Jocasta, upon realizing that she had married her own son, hanged herself. Oedipus then seized two pins from her dress and blinded himself with them. The legend of Oedipus has been retold in many versions and
3760-423: The elder Xenocles . The Bibliotheca , a Roman-era mythological handbook, includes a riddle for the Sphinx, borrowing the poetry of Hesiod : What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed? Due to the popularity of Sophocles's Antigone (c. 442 BC), the ending (lines 1005–78) of Seven against Thebes was added some fifty years after Aeschylus' death. Whereas
3854-414: The end of his life, and he refuted their charge in court by reading from his new Oedipus at Colonus . One of his sons, Iophon , and a grandson, also named Sophocles (son of Ariston ), also became playwrights. A very ancient source, Athenaeus 's work Sophists at Dinner , contains references to Sophocles' sexuality. In that work, a character named Myrtilus claims that Sophocles "was partial to boys, in
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3948-460: The end of the battle, the brothers killed each other, after which Jocasta's brother, Creon, took the throne. He decided that Polynices was a "traitor", and should not be given burial rites. Defying this edict, Antigone attempted to bury her brother. In Sophocles' Antigone , Creon had her buried in a rock cavern for defying him, whereupon she hanged herself. However, in Euripides' lost version of
4042-618: The end of the play, order is restored. This restoration is seen when Creon, brother of Jocasta, becomes king, and also when Oedipus, before going off to exile, asks Creon to take care of his children. Oedipus's children will always bear the weight of shame and humiliation because of their father's actions. In Oedipus at Colonus , the banished Oedipus and his daughter Antigone arrive at the town of Colonus , where they encounter Theseus , King of Athens . Oedipus dies and strife begins between his sons Polyneices and Eteocles . They fight, and simultaneously run each other through. In Antigone ,
4136-598: The fate of the City of Thebes , during and after the reign of King Oedipus, and have often been published under a single cover. Originally, Sophocles had written the plays for three separate festival competitions , many years apart. Not only are the Theban plays not a true trilogy (three plays presented as a continuous narrative), they are not even an intentional series and contain some inconsistencies among them. Sophocles also wrote other plays focused on Thebes, most notably
4230-534: The finances of the city during the political ascendancy of Pericles. In 441 BC, according to the Vita Sophoclis , he was elected one of the ten generals, executive officials at Athens, as a junior colleague of Pericles; and he served in the Athenian campaign against Samos . He was supposed to have been elected to this position due to his production of Antigone , but this is "most improbable". In 420 BC, he
4324-622: The full the bigness of Aeschylus, then the painful ingenuity of my own invention, now in the third stage I am changing to the kind of diction which is most expressive of character and best." Here Sophocles says that he has completed a stage of Aeschylus' work, meaning that he went through a phase of imitating Aeschylus' style but is finished with that. Sophocles' opinion of Aeschylus was mixed. He certainly respected him enough to imitate his work early on in his career, but he had reservations about Aeschylus' style, and thus did not keep his imitation up. Sophocles' first stage, in which he imitated Aeschylus,
4418-412: The gods. In Sophocles' Antigone , when Oedipus stepped down as king of Thebes, he gave the kingdom to his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices , both of whom agreed to alternate the throne every year. However, they showed no concern for their father, who cursed them for their negligence. After the first year, Eteocles refused to step down and Polynices attacked Thebes with his supporters (as portrayed in
4512-419: The herdsman, Oedipus learned that the infant who was raised as the adopted son of Polybus and Merope, was the son of Laius and Jocasta. Thus, Oedipus finally realized that the man he had killed so many years before was his father and that he had married his mother. Events after the revelation depend on the source. In Sophocles ' plays, Oedipus went in search of Jocasta and found she had killed herself . Using
4606-480: The highest achievement in tragedy . Only two of the seven surviving plays can be dated securely: Philoctetes to 409 BC, and Oedipus at Colonus to 401 BC (staged after his death, by his grandson). Of the others, Electra shows stylistic similarities to these two, suggesting that it was probably written in the later part of his career; Ajax , Antigone , and The Trachiniae , are generally thought early, again based on stylistic elements; and Oedipus Rex
4700-556: The honor in youthful contests and the brunt of war, a scion of aid to the house of Adrastos. In 467 BC, the Athenian playwright, Aeschylus , most notably wrote a trilogy based on the myth of Oedipus, winning him the first prize at the City Dionysia . Of the plays, Laius was the first, Oedipus was second , and Seven Against Thebes was the third play and the only one to have survived. In Seven Against Thebes , Oedipus's sons Eteocles and Polynices kill each other warring over
4794-410: The killer, and the fact that Oedipus was living in shame because he did not know who his true parents were. Oedipus angrily blamed Creon for the false accusations, and the two argued. Jocasta entered and tried to calm Oedipus by telling him the story of her first-born son and his supposed death. Oedipus became nervous as he realized that he may have murdered Laius and so brought about the plague. Suddenly,
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#17327652195274888-498: The kings Menelaus and Agamemnon to grant Ajax a proper burial. The Women of Trachis (named for the Trachinian women who make up the chorus) dramatizes Deianeira 's accidentally killing Heracles after he had completed his famous twelve labors. Tricked into thinking it is a love charm, Deianeira applies poison to an article of Heracles' clothing; this poisoned robe causes Heracles to die an excruciating death. Upon learning
4982-437: The messenger knows that it is not true. He is the man who found Oedipus as a baby in the pass of Cithaeron and gave him to King Polybus to raise. He reveals, furthermore that the servant who is being brought to the city as they speak is the very same man who took Oedipus up into the mountains as a baby. Jocasta realizes now all that has happened. She begs Oedipus not to pursue the matter further. He refuses, and she withdraws into
5076-399: The murderer of King Laius must be brought to justice, and Oedipus himself cursed the killer of his wife's late husband, saying that he would be exiled. Creon also suggested that they try to find the blind prophet Tiresias , who was widely respected. Oedipus sent for Tiresias, who warned him not to seek Laius' killer. In a heated exchange, Tiresias was provoked into exposing Oedipus himself as
5170-509: The myth, Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. Laius wished to thwart the prophecy, so he sent a shepherd-servant to leave Oedipus to die on a mountainside. However, the shepherd took pity on the baby and passed him to another shepherd who gave Oedipus to King Polybus and Queen Merope to raise as their own. Oedipus learned from the oracle at Delphi of the prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother but, unaware of his true parentage, believed he
5264-399: The myth, including Homer , state that Oedipus continued to rule Thebes after the revelations and after Jocasta's death. Oedipus's two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, arranged to share the kingdom, each taking an alternating one-year reign. However, Eteocles refused to cede his throne after his year as king. Polynices brought in an army to oust Eteocles from his position and a battle ensued. At
5358-473: The news, but they denied this. Oedipus went to the same oracle in Delphi that his birth parents had consulted. The oracle informed him that he was destined to murder his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to avoid such a fate, he decided not to return home to Corinth, but to travel to Thebes, which was closer to Delphi. On the way, Oedipus came to Davlia , where three roads crossed. There he encountered
5452-433: The order Antigone , Oedipus Rex , and Oedipus at Colonus . Nor were they composed as a trilogy – a group of plays to be performed together, but are the remaining parts of three different groups of plays. As a result, there are some inconsistencies: notably, Creon is the undisputed king at the end of Oedipus Rex and, in consultation with Apollo, single-handedly makes the decision to expel Oedipus from Thebes. Creon
5546-446: The palace as the servant is arriving. The old man arrives, and it is clear at once that he knows everything. At the behest of Oedipus, he tells it all. Overwhelmed with the knowledge of all his crimes, Oedipus rushes into the palace where he finds his mother-wife, dead by her own hand. Ripping a brooch from her dress, Oedipus blinds himself with it. Bleeding from the eyes, he begs his uncle and brother-in-law Creon, who has just arrived on
5640-506: The person who defeated the Sphinx. He makes no mention of Oedipus's troubled experiences with his father and mother. Seneca the Younger wrote his own play on the story of Oedipus in the first century AD. It differs in significant ways from the work of Sophocles. Some scholars have argued that Seneca's play on the myth was intended to be recited at private gatherings and not actually performed. It has however been successfully staged since
5734-573: The pin from a brooch he took off Jocasta's gown, Oedipus blinded himself and was then exiled . His daughter Antigone acted as his guide as he wandered through the country, finally dying at Colonus where they had been welcomed by King Theseus of Athens. However, in Euripides ' plays on the subject, Jocasta did not kill herself upon learning of Oedipus's birth, and Oedipus was blinded by a servant of Laius. The blinding of Oedipus does not appear in sources earlier than Aeschylus . Some older sources of
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#17327652195275828-611: The play (and the trilogy of which it is the last play) was meant to end with somber mourning for the dead brothers, the spurious ending features a herald announcing the prohibition against burying Polynices, and Antigone's declaration that she will defy that edict. Oedipus was a figure who was also used in the Latin literature of ancient Rome . Julius Caesar wrote a play on Oedipus, but it has not survived into modern times. Ovid included Oedipus in Metamorphoses , but only as
5922-490: The play, making it the best preserved satyr play after Euripides' Cyclops , which survives in its entirety. Fragments of the Epigoni were discovered in April 2005 by classicists at Oxford University with the help of infrared technology previously used for satellite imaging. The tragedy tells the story of the second siege of Thebes . A number of other Sophoclean works have survived only in fragments, including: There
6016-541: The pre-eminent playwright in Athens, winning competitions at eighteen Dionysia , and six Lenaia festivals. His reputation was such that foreign rulers invited him to attend their courts; but, unlike Aeschylus, who died in Sicily , or Euripides, who spent time in Macedon , Sophocles never accepted any of these invitations. Aristotle , in his Poetics ( c. 335 BC ), used Sophocles' Oedipus Rex as an example of
6110-437: The precise dating of most of them. Philoctetes is known to have been written in 409 BC, and Oedipus at Colonus is known to have only been performed in 401 BC, posthumously, at the initiation of Sophocles' grandson. The convention on writing plays for the Greek festivals was to submit them in tetralogies of three tragedies along with one satyr play . Along with the unknown dating of the vast majority of more than 120 plays, it
6204-458: The protagonist is Oedipus' daughter, Antigone. She is faced with the choice of allowing her brother Polyneices' body to remain unburied, outside the city walls, exposed to the ravages of wild animals, or to bury him and face death. The king of the land, Creon, has forbidden the burial of Polyneices for he was a traitor to the city. Antigone decides to bury his body and face the consequences of her actions. Creon sentences her to death. Eventually, Creon
6298-488: The rest of the prophecy. Oedipus and Jocasta had four children: sons Eteocles and Polynices (see Seven Against Thebes ) and daughters Antigone and Ismene . Many years later, a plague of infertility struck the city of Thebes, affecting crops, livestock, and the people . Oedipus asserted that he would end the pestilence. He sent Creon to the Oracle at Delphi, seeking guidance. When Creon returned, Oedipus learned that
6392-426: The royal family hosting him at the time. Extant vases show a fury hovering over the lecherous Laius as he abducts the rape victim. Furies avenged violations of good order in households, as can be seen most clearly in such texts as The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus. Euripides wrote also an Oedipus , of which only a few fragments survive. The first line of the prologue recalled Laius' hubristic action of conceiving
6486-456: The same fate, but Creon eventually declined to execute her. The gods, through the blind prophet Tiresias , expressed their disapproval of Creon's decision, which convinced him to rescind his order, and he went to bury Polynices himself. However, Antigone had already hanged herself in her tomb, rather than suffering the slow death of being buried alive. When Creon arrived at the tomb where she had been interred, his son Haemon attacked him upon seeing
6580-524: The same way that Euripides was partial to women" ("φιλομεῖραξ δὲ ἦν ὁ Σοφοκλῆς, ὡς Εὐριπίδης φιλογύνης"), and relates an anecdote, attributed to Ion of Chios , of Sophocles flirting with a serving-boy at a symposium : βούλει με ἡδέως πίνειν; [...] βραδέως τοίνυν καὶ πρόσφερέ μοι καὶ ἀπόφερε τὴν κύλικα. Do you want me to enjoy my drink? [...] Then hand me the cup nice and slow, and take it back nice and slow too. He also says that Hieronymus of Rhodes , in his Historical Notes , claims that Sophocles once led
6674-446: The scene, to exile him forever from Thebes. Creon agrees to this request. Oedipus begs to hold his two daughters Antigone and Ismene with his hands one more time to have their eyes full of tears and Creon out of pity sends the girls in to see Oedipus one more time. In Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus , Oedipus becomes a wanderer, pursued by Creon and his men. He finally finds refuge in the holy wilderness right outside Athens, where it
6768-569: The second prize in tragic competition in 428 BC, Euripides being first, and Ion third. He must have been alive in 405 BC, the date of the production of The Frogs of Aristophanes , in which he is spoken of as the only good Athenian tragic poet, although it is hinted that he owed much to his father's assistance. He wrote fifty plays, of which only a few fragments and the following eight titles remain: Achilles , Actaeon , Aulodoi ("The Flute-Singers"), Bacchae , Dexamenus , Iliou Persis ("The Sacking of Troy"), Pentheus, and Telephus . It
6862-405: The servant to be brought into the city, when a messenger arrives from Corinth to declare that King Polybus of Corinth is dead. Oedipus, when he hears this news, feels much relieved, because he believed that Polybus was the father whom the oracle had destined him to murder, and he momentarily believes himself to have escaped fate. He tells this all to the present company, including the messenger, but
6956-471: The story, it appears that Antigone survives. Most, if not all, of our knowledge of Oedipus, comes from the 5th century BC . Though these stories principally deal with his downfall, various details still appear on how Oedipus rose to power. King Laius of Thebes hears of a prophecy that his infant son will one day kill him. He pierces Oedipus' feet and leaves him out to die, but a shepherd finds him and carries him away. Years later, Oedipus, not knowing he
7050-511: The three Theban plays, there are four surviving plays by Sophocles: Ajax , Women of Trachis , Electra , and Philoctetes , the last of which won first prize in 409 BC. Ajax focuses on the proud hero of the Trojan War, Telamonian Ajax , who is driven to treachery and eventually suicide. Ajax becomes gravely upset when Achilles ’ armor is presented to Odysseus instead of himself. Despite their enmity toward him, Odysseus persuades
7144-470: The throne instead of dying in battle. Additionally, rather than his children being by a second wife, Oedipus's children are now by Jocasta (hence, they are his brothers as well). In his second Olympian Ode , Pindar writes: Laius' tragic son, crossing his father's path, killed him and fulfilled the oracle spoken of old at Pytho. And sharp-eyed Erinys saw and slew his warlike children at each other's hands. Yet Thersandros survived fallen Polyneikes and won
7238-469: The throne to Creon. Nevertheless, they eventually decided to take charge of the monarchy, with each brother disputing the other's right to succeed. In addition to being in a clearly more powerful position in Oedipus at Colonus , Eteocles and Polynices are also culpable: they consent (l. 429, Theodoridis, tr.) to their father's going to exile, which is one of his bitterest charges against them. In addition to
7332-413: The throne. Much like his Oresteia , the trilogy would have detailed the tribulations of a House over three successive generations. The satyr play that followed the trilogy was called The Sphinx . The three surviving works of Sophocles' " Theban plays " consist of: Oedipus Rex (also called Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus the King ), Oedipus at Colonus , and Antigone . All three plays concern
7426-595: The total absence of ancient descriptions or résumés – though it has been suggested that a part of Hyginus ' narration of the Oedipus myth might in fact derive from Euripides' play. Some echoes of the Euripidean Oedipus have been traced also in a scene of Seneca's Oedipus (see below), in which Oedipus himself describes to Jocasta his adventure with the Sphinx. At least three other 5th-century BC authors who were younger than Sophocles wrote plays about Oedipus. These include Achaeus of Eretria , Nichomachus and
7520-424: The truth, Deianeira commits suicide. Electra corresponds roughly to the plot of Aeschylus' Libation Bearers . It details how Electra and Orestes avenge their father Agamemnon 's murder by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus . Philoctetes retells the story of Philoctetes , an archer who had been abandoned on Lemnos by the rest of the Greek fleet while on the way to Troy . After learning that they cannot win
7614-406: The two men's dead bodies, and Antigone follows Oedipus into exile. In Chrysippus , Euripides develops backstory on the curse: Laius' sin was to have kidnapped Chrysippus, Pelops ' son, in order to violate him, and this caused the gods' revenge on all his family. Laius was the tutor of Chrysippus, and raping his student was a severe violation of his position as both guest and tutor in the house of
7708-426: The widowed Queen Jocasta, unaware that she is his mother. A plague falls on the people of Thebes. Upon discovering the truth, Oedipus blinds himself, and Jocasta hangs herself. After Oedipus is no longer king, Oedipus's brother-sons kill each other. Some differences with older stories emerge. The curse of Oedipus' sons was elaborated on retroactively to include Oedipus and his father, Laius. Oedipus now steps down from
7802-404: Was a friend of Sophocles, and the book is known to have been used by Plutarch. Though some interpretations of Plutarch's words suggest that Sophocles says that he imitated Aeschylus, the translation does not fit grammatically, nor does the interpretation that Sophocles said that he was making fun of Aeschylus' works. C. M. Bowra argues for the following translation of the line: "After practising to
7896-413: Was adopted, leaves home in fear of the same prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Laius journeys out to seek a solution to the Sphinx's mysterious riddle. As prophesied, Oedipus and Laius cross paths, but they do not recognize each other. A fight ensues, and Oedipus kills Laius and most of his guards. Oedipus goes on to defeat the Sphinx by solving a riddle to become king. He marries
7990-475: Was blinded by Laius' attendants and that this happened before his identity as Laius' son had been discovered, therefore marking important differences with the Sophoclean treatment of the myth, which is now regarded as the 'standard' version. Many attempts have been made to reconstruct the plot of the play, but none of them is more than hypothetical, because of the scanty remains that survive from its text and of
8084-544: Was chosen to lead the paean (a choral chant to a god), celebrating the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis . Early in his career, the politician Cimon might have been one of his patrons, but if he was, there was no ill will borne by Pericles , Cimon's rival, when Cimon was ostracized in 461 BC. In 443/2, Sophocles served as one of the Hellenotamiai , or treasurers of Athena, helping to manage
8178-494: Was chosen to receive the image of Asclepius in his own house when the cult was being introduced to Athens and lacked a proper place (τέμενος). For this, the Athenians gave him the posthumous epithet Dexion (receiver). But "some doubt attaches to this story". He was also elected, in 411 BC, one of the commissioners ( probouloi ) who responded to the catastrophic destruction of the Athenian expeditionary force in Sicily during
8272-462: Was fated to murder Polybus and marry Merope, and so he left for Thebes. On his way, he met an older man, who was (unbeknownst to him) his father, and killed him in a quarrel. Continuing on to Thebes, he found that the king of the city (Laius) had recently been killed and that the city was at the mercy of the Sphinx . Oedipus answered the monster's riddle correctly, defeating it and winning the throne of
8366-404: Was her son, begged him to stop his search for Laius' murderer. Oedipus misunderstood her motivation, thinking that she was ashamed of him because he might have been born of low birth. Jocasta, in great distress, went into the palace, where she hanged herself. Oedipus sought verification of the messenger's story from the very same herdsman who was supposed to have left Oedipus to die as a baby. From
8460-420: Was named after the swelling from the injuries to his feet and ankles ("swollen foot"). The word "oedema" (British English) or "edema" (American English) is from this same Greek word for swelling: οἴδημα , or oedēma . After many years, Oedipus was told by a drunk that he was a "bastard", meaning at that time that he was not their biological son. Oedipus confronted his parents (the king and queen of Corinth) with
8554-516: Was the Sun , Euripides, and not a boy, that got me hot and stripped me naked. But the North Wind was with you when you were kissing † a courtesan †. You're not so clever, if you arrest Eros for stealing clothes while you're sowing another man's field. Sophocles is known for innovations in dramatic structure ; deeper development of characters than earlier playwrights; and, if it was not Aeschylus,
8648-451: Was the first to answer the riddle correctly; the Sphinx was so embarrassed that someone had solved her riddle that she killed herself by jumping off of a cliff; in some versions, however, Oedipus kills her. Queen Jocasta's brother, Creon , had announced that any man who could rid the city of the Sphinx would be made king of Thebes and given the recently widowed Queen Jocasta's hand in marriage. This marriage of Oedipus to Jocasta fulfilled
8742-460: Was the son of Laius and Jocasta , king and queen of Thebes . Having been childless for some time, Laius consulted the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi . The Oracle prophesied that any son born to Laius would kill him. In an attempt to prevent this prophecy's fulfillment, when Jocasta indeed bore a son, Laius had his son's ankles pierced and tethered together so that he could not crawl; Jocasta then gave
8836-421: Was used by Sigmund Freud to name and give mythic precedent to the Oedipus complex . Variations on the legend of Oedipus are mentioned in fragments by several ancient Greek poets including Homer , Hesiod , Pindar , Aeschylus and Euripides . However, the most popular version of the legend comes from the set of Theban plays by Sophocles : Oedipus Rex , Oedipus at Colonus , and Antigone . Oedipus
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