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82-436: When Oedipus , King of Thebes, realized he had married his own mother and had two sons and two daughters with her, he blinded himself and cursed his sons to divide their inheritance (the kingdom) by the sword. The two sons, Eteocles and Polynices , in order to avoid bloodshed, agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years. After the first year, Eteocles refused to step down, leading Polynices to raise an army of Argives (captained by

164-417: 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

246-555: A chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is strong; satyr plays were written by tragedians, and satyr plays were performed in the Dionysian festival following the performance of a group of three tragedies. The satyr play's mythological-heroic stories and the style of language are similar to that of the tragedies. Its connection with comedy is also significant – it has similar plots, titles, themes, characters, and happy endings. The remarkable feature of

328-512: 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

410-426: 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

492-459: A replacement of the traditional satyr play. Much of the evidence and information found regarding satyr plays and their history has been located through vase paintings. The mythological origins of the satyrs are closely linked to the advent of Dionysus into Hellenic culture. The satyrs and their female counterpart, the maenads , were followers of Dionysus, a “late-comer to Olympus and probably of Asiatic origin”. According to Roger Lancelyn Green,

574-419: 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

656-491: A satyr play of Sophocles called Ichneutae ('The Trackers') in which the satyrs are employed by Apollo to track down his stolen cattle and discover the baby Hermes. Smaller fragments of other satyr plays exist, and the genre continued to be written and performed as late as the 2nd century AD, though most have wholly vanished. Even a fragment of music survives from a satyr play. The chorus members wore masks in accordance with Bacchic tradition. The earliest reliable testimony

738-544: A sculpted terracotta relief from a temple at Pyrgi , ca. 470–460 BC. The Epigoni , the sons of the Seven against Thebes , were the mythic theme of the second war of Thebes, which occurred ten years after their fathers had fought in the first war of Thebes. Of the other two plays that made up the trilogy that included Seven Against Thebes , Laius and Oedipus , and of its satyr play The Sphinx , few fragments have survived. The only fragment definitively assigned to Oedipus

820-561: 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

902-459: A strong connection with music and dance and consider them to be “archetypal musicians and dancers”, thus linking them to Dionysiac processions and the origins of performance culture. The Great Dionysia went through a phase of change around the middle of the fourth century. This change brought with it a switch in the ways plays were performed. Plays were no longer performed in a completion/competition type setting. Satyrs were now performed outside of

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984-428: 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

1066-504: Is Euripides ' Cyclops , based on Odysseus ' encounter with the cyclops Polyphemus , in Book 9 of the Odyssey . Aeschylus was noted for his satyr plays, the largest fragment of which to have survived being his Dictyulci ('The Net Fishers') in which the baby Perseus is washed up on the shore with his mother Danae and is found by Silenus and the satyrs. There are large fragments of

1148-407: Is a line translated by Herbert Weir Smyth as "We were coming on our journey to the place from which three highways part in the branching roads, where we crossed the junction of the triple roads at Potniae ." The only two fragments definitively assigned to The Sphinx were translated by Smyth as "For the stranger a garland, an ancient crown, the best of bonds, as Prometheus said," and "The Sphinx,

1230-467: 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

1312-490: 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. Satyr play The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy . It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse,

1394-552: Is often noted to be not as important as the tragedies presented at the festival; however, it is crucial not to downplay its importance in the history of the dramatic arts. The dramatic festivities at the City Dionysia in Athens , similarly dedicated to Dionysus , required each competing tragedian to submit three tragedies and a satyr play, which functioned as the last piece performed at the festival. The accurate emergence of

1476-404: 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

1558-553: 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

1640-724: Is supplied by the Pandora Vase dating from the middle of the 5th century BC. On that vase, the satyrs are portrayed as half men and half goats, wearing goat’s horns on their heads, thus referring to the goat deities of the Doric type. A later representation can be seen on the Pronomos Vase, found in Naples. The goatish element has disappeared and the satyrs resemble the old Ionic Sileni who were horse deities. The performers are wearing horse tails and short pants with attached phallus,

1722-456: 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

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1804-629: 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

1886-562: 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

1968-543: The Underworld ; Burkert draws parallels in an Akkadian epic text, the story of Erra the plague god, and the Seven ( Sibitti ), called upon to destroy mankind, but who withdraw from Babylon at the last moment. The city is saved when the brothers simultaneously run each other through. Burkert adduces a ninth-century relief from Tell Halaf which would exactly illustrate a text from II Samuel 2: "But each seized his opponent by

2050-428: 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 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

2132-492: The Festival of Dionysus and were no longer subjected to the judgement among other plays. Satyrs and comedies became more relevant within the theatre community in the 430s. The newfound prevalence came after Morychides began to forbid fighting-related activities on the stage. Satyr plays did have some influence on other forms of performance as well; of the most noteworthy is Middle Comedy. This time period for comedy brought with it

2214-457: 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

2296-496: The Watch-dog that presideth over evil days." Translators David Grene and Richmond Lattimore wrote that "the rise of German Romanticism , and the consequent resurgence of enthusiasm for Aeschylus' archaic style and more direct and simple dramaturgy ," resulted in the elevation of Seven Against Thebes as an early masterpiece of Western drama. From the nineteenth century onwards, however, it has not generally been regarded as among

2378-408: 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

2460-546: 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

2542-407: 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

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2624-647: The city was at the mercy of the Sphinx . Oedipus answered the monster's riddle correctly, defeating it and winning the throne of 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

2706-568: The city’s most complex and prestigious cultural event of the year." The satyric drama may be traced back to Pratinas of Phlius , c.  500 BC . After settling in Athens, he probably adapted the dithyramb , customary in his native home, with its chorus of satyrs, to complement the form of tragedy which had been recently invented in Athens. It met with approval and was further developed by his son Aristeas , by Choerilus , by Aeschylus , and others. The origins of performance culture and

2788-441: The dead brothers, it now contains an ending that serves as a lead-in of sorts to Sophocles' play: a messenger appears, announcing a prohibition against burying Polynices; his sister Antigone , however, announces her intention to defy this edict. The seven attackers and defenders in the play are: The mytheme of the "outlandish" and "savage" Seven who threatened the city has traditionally seemed to be based on Bronze Age history in

2870-423: 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

2952-418: The emergence of the satyr play can be traced to ancient rural celebrations in honour of the god Dionysus . Rush Rehm argues that these inaugurated the "agricultural cycle of planting and harvesting" closely associated with Dionysus, who represented the embodiment of "a fundamental paradox inherent to the world, life-giving but potentially destructive." The role of the satyr play within the Festival of Dionysus

3034-460: 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

3116-404: The eponymous Seven) to take Thebes by force. This is where Aeschylus ' tragedy starts. Seven Against Thebes features little action; instead, the bulk of the play consists of rich dialogues between the citizens of Thebes and their king Eteocles regarding the threat of the hostile army before their gates. Dialogues show aspects of Eteocles' character. There is also a lengthy description of each of

3198-598: 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

3280-490: 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 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

3362-415: The forelock and thrust his sword into his side so that all fell together." The mythic theme passed into Etruscan culture : a fifth-century bronze mirrorback is inscribed with Fulnice (Polynices) and Evtucle (Eteocles) running at one another with drawn swords. A particularly gruesome detail from the battle, in which Tydeus gnawed on the living brain of Melanippos in the course of the siege, also appears, in

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3444-553: The generation before the Trojan War , when in the Iliad 's Catalogue of Ships only the remnant Hypothebai ("Lower Town") subsists on the ruins of Thebes. Yet archaeologists have been hard put to locate seven gates in "seven-gated Thebes": In 1891 Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff declared that the seven gates existed only for symmetry with the seven assailants, whose very names vary: some have their own identity, like Amphiaraus

3526-412: 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

3608-419: 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

3690-550: 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

3772-460: The humbling of gods and heroes; which was done through the domesticizing of these characters within the different performances. Middle Comedy took on many of the factors of satyr plays but adapted the performances to be what was desired by the public at that time. These plays have been said to be performed well into the Hellenistic and Roman eras. The only satyr play to survive in its entirety

3854-410: 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,

3936-437: 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

4018-399: 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

4100-399: 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

4182-473: 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

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4264-446: 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

4346-506: 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

4428-573: 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

4510-611: 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

4592-488: 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

4674-426: 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

4756-456: 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

4838-477: The satyr play is a survival from “the primitive period of Bacchic worship”. Haigh lists several examples of recorded entries to the City Dionysia: thus, in 472 BC Aeschylus won the first prize with Phineaus , Persae , Glaucus and the satyr play Prometheus . Among Euripides’ entries, Haigh underlines Theristae (431 BC), Sisyphus (415 BC) and Alcestis which Euripides was allowed to present as

4920-493: The satyr play is debatable; however, Brockett argues that most evidence “credits Pratinas with having invented this form sometime before 501 BC”, which is supported by P. E. Easterling ’s argument that by the 5th century the satyr play was considered an integral component of the tragike didaskalia . Brockett also suggests the possibility that the satyr play was the first form of drama from which both tragedy and comedy gradually emerged. A. E. Haigh however maintained that

5002-426: The satyr play is the chorus of satyrs , with their costumes that focus on the phallus, and with their language, which uses wordplay, sexual innuendos, references to breasts, farting, erections, and other references that do not occur in tragedy. As Mark Griffith points out, the satyr play was "not merely a deeply traditional Dionysiac ritual, but also generally accepted as the most appropriate and satisfying conclusion to

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5084-488: The satyrs probably began as minor nature deities, while their designated leader Silenus originated as a water spirit, a maker of springs and fountains. Silenus was already an attendant to Dionysus when the satyrs joined the god’s following, and was subsequently proclaimed their father. The satyrs characterised themselves by amorality, excessive drinking and the breaking down of traditional values and barriers. Eric Csapo and Margaret C. Miller further argue that satyrs have

5166-446: 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

5248-437: The seer, "who had his sanctuary and his cult afterwards... Others appear as stock figures to fill out the list," Burkert remarks. "To call one of them Eteoklos, vis-à-vis Eteokles the brother of Polyneikes, appears to be the almost desperate invention of a faltering poet" Burkert follows a suggestion made by Ernest Howald in 1939 that the Seven are pure myth led by Adrastos (the "inescapable") on his magic horse, seven demons of

5330-405: 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

5412-544: The seven captains that lead the Argive army against the seven gates of the city of Thebes as well as the devices on their respective shields. Eteocles, in turn, announces which Theban commanders he will send against each Argive attacker. Finally, the commander of the troops before the seventh gate is revealed to be Polynices, the brother of the king. Then Eteocles remembers and refers to the curse of their father Oedipus. Eteocles resolves to meet and fight his brother in person before

5494-464: The seventh gate and exits. Following a choral ode, a messenger enters, announcing that the attackers have been repelled but that Eteocles and Polynices have killed each other in battle. Their bodies are brought on stage, and the chorus mourns them. Due to the popularity of Sophocles ' play Antigone , the ending of Seven Against Thebes was rewritten about fifty years after Aeschylus' death. While Aeschylus wrote his play to end with somber mourning for

5576-471: 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

5658-470: 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

5740-464: 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

5822-595: 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

5904-456: The tragedian's major works. Translators Anthony Hecht and Helen H. Bacon wrote that the play "has been accused of being static, undramatic, ritualistic, guilty of an interpolated and debased text, archaic, and in a word, boring," though they themselves disagree with such a description. Oedipus Oedipus ( UK : / ˈ iː d ɪ p ə s / , also US : / ˈ ɛ d ə -/ ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Οἰδίπους "swollen foot")

5986-406: 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

6068-426: 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

6150-572: 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 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:

6232-413: 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

6314-475: 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

6396-404: 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

6478-420: 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

6560-451: 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

6642-460: 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

6724-475: 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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