The Athenian tragic playwright Sophocles wrote three plays (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone) dealing with the family saga of Oedipus, the king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his own father and married his own mother.Here are the main points of the myth.
1. Oedipus' real parents
A prophecy came from Apollo to Laius, king of Thebes, and his queen Jocasta, that if they had a son he would kill his father. (Some versions of the myth include a prophecy that he would marry his mother.)
Jocasta nonetheless became pregnant, and when a male child was born, Laius and Jocasta gave it to a shepherd to abandon on Mount Cithaeron to die a "natural" death.
2. Oedipus' foster parents
But the shepherd, taking pity on the child, gave him to a fellow shepherd from the town of Corinth. That shepherd took the baby to Corinth, where he was adopted by King Polybus and Queen Merope, who were childless.
3. Oedipus' quest
Growing up in Corinth, Oedipus heard a rumor that he was not really the child of Polybus and Merope. To settle the question, he went to the oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
Rather than answer Oedipus' question, the oracle predicted that he would kill his father and marry his mother.
Oedipus resolved never to return to Corinth. As he journeyed from Delphi, he got into an argument at a crossroads with an older stranger, none other than his real father Laius, and killed him.
4. The riddle of the Sphinx
Soon Oedipus came to Thebes, where a monster, the Sphinx, part lioness and part human, was terrorizing the city by killing anyone who couldn't answer her riddle:
Oedipus defeated the Sphinx by giving the correct answer: "Man.""What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?" 5. Oedipus, King of Thebes
With Laius dead Oedipus, since he had saved Thebes from the Sphinx, became king and took Jocasta as his queen.
They lived uneventfully for many years and had two girls, Antigone and Ismene; and two boys, Eteocles and Polyneices.
6. The plague
Then a mysterious plague struck Thebes. Oedipus sent Jocasta's brother Creon to Delphi to ask Apollo how to cure this affliction.
This is where Sophocles' Oedipus the King begins. The play shows how Oedipus, in the space of less than two hours, went from complete ignorance to full knowledge of who he was and what he had done.
The audience knew the story recounted above. They knew, too, that Oedipus would discover the truth. What they did not know was precisely how this would come about.
7. The events of the Oedipus the King
What begins as Oedipus' investigation into the murder of his predecessor Laios becomes a quest for Oedipus' own true identity.
When Oedipus' wife Jocasta discovers that she is his mother, she rushes into the palace and hangs herself. Oedipus, upon discovering his own identity shortly afterward, runs into the palace to kill his wife/mother; finding her hanged, he grabs the brooches she is wearing and blinds himself.
The Oedipus the King ends with Jocasta's brother Creon acting as regent of Thebes and Oedipus, who is briefly joined by his daughters Antigone and Ismene, begging to be sent into exile.
8. Later events
Expelled from Thebes, Oedipus wandered the earth as an exile, tended by his daughters Antigone and Ismene. His life ended when, with his vision restored, he was miraculously taken into the earth at Colonus, near Athens.
The play Oedipus at Colonus recounts the end of Oedipus' life.
Oedipus' two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, at first agreed to alternate as kings of Thebes. But when Eteocles refused to give up the throne to his brother, Polyneices led an army against the city. The two brothers killed each other at one of the seven gates of Thebes. Oedipus had cursed their vengefulness before his death.
Creon, now the king of Thebes, buried Eteocles with full honors as a patriot but refused to allow Polyneices to be buried because he was a traitor to the city. Polyneices' sister Antigone defied Creon's edict and gave her brother ceremonial burial.
This is where Sophocles' Antigone begins. The play shows how Creon enforces his edict against Antigone, who is engaged to his son Haemon, and the consequences of the decisions which Antigone and Creon make.
9. The meaning of the Antigone
The Antigone explores explores the nature of justice in the context of conflicts such as the following:
One place to start is with the question: what, if anything, is Antigone or Creon guilty of?familial versus civic obligations human law versus divine law female versus male Back to the Core 1 Assignment Page