Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta who were the king and queen of Thebes. One day when Laius went to the oracle it warned him that his son would be his downfall, that he was to be murdered by him. Lauis in fear and without thinking ordered that his son be slain. However, his son was hidden and was found by peasants who raised him as their own child.
Growing up as a young man Oedipus was completely unaware of who he in fact was! Walking on the road one day he met his biological father and became engrossed in a very heated argument with him. Soon Oedipus and his father began to fight and the prophesy came to fruition as Oedipus struck and killed his father.
At this time the city of Thebes was plagued by the horrible Sphinx. The Sphinx would routinely ask the passerby's a riddle and whoever could not answer it would be snatched up and eaten by the beast, see The Riddle of the Sphinx.
Oedipus then went before the Sphinx and asked it to tell him the riddle, upon telling him Oedipus responded with the correct answer to the riddle. The Sphinx was horrified that its' riddle had been finally answered and threw itself on the surrounding rocks bringing an end to its' horrible existence.
The people of Thebes were overjoyed that they finally had been freed of the curse of the Sphinx. To honor Oedipus's accomplishment Oedipus was made king of Thebes, and he took as his wife the former queen Jacosta.
The prophesy was now complete as it had foretold that Oedipus would not only kill his father but would also marry his mother! When Oedipus finally learned what he had done to his father and mother he became insane, plucking out his eyes, wandering pointlessly across the countryside of Thebes until his death.
Ahh - thanks Christy - I kept the Theban Plays (Oedipus Rex, Antigone and I can't remember the other one - writer Sophocles) amongst the few books that I couldn't part with until a year or so ago. I studied Antigone and in so doing, read and learned the story of Oedipus.
What I have no memory of is the role of sphinx in the stories. But it all sounds as superstitious and gruesome as the plays were.
I found it!! 40 years ago I studied this book - well, just 1 play really. It is a very old small Penguin Classics paperback with brown-aged pages all fallen away from the binding.
The 3 plays by Sophocles in this little book are: King Oedipus; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone (the play I studied). Antigone was a daughter of Oedipus. All 3 plays are tragedies of course. How could they be otherwise!
5 comments:
This is great - though I wanna see some Greek Goddesses as well!
Formerly Ally McLesbian
Member of Team Aniston
Hmmm - the riddles? I give in. This is so different from the sphinx we normally see. It's a puzzle to me.
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta who were the king and queen of Thebes. One day when Laius went to the oracle it warned him that his son would be his downfall, that he was to be murdered by him. Lauis in fear and without thinking ordered that his son be slain. However, his son was hidden and was found by peasants who raised him as their own child.
Growing up as a young man Oedipus was completely unaware of who he in fact was! Walking on the road one day he met his biological father and became engrossed in a very heated argument with him. Soon Oedipus and his father began to fight and the prophesy came to fruition as Oedipus struck and killed his father.
At this time the city of Thebes was plagued by the horrible Sphinx. The Sphinx would routinely ask the passerby's a riddle and whoever could not answer it would be snatched up and eaten by the beast, see The Riddle of the Sphinx.
Oedipus then went before the Sphinx and asked it to tell him the riddle, upon telling him Oedipus responded with the correct answer to the riddle. The Sphinx was horrified that its' riddle had been finally answered and threw itself on the surrounding rocks bringing an end to its' horrible existence.
The people of Thebes were overjoyed that they finally had been freed of the curse of the Sphinx. To honor Oedipus's accomplishment Oedipus was made king of Thebes, and he took as his wife the former queen Jacosta.
The prophesy was now complete as it had foretold that Oedipus would not only kill his father but would also marry his mother! When Oedipus finally learned what he had done to his father and mother he became insane, plucking out his eyes, wandering pointlessly across the countryside of Thebes until his death.
http://www.greekspider.com/greek_myth/oedipus.htm
Ahh - thanks Christy - I kept the Theban Plays (Oedipus Rex, Antigone and I can't remember the other one - writer Sophocles) amongst the few books that I couldn't part with until a year or so ago. I studied Antigone and in so doing, read and learned the story of Oedipus.
What I have no memory of is the role of sphinx in the stories. But it all sounds as superstitious and gruesome as the plays were.
I found it!! 40 years ago I studied this book - well, just 1 play really. It is a very old small Penguin Classics paperback with brown-aged pages all fallen away from the binding.
The 3 plays by Sophocles in this little book are: King Oedipus; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone (the play I studied). Antigone was a daughter of Oedipus. All 3 plays are tragedies of course. How could they be otherwise!
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