Oedipus the King

Oedipus the King (Oidipous tyrannos; Oedipus tyrannus)

    Alternative Title: King Oedipus; Oedipus Rex

    Author: Sophocles

    First Performance: c.429–420 BC, Athens

    First English Translation: 1715

    Genre: Greek trag. in verse

    Setting: The city of Thebes, in the mythical past

    Cast: 7m, 2f, extras, chorus (m)

Because the city of Thebes is suffering from a plague, its king Oedipus has sent Creon to consult the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The oracle declares that the plague will be lifted only when the city rids itself of an unclean person, the killer of the former king Laius. Oedipus strenuously attempts to identify the criminal. While his queen Jocasta begs him not to dig too deep into the past, Oedipus reveals that the same oracle had prophesied to him that he would murder...

[The entire page is 640 words long]

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