Oedipus Tyrannus | Oedipus Tyrannus

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Author: Sophocles
First Published: 429
Type of Work: Play
Type of Plot: Tragedy
Time of Work: Remote antiquity
Setting: Thebes
Genres: Drama, Tragedy
Subjects: Murder or homicide, Blindness or blind persons, Mistaken or secret identity, Guilt, Incest, Punishment, Death or dying, Kings, queens, or royalty, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Fate or fatalism, Prophecy or prophets, Greek or Roman times, Horror, Greece or Greek people, Plague, Oracles
Locales: Greece, ancient, Thebes, ancient

Oedipus (EHD-ih-puhs), the king of Thebes. A foundling, he had been reared by Polybus and Merope, king and queen of Corinth. In that city, he had enjoyed a place of honor until a drunken Corinthian at a banquet accused him of being a bastard. To settle the matter, he went to the oracle at Pytho, who revealed that he was destined to lie with his mother and murder his father. To avoid this curse, he fled Corinth. During his travels, he was thrust out of the road by an old man in a carriage. Angered, Oedipus returned the old man’s blow and killed him. Later,...

Oedipus Tyrannus | Oedipus Tyrannus

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