Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus, produced posthumously by his grandson in 401 B.C., narrates the tale of Oedipus's travels following his exile. Accompanied by his daughter Antigone, Oedipus arrives at Colonus, where Theseus offers him protection until his death. Before dying, Oedipus curses his sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, to kill each other. After ruling for a period, Eteocles refuses to cede the throne to Polyneices, who then assembles seven champions, known as the Seven against Thebes, to attack the city at its seven gates. Both brothers perish in battle. Oedipus at Colonus is the second installment in the trilogy of Theban plays, which also includes Antigone (the final play) and Oedipus Rex.

In Antigone, the titular character, Oedipus's daughter, clashes with her uncle Creon, the king of Thebes, because he forbids the burial of her brother Polyneices, labeling him a traitor. Creon punishes Antigone for attempting to bury her brother by entombing her alive in a stone chamber. Antigone hangs herself, and her fiancé, Haemon—Creon's son—stabs himself beside her body.

The History of the Peloponnesian War, authored by Athenian citizen and general Thucydides (c. 460-400 B.C.), provides a meticulous, compelling, and often firsthand account of the conflict between Athens and Sparta (431-404 B.C.), unfolding during the peak of Sophocles's career.

Written in the first century A.D., Plutarch's The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives presents the biographies of Athenian leaders such as Theseus, Pericles, Alcibiades, and Lysander. The lives of the latter three, who played significant roles in Athens during the Peloponnesian War, offer valuable political and cultural context for understanding Sophoclean drama.

Democracy, Ancient and Modern (1973), by M. I. Finley, explores the evolution of democratic culture from fifth-century Athens to contemporary times. The book compares political, social, and economic structures, as well as the role of arts and literature, across various historically significant democracies.

Shakespeare's Hamlet, written around 1600, tells the story of a young man whose father has died, and whose uncle, Claudius, has taken the throne and married his mother, Gertrude. The ghost of the deceased king appears to his son, Hamlet, urging him to avenge his death. Hamlet is consumed by the memory of his father's death and repulsed by his mother's quick remarriage. He desires to kill his uncle Claudius but struggles to find the right moment until the final scene, where most main characters meet a tragic end. Since Freud, the mother-son relationship in the play has often been analyzed through the lens of the Oedipus complex.

My Oedipus Complex, a short story by Frank O'Connor (published in 1956), reimagines the Oedipus tale in Ireland during World War I. While his father is away at war, a young boy, who narrates the story in the first person, forms a misconstrued attachment to his mother. This dynamic becomes more complex when his father returns home and the parents decide to have another child. It is an ironic yet deeply moving rendition of the myth, featuring a happy ending.