Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Prior to the start of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus has become the king of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father, Laius (the previous king), and marry his mother, Jocasta (whom Oedipus took as his queen after solving the riddle of the Sphinx). The action of Sophocles's play concerns Oedipus's search for the ...
Oedipus (UK: / ˈ iː d ɪ p ə s /, also US: / ˈ ɛ d ə-/; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes.A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family.
After Oedipus is abandoned as an infant by his biological parents King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, Merope and Polybus raise Oedipus as their adoptive son. Eventually, when questioned by Oedipus, Merope and Polybus deny the adoption. As a result of this denial, Oedipus continues to believe that Merope and Polybus are his true biological ...
Sophocles, The Antigone of Sophocles edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Sophocles, Sophocles. Vol 1: Oedipus the king. Oedipus at Colonus. Antigone. With an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 20. Francis Storr.
Oedipus is the king of Thebes, husband of Jocasta, and he is the supposed son of king Polybus of Corinth. He is the main protagonist of the play. Jocasta is the widow of the former king Laius, wife of Oedipus and sister of Creon. Creon is Jocasta's brother, and the chief aid to Oedipus in Thebes.
A marble relief of a poet, perhaps Sophocles. Sophocles, the son of Sophillus, was a wealthy member of the rural deme (small community) of Hippeios Colonus in Attica, which was to become a setting for one of his plays; and he was probably born there, [2] [8] a few years before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the exact year is unclear, but 497/6 is most likely.
Unlike Corneille, Dryden and Lee put the dramatic love story of Oedipus and Jocasta in the centre of the dramatic plot. But also the main characters appearing in both versions – Oedipus and Creon – are presented differently. Sophocles designs his Oedipus as a just and merciful monarch, determined to rescue his kingdom from the dreadful disease.
In Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus is a wandering outcast, led and supported by his daughter Antigone. Although this is the best-known version of the story, an alternative tradition is preserved in the surviving fragments of Euripides's Oedipus, according to which Oedipus was blinded by a servant of his father, Laius.