1. Oedipus Rex (The King)

2. Sophocles 495 BC - 406 BC 2nd great Greek Tragedian
Wrote 123 total plays, winning many prizes
Actors, characters, chorus
The perfect tragedy?
Aeschylus
7 survived (fire)
Added third actor, female characters, chorus 12 to 15 to 12
Aristotle defined Oedipus as the perfect tragedy (Poetics)

3. Consulting the Oracle Delphi Prophecy’s
Direct messages from the God’s (Apollo)

4. The Oedipus Myth Oedipus is the son of Laius and Jocasta of Thebes
A father’s prophecy
What would you do?
Fate Intervenes
2) “he was doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son”
Laius and Jocasta decide to rid themselves of the prophecy by giving their child away to a herdsmen
4) Herdsman gives child to a shepherd

5. The Oedipus Myth Swollen Foot Oedipus’s prophecy What would you do?
Baby Oedipus is given to King Polybus of Corinth, named Oedipus (swollen foot), and raised as his son
“Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/ With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire”

6. The Oedipus Myth Oedipus leaves Corinth The Sphinx in Thebes
Laius leaves Thebes to consult the Oracle
and heads to Thebes to avoid contact with his parents; in his mind preventing the prophecy
Sphinx is guarding thebes and devouring those who cannot answer its riddle… Meanwhile, Laius has left Thebes to try and solve the Sphinx’ riddle

7. The Oedipus Myth The place where three roads meet Hamartia
Oedipus and Laius meet and argue over who has the right of way
Pride on the line, Oedipus kills Laius and all but one of his attendants
Laius buried where he was killed and Oedipus continues onto Thebes to meet the Sphinx

8. Oedipus and the Sphinx
The Sphinx is a mythical beast consisting of a woman’s head, wings, and a lion’s body
Guarding Thebes
Treacherous and merciless

9. Oedipus and the Sphinx
Oedipus encounters the sphinx and is given the riddle:
What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?

10. Oedipus and the Sphinx “MAN” Liminality (Threshold)
Oedipus frees Thebes
The Reward
Oedipus: The Baby Daddy
The Sphinx throws itself from cliff (or devours itself )
Transition from old religion (Sphinx) to acceptance of Olympian Gods
2) Thebes crowns Oedipus king and presents him with their widowed queen, his mother, Jocasta
3) Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles, and Polynices