1. Chapter Seventeen Lecture One Oedipus and the Myths of Thebes

3. Cadmus and the Dragon

4. Cadmus, son of Agenor, gives up looking for Europa Goes to Delphi “Follow the cow with the special mark and found your city where she rests” His men are killed by serpent near a spring of Ares Cadmus kills the dragon

5. Cadmus and the Dragon To replace his men, he sows half the dragons teeth (Athena’s idea) The “seed-sown” men arise Cadmus throws rocks among them and they fight until only five are left They will become the ancestors of the aristocratic families in Thebes

6. Cadmus and the Dragon Cadmus serves Ares for eight years Marries Harmonia (daughter of Ares and Aphrodite) Hephaestus gives her a necklace, which turns out to be cursed

7. Cadmus and the Dragon Cadmus and Harmonia retire in Illyria Changed to snakes and live in the Elysian fields

8. The Twins Amphion and Zethus

9. Amphion and Zethus After a while, Nycteus rules in Thebes Antiopê, a daughter of Nycteus, becomes pregnant by Zeus Nycteus banishes her Not satisfied, Nycteus kills himself after ordering his brother Lycus to punish Antiopê more

10. Amphion and Zethus Lycus takes her from her new husband in the hills, Epopeus, and drags her to Thebes On the way, she gives birth to twins Amphion and Zethus – raised by a shepherd

11. Amphion and Zethus At Thebes, Antiopê is tortured daily by Dircê (wife of Lycus) Antiopê escapes one day, and comes upon her twins They return to Thebes and kill Dircê; throw her body into a spring They attack Thebes and kill Lycus

12. Amphion and Zethus Amphion – the musician Zethus – the cattleman Raising the walls of the new city Marriages –Zethus – Thebê –Amphion – Niobê

13. The Two Foundings of Thebes

14. Two Foundings of Thebes One Near Eastern, modeled after cosmic dragon combat –Brought by immigrants or original founders –The Mesopotamian cylinder seals –Phoinikia grammata or kadmeia The other is local and more like folktale –Twins with opposing characters, wicked stepmother, “just in time”

15. Oedipus the King

16. Labdacus (another son of Polydorus) His son Laius flees Thebes to Elis (King Pelops) Chrysippus “Curse on the house of Labdacus” Jocasta

17. Oedipus the King An oracle’s message: “Your son will kill you and marry your wife.” His effort to avoid Jocasta failed one night A son is born Best known version is told by the tragedian Sophocles

18. Oedipus the King Laius and Jocasta mutilate the feet of the child and give him to a shepherd to expose on the mountain Shepherd instead gives it to a friend on the other side of Mt. Cithaeron The child is adopted by Queen Meropê and King Polybus in Corinth They name him “swollen foot” : Oedipus

19. Oedipus the King Friends taunt him with the truth He goes to Delphi The Pythia recoils at his sight and tells him his fate At Daulis, Oedipus resolves never to return to Corinth, heads toward Thebes On the way, he kills all but one of a train of men

20. Oedipus the King City is plagued by the Sphinx and her riddle Oedipus solves the riddle Becomes king and gets the queen as his wife They have children by and by: –Polynices and Eteocles; Antigonê and Ismenê

21. Oedipus the King Sophocles

22. Oedipus the King Begins after these events Oedipus determined to find the cause of a new plague in Thebes –The plague is caused by the pollution of Laius’s murder; the perpetrator is still in Thebes Oedipus discovers gradually and reluctantly that he has fulfilled the prophecy

23. Next Plays in the Cycle Oedipus at Colonus Antigonê Aeschylus’s Seven Against Thebes (Aeschylus)

24. End