The Oedipodea (Greek: Οἰδιπόδεια) is a lost poem of the Theban cycle, a part of the Epic Cycle (Greek: Επικὸς Κύκλος). The poem was about 6,600 verses long and the authorship was credited by ancient authorities to Cinaethon (Greek: Κιναίθων), a barely known poet who lived probably in Sparta.[1] Only three short fragments and one testimonium survived.
It told the story of the Sphinx and Oedipus and presented an alternative view of the Oedipus myth. According to Pausanias,[2] Cinaethon states that the marriage between Oedipus and his own mother, Jocasta (= Epicasta) was childless; his children had been born from another engagement with Euryganea (Greek: Εὐρυγανεία), daughter of Hyperphas (Greek: Ὑπέρφας). That is all we know about these two characters.
A small glimpse of Cinaethon's style survives in Plutarch's On the Pythia's Oracles 407b: "he added unnecessary pomp and drama to the oracles".
References
Sources
- West, Martin L. Greek Epic Fragments. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 4–6, 38–42 and 250–251.
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