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Ending the pestilence before Thebes ceases to exist is the motivation in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, livestock are ailing, children are born dead or die shortly after birth, and crops are failing. The Apolline oracle identifies the solution as finding and punishing the guilty in the murder of Theban King Laius. This is a case of a long unsolved mystery that never is investigated and for which no cleansing rituals are carried out. Since a king's murder and the lack of purification procedures greatly offend the gods, it is no wonder that Thebes is ravaged with the pestilential wrath of divine will.

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14y ago

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