Oedipus Rex

That the murderer may try to kill him too is Oedipus' second reason for wanting to bring the murderer to justice in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus must identify and punish the guilty in the unsolved murder of his royal predecessor, King Laius. He gives as his first reason that the Apolline oracle says that these two actions will end the current pestilence in Thebes. Additionally, Oedipus expresses the concern that he needs to find the king-killer before the latter finds him.

That he accuses him of participating in Laius' murder is Oedipus' response to Teiresias' refusal to share information in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus asks for the insights of Teiresias the blind prophet, Thebes' wisest resident and a storehouse of present, past and future knowledge about the city and its inhabitants. But Teiresias does not want to share and in fact wants to turn around and go back home. Oedipus therefore flings the rash charge that Teiresias is the organizer and planner if not also the perpetrator in the long unsolved murder of King Laius, Oedipus' royal predecessor and his wife's first husband.

A blind prophet who warns of perils ahead in Odysseus' attempt to get back home is who Teiresias is in "The Odyssey" by Homer (fl. sometime between 12th and 9th centuries B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias is the long-lived, blind seer who serves all Theban kings since the founding of Thebes by Cadmus, first king and grandson of the sea god Poseidon. He is dead by the end of the Trojan War and lives out the afterlife in the Underworld. Odysseus visits him there to anticipate challenges in his attempt to get back to his wife Penelope. Teiresias particularly warns Odysseus against eating the cattle of the sun god Helios. But when Odysseus subsequently lands on the sun god's sacred island of Thrinacia, his men disobey, his ship is destroyed by Zeus' lightning bolt, and all of his men are killed.

That he is handed the three-day-old infant Oedipus and that he in turn hands the child over toPolybus are the reasons why the Corinthian messenger knows that Polybus is not Oedipus' father in "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Corinthian messenger is tending his flock on the mountains outside Thebes. A Theban shepherd gives him a three-day-old infant that the royal household abandons and wants to have killed. The Corinthian decides to give the child to Polybus and Merope, the childless royal couple of Corinth. That child subsequently becomes Theban King Oedipus.

In the months preceding the author's death is the year in which "Oedipus at Colonus" is thought to have been written by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the play was the last of the three plays about Theban King Oedipus to be performed. In fact, it was not performed for the first time until after the ancient Greek dramatist's death. The performance was organized by Sophocles' family.

Yes, Oedipus is aware that his city needs help in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus knows of his city's plight because the priest of Zeus and suppliants set up altars and gather outside the main entrance to the Theban royal palace. The priest lets Oedipus know about the pestilential suffering throughout Thebes. But Oedipus reveals that he monitors what happens in his beloved city and has a problem-solving strategy already in effect for this particular challenge.

That it leads to excess is the significance of insanity in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term insanity describes a mental state that is affected by strong emotions and does not relate to reality or reason. The description fits the choral references to Bacchus the wine god, whose frenzied followers are first to carry out their master's curse against his own cousins, Theban Kings Polydorus and Labdacus. It also may fit the choral references to Ares the war god, whose frenzied followers chop into pieces everyone in their path. It likewise may be said to explain King Oedipus' angry, grieving frenzy that leads him to gouge out his own eyes.

That she behaves maternally but is not and will not be a mother is the irony in comparing Antigone to a mother in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term irony describes a situation that is less, more or other than what it seems to the characters so affected. The description fits the comparison of Theban Princess Antigone. She is maternal in her concern for the unburied body of her nephew Polyneices. But she is sentenced to death and unmarried without children.

Identify the killer of the previous King of Thebes and have carried out as punishment exile or execution of the guilty are the commands that Creon receives from Apollo's shrine and that he shares with Oedipus in the play "Oedipus Rex" by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Thebes is losing harvests, livestock and newborns. Creon seeks the reason and the solution from the oracle at the shrine of Apollo. The oracle identifies the cause of the troubles as the unsolved murder of Laius years before and the solution as the tracking down and punishing of the guilty.

That appearances are deceiving is the insight that Oedipus gains by referring to himself paradoxically as a blind man who now has eyes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus accepts that the truth of his existence stares him in the face at every turn. He knows that he kills an older version of himself even though he is prophesied to kill his father and even though he questions whether he really is the biological son of his presumed father, Corinthian King Polybus. He knows that he marries a beautiful older woman even though he is prophesied to marry his mother and even though he questions whether he really is the biological son of his presumed mother, Corinthian Queen Merope.

The identification of the life form that moves on fours in the morning of life, on twos in the afternoon and on threes in the evening is the Sphinx's riddle solved by Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Sphinx demands upon pain of death that all who enter or leave Thebes must try to answer her riddle. No one figures out the answer, and many Thebans therefore end up killed and devoured by the Sphinx. But Oedipus knows that the answer is man and thereby is the only person who is able to solve the seemingly unanswerable riddle.

Consulting the Delphic oracle is what happens immediately after Oedipus flees Corinth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, subsequent Theban King Oedipus leaves Corinth to seek answers to questions about his parentage. In the event of unanswerable questions, royals seek divine wisdom expressed through their oracles. The most respected oracle is at Delphi, which is where Oedipus goes.

Colonus is where Theban King Oedipus died.

Colonus was located to the northwest of the important city of Athens. It was famous for a temple of the sea god Poseidon, a still-standing temple to the blacksmith god Hephaestus, and a sacred grove to the Eumenides, the gracious, kind-hearted or kindly' female deities of vengeance, fate, and the 'anger of the dead'. It also was famous as the hometown of the generations of the wealthy, powerful family that produced Sophocles [496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.], the playwright who told the tragic story of Oedipus and his descendants.

That a pestilence afflicts Thebes and that Oedipus can end it is what the priest says to Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the priest of Zeus has absolute faith in Theban King Oedipus as the ultimate problem-solver. He explains that Oedipus has two things going for him. In fact, he describes Oedipus as the best of men and the most favored by the gods.

Hang herself and blind himself are what Jocasta and Oedipus do when they discover that Teiresias and the oracle told the truth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet announces that Theban King Oedipus is King Laius' killer. This is in line with the Delphic oracle's prediction that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother. The Corinthian messenger and the Theban shepherd verify the facts in the prophecy's realization.

That she disrespects the gods and that her request already is being processed but that she will dislike the results are reasons why it is ironic that Jocasta burns incense to the gods in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta burns incense and offers a garland as sacrifices to Apollo the god of prophecy. But she disrespects him by interfering with her first husband King Laius' prophecy and by disparaging oracles and prophets. She makes the request that Oedipus leave the past behind and that the pestilence be ended soon. The requests will be granted, but she is going to dislike the way in which each is realized.