Oedipus and the servant who did not have the heart to expose him The Myth of Oedipus is marked by a series of shocking reversals • the Corinthian stranger turns out to be a Theban native • the new king of Thebes (which Oedipus becomes after defeating the Sphinx) turns out to be the cause of the plague that has fallen upon the city • the Head of state becomes its most humble beggar • the savior of Thebes turns out to be its greatest source of pollution • the bright solver of riddles turns out to have been the most blind Oedipus, now a blind beggar, is led out of Thebes by his daughter Antigone Medusa: ancestor of the Sphinx Cerberus, the dog of Hades The two-headed dog of triple bodied Geryon (here fighting Herakles) The serpent guarding the apples of the Hesperides The eagle that eternally devours Prometheus’ liver The Lernean hydra (1 immortal and 8 regenerative heads, the latter cut off by the sickle of Herakles) The Chimaira: part lion, part goat, part serpent The invulnerable Nemean lion The Sphinx as a sexual monster The sexually aggressive Sphinx The TRIPARTITE nature of the sphinx 2 parts are animal, 1 part human Plato’s discussion of the tripartite soul of man: • one part bodily appetites • one part emotions • one part controlling intelligence References to feet in the genealogy of Oedipus • Labdacus: man with shortened foot (the letter lambda was first written in the form of an inverted V, with one long and one short stroke) • Laius “lefty” suggests the uneven strength of the cripple • Oedipus: man with swollen feet (his ankles were pierced as a baby) Oedipus blinds himself with pins after he discovers who he really is Bellerophon defeats the Chimaira riding on Pegasos Titian. Diana and Actaeon (1559). A version in which Actaeon is deliberately intruding upon a scene clearly intended to be off limits.