Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) A Theban Myth
The First Oracle
Long ago Laius and his wife Jocasta bore a son. Before a name was given to this infant, his life was clouded with the presage of disaster. Apollo foretold as an oracle: the child was destined
one day to kill his father and to become his own mother's husband. And of course the mortals were presumptuous enough to try to thwart the gods. Laius and Jocasta decided that the child must die but they would not commit the crime of infanticide themselves but rather delivered the child to a servant of theirs, a shepherd, with orders to abandon it on the mountain side, its feet cruelly pierced with an iron pin, so that it might not even crawl to safety.
With all this done the word of Apollo and human compassion prevailed. The shepherd did not have the heart to leave the child to perish and instead, he entrusted it to a fellow shepherd in
Corinth. The child was taken far from the Theban borders. Eventually, the King of Corinth,
Polybus, who was childless, adopted the child and it was raised royally as his own and named
Oedipus meaning "swollen foot" because of its deformity.
18 Years Later (or so) the Oracle is Repeated
Oedipus grew and was honoured as a young man as the Prince of Corinth. Although everyone knew he was the foster-son of the King, Oedipus believed the king and queen to be his true parents. One day someone started spreading rumours that Oedipus overhead which called
into question his parentage. Oedipus went to Delphi to confirm the truth of his parentage, but instead he heard the terrible prediction concerning himself: that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Again, as his parents had done, he sought to change the outcome of his apparent fate and alter the oracle. He fled from Corinth, resolved never again to set eyes on Merope or Polybus, whom he assumed were his parents as long as they lived to try to prevent the
oracle from coming true. Oedipus wandered long and far, and during his journey, where three roads meet, he crossed paths with an old man and his slaves. The old man was rude and aggressive and ordered Oedipus off the rode. Oedipus refused to budge and in a fit of early road rage killed the man and all the slaves -or at least he thought.
Eventually Oedipus landed in Thebes. The city was in a state of calamity and confusion. The
Theban King, Laius, had been killed recently by an unknown traveller on a lonely road.
(Can you guess who happens to be the murderer?) The city was in the grip of a deadly monster, the Sphinx - half woman and half lioness. Anyone who could not answer her riddle was destroyed.
The riddle was: Which animal has but one voice, but travels on four feet in the morning, two at mid-day and three in the evening?
Of course Oedipus was able to answer the riddle, destroyed the Sphinx's power and was so well received into the city that he was name the new king and married the existing queen and her name just happened to be Jocasta!! And many sons and daughters were born to them.
Everything was going well for about 15 years until the gods just couldn't take it anymore.
Disgusted and appalled by Oedipus' unwitting sins, they brought famine and pestilence to
Thebes. The people, of course, looked to their great king who had proven to be invaluable before when they were close to extinction.
And this is where the play begins!