Teacher’s notes
Oedipus Myth
Origins: Cadmus, founder of Thebes, angered Apollo by killing the god’s favorite snake
Apollo’s punishment: curse for each generation on Cadmus’ family to be prophecied by
Apollo’s oracle
Laius’ curse: if he has a son (with Jocasta), the son would kill his father and marry his
mother
Laius’ response after the birth of a son:
 Rivet driven between the infant’s ankles
 The child was to be hung by his ankles on Mr. Cithaeron to die from exposure
***HUGE GLITCH (caused by Laius’ tempting fate)***
 The servant sent on this mission takes pity on the infant.
 He gives the boy (without revealing the child’s identity) to a shepherd.
 The shepherd gives the infant to the king of Corinth and his queen (Polybus and
Merope), who name him Oedipus (swollen foot)
Oedipus as a young man (consulting with oracle of Apollo at Delphi because he has been
taunted for not being the true son of Polybus)
 Driven from the shrine by Pythia (priestess), who reiterates the prophecy
 Flees Corinth (thinking he’s leaving his father and mother)
While on the way to Thebes
 He encounters a charioteer demands that he move aside
 When he refuses, the driver moves the horses forward, a wheel of the cart grazes
O’s foot, and someone strikes him on the head with a goad.
 Oedipus, enraged, kills the rider and charioteer
Arrival in Thebes
Problems with Sphinx
 Female monster
 Eating Thebans one by one if they cannot answer her riddle (4 legs in morning, 2
at midday, 3 in the evening)
 Creon (brother of Laius, who has been killed) offers his sister’s (Jocasta) hand in
marriage and a share of the kingdom to the solver of the riddle
 Oedipus solves the riddle (man crawls, walks upright, walks with a cane)
Other Theban issues
 Creon initially unable to address Laius’ murder because of chaos caused by the
Sphinx
 After two decades of ruling Thebes, Oedipus must deal with a plague caused by
the fact that Laius’ murderer is unpunished and living in Thebes.
 Oedipus opens an investigation as the play opens.