The Theban Saga
Hero Stories,
A Strange City,
A Very Close Family
Myth, legend, saga and folktale
Modern scholars use these terms to distinguish the
subject matter of traditional stories:
Myth means stories which focus on the gods, their
works, and their connections with humans.
Legend and saga focus on human history: the stories
of the great heroes, and civic history.
Folktales are typically popular stories which focus
on character types (e.g. “the foolish boy” “the
youngest daughter”) and are regarded as stories
only.
We use these terms, but the Greeks did not, though
they would judge some stories serious and some
frivolous.
Myth, legend, saga and folktale
Greek hero tales cross the line between myth and saga,
because so often the gods are directly involved with
founding the heroic line and guiding the heroes’
destinies.
“Mythic” heroes like Oedipus, Orestes and Heracles
were regarded as historical figures, who lived in a time
when men and gods were closer.
Many Greeks (for example, Herodotus) recognized the
fantastic elements of these stories and tried to
rationalize them, while still regarding the heroes
themselves as real.
Greek heroes often share story elements with folktale
heroes, but have strong connection with history and
sacred practice.
Motifs and Archetypes
The psychologist Carl Jung proposed that in addition to
our individual unconscious minds, there is a “collective
unconscious,” an underpinning of ideas and images we
share by virtue of sharing the human experience.
Archetypes are images, story patterns, and connections
that reflect the collective unconscious. Consequently
they show up in many variants, all over the world.
Vladimir Propp studied Russian folk tales and identified
important motifs and shared structures between many
different tales.
Motifs are story elements or functions: “the characters
may change, but the functions do not.”
Hero Tales
Many scholars have observed that the heroes of myth
share some important characteristics:
Extraordinary birth and childhood
•virgin birth (Jesus), divine parentage (most Greek
heroes)
He faces opposition from the beginning
•Oedipus is left to die, Herakles must serve his cousin,
Perseus & Moses are set afloat as infants
His enemies instigate his achievement
•Jason’s cruel uncle sends him for the golden fleece,
Heracles’ cruel cousin sends him on the Labors
Hero Stories
He is helped by at least one ally, often divine
•Usually Athena, in Greek myth
He faces apparently insurmountable obstacles, often
pursuing a Quest
•Heracles’ 12 labors, getting the golden fleece
(Jason) or Medusa’s head (Perseus)
In his quests, he faces conflicts with often supernatural
forces that challenge him in essential human realms:
spiritual, mental, sexual, physical.
•Gilgamesh must deal with Ishtar’s advances and the
monster Humbaba; Oedipus outwits the Sphinx, Jesus
faces down Satan’s temptations, Heracles goes to
Hades . . .
Hero Stories
He may have to observe taboos
•Orpheus can’t look back at Eurydice
He faces death or a metaphorical underworld journey
•Heracles, Theseus, Orpheus and Odysseus go to the
underworld; Jesus experiences death, Gilgamesh & other
heroes go to the ends of the earth or into lonely
desperate trials
At the end of his quest, he may be rewarded, or through his
suffering he may have brought benefit to his community
•Herakles betters the world, and his death is transformed
into immortality, Gilgamesh becomes a better king, Jesus
is resurrected and brings the hope of resurrection
Hero Stories
How universal are these stories? Scholars disagree.
Some issues:
•Sometimes stories from other societies are not
understood properly, and aboriginal styles of tale
telling can be mis-translated or mis-told to reflect
familiar story patterns (often a complaint with Native
American stories).
•Even similar motifs may have different specific
meanings for different peoples; similar figures (for
example, the owl) may have a similar range of
meanings but different values (positive or negative,
scary or not, relevance in other tales).
•In each society, individuals tell stories differently.
Heroine Stories
What about Heroines?
Greek society has a patriarchal structure and genderbased division of labor, so quest stories tend to
focus on male figures (who may travel, fight and
adventure in the culture’s schema)
Because of our prejudice towards written, narrative
sources, we often overlook heroine stories that
might be told in different ways, for different
purposes.
(In other words, if the hero stories are entertaining
tales, and the heroine stories are told in a spare
format associated with sacred practice – we will
ignore the heroine stories!)
Heroine Stories
There tends to be more variation in heroine stories.
Typical in many stories is a rape or kidnapping,
possibly metaphorically recreating the central “rite
of passage” in women’s lives: marriage and leaving
her birth family.
Many heroines endure great suffering as young
women and young mothers, finally becoming the
“founding mother” of a new city or society through
a heroic son.
Some heroines exist in part or in whole as a
counterpoint of a hero story: Ariadne to Theseus,
Medea to Jason. Yet often these heroines have an
independent place in religious cult and ideology.
The Theban Saga
Thebes is one of the oldest cities of Greece, site of a vast
Mycenaean palace, and powerful well into the Classical
period.
In Greek drama (most of which was
written in Athens) Thebes appears
as a strange, dangerous city where
anything can happen:
Dragon-born warriors,
Maenads,
Man-eating sphinxes,
Incestuous marriages
and who knows what else?
The Founding of Thebes
Most cities have complex foundation legends that
probably say something about the inhabitants’ views
of their role in cosmic and national history, and their
civic identity and values.
Like many such
stories, Thebes’
foundation
begins with an
abduction story
. . . Europa and
the Bull.
The Founding of Thebes
Zeus was attracted to
Europa, a young girl from
Tyre in Asia Minor. He
appeared to her as a bull.
When she got on his back,
he took her across the sea
to Crete.
Europe was named after her.
Her brother Cadmus went
looking for her. He
consulted Apollo at Delphi.
Apollo told him to forget
Europa, and follow a certain
cow . . .
The Founding of Thebes
Cadmus followed the cow till
it stopped, then prepared to
sacrifice it. When his men
went to get water from a
nearby spring, they were
killed by the serpent who
guarded it. Cadmus killed the
serpent.
Cadmus sowed the serpent’s
teeth to grow new warrior
companions. They killed each
other, leaving five who
became the founders of
Thebes’ main families.
The Founding of Thebes
Then Cadmus had to serve Ares,
the serpent’s master, for a year.
Afterwards he married Harmonia,
daughter of Ares and Aphrodite.
Among their descendants:
Semele, Dionysus, & Pentheus.
They ruled for a long time and
were finally transformed into
serpents – a connection of
Thebes and chthonic powers?
Four generations later came
Oedipus.
Harmonia as dragon-beseiged maiden
Oedipus: Sources
Our best source for the Oedipus story
is Sophocles, an Athenian tragedian
who wrote three plays on the theme
from 444 – 404 BCE:
Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) tells
of how Oedipus discovered how he
had fallen into horrible crimes just as
he tried to avoid them;
Oedipus at Colonus tells how he died
in exile;
Antigone tells how his daughter and
most of his family are destroyed in the
aftermath of still more family crimes.
Sophocles
Oedipus: Sources
Aeschylus is the author of Seven Against
Thebes, which details the war between
Oedipus’ two sons.
Ovid tells anecdotes from the life of Tiresias,
and other authors fill in the blanks.
Art shows several
scenes of note from
the tale: notably,
Oedipus and the
sphinx.
Oedipus
Oedipus’ father, Laius, was cursed because he kidnapped
the young son of his host Pelops, a violation of
hospitality. Later, the Delphic oracle told him:
I will give you a
son, but you are
destined to die at
his hands. This is
the decision of
Zeus.
When Laius and his wife
Jocasta had a son, they
exposed him to die, after
piercing his feet. But the
slave to whom they
entrusted the task had
mercy and didn’t do it.
The young son, called Oedipus (“Pierced feet”), was
raised as the son of the king and queen of Corinth.
Oedipus
Later Oedipus also went to Delphi, after a companion
taunted him that he wasn’t his parents’ true son. The
oracle told him:
You are fated to couple
Horrified, Oedipus left Corinth
with your mother, you will
to take himself far away from his
bring a breed of children
supposed parents.
into the light that no man
can bear to see – you will
At a crossroads near Delphi, he
kill your father, the one
met an arrogant old man and his
who gave you life!
entourage.
The driver shouldered me aside – I struck him in anger! And the
old man brought down his two-pronged prod straight at my
head! I paid him back with interest – killed them, every one.
Oedipus
Proceeding on his way, Oedipus came to Thebes, which was
under attack by a terrible monster, the sphinx.
The sphinx would kill all
passers-by who couldn’t
answer her riddle:
What walks on four legs in
the morning,
Two legs in the afternoon,
And three legs in the
evening?
Oedipus was the only one
to answer her question
correctly:
M
A
N
Oedipus Tyrannus
Oedipus entered Thebes as a hero. He married the recentlywidowed queen and became king. He and Jocasta had four
beautiful children: twin boys and two girls.
Then came a plague. At the Thebans’ urgent request, Delphi
tells them why:
Relief from the plague can
Oedipus calls on Tiresias to
only come one way:
uncover the murderers.
Uncover the murderers of
Tiresias is at first reluctant,
Laius, put them to death
then, provoked, announces:
or drive them into exile.
From this day onward, speak to
no one, not the citizens, not
myself! You are the curse, the
corruption of the land!
Oedipus is enraged,
suspecting treachery. But
he pursues the truth.
Oedipus Tyrannus
Through Oedipus’ relentless inquiry, all the pieces fall into
place: He discovers from a servant that he was adopted,
then that he was sent from Thebes as an infant.
Jocasta figures it out a moment before he does, and goes
off to commit suicide. Finally Oedipus realizes:
Oedipus
blinds
himself and
goes into
exile.
O light! May this be the
last time I look upon you!
I was born from one who
should not have born me,
lived with those I
shouldn’t have lived with,
and killed those I should
not have killed!
Oedipus at Colonus
Oedipus Tyrannus ends with Oedipus physically blind, but
finally “seeing” the horrible truths of his life.
Count no man
happy until he
reaches the end of
his life without
suffering!
Oedipus goes into
exile with his young
daughters, Antigone
and Ismene, to lead
him.
Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles wrote Oedipus at Colonus near the end of his
life and it was published after his death.
Oedipus is now shunned and hated because of his
horrible crimes, and he struggles with one of life’s great
injustices:
Know that I was the sufferer of
my deeds, not the agent. This is
why you are afraid of me. How
was I evil in nature? I have come
to this point not knowing what I
did. I suffered and was destroyed
by those who knew (i.e., the
gods).
With his
daughters,
Oedipus takes
refuge in a
sanctuary of
the Furies
(Eumenides)
near Athens.
Oedipus at Colonus
A prophecy has said that Oedipus’ bones will
strengthen the city where they are buried. So two
contingents try to get him back to Thebes:
•Creon, Jocasta’s brother, who still scorns him,
•Polynices, his own son, who is now planning to
attack Thebes since he too has been exiled (more
later)
The Athenian king Theseus protects Oedipus and his
daughters.
Finally a mysterious voice calls Oedipus away, and he
vanishes into the earth – his bones will remain at
Colonus and strengthen Athens.
Seven Against Thebes
Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes continues the story.
After Oedipus went into exile, he left his kingdom in
the hands of his twin sons, Eteocles and Polynices.
Eteocles would rule one year, Polynices the next.
But Eteocles refused to give up his rule, and Polynices
decided to commit the horrible attach to attacking his
own city. He gathered 6 heroes to help him – seven
commanders to lead the attack on Thebes’ seven gates.
The attack fails, and all but one of the commanders are
killed.
Polynices and Eteocles kill each other in single
combat, adding to the family’s self-destruction.
Antigone
Sophocles’ Antigone, actually the earliest of his
Theban plays, completes the story.
After the destruction of the twin
brothers, Creon becomes king of
Thebes. He orders for Eteocles, the
defender, to be buried in state, and
Polynices, the attacker, to be left
unburied for the birds and dogs,
with a death penalty for anyone
caught violating the law.
Antigone refuses to leave her
brother unburied, and after two
attempts to bury him, is caught and
sentenced to death.
Antigone
Creon: Did you dare to
break these laws?
Antigone: Yes, for it was
not Zeus who gave me this
decree, nor did Justice, the
companions of the gods
below, define such laws for
human beings. Nor did I
think your decrees were so
strong that you, a mortal
man, could overrule the
unwritten and unshaken
laws of the gods.
Antigone raises
complex issues about
justice: divine vs.
human, family vs.
society, personal
values vs. abstract
ideals. It also explores
other fundamental
conflicts: male vs.
female, weak vs.
strong, authorities vs.
outcasts.
Antigone
Antigone ends
tragically. Although
Antigone is his niece
and the fiancee of his
own son, Creon orders
her to be buried alive, a
fit punishment in his
eyes.
But Tiresias appears to
tell Creon he should not
execute Antigone.
Finally persuaded, Creon
rushes to unseal the
tomb.
Antigone
But it is too
late. Antigone,
deciding not to
wait for a slow
death, has
already killed
herself.
Creon’s son
commits suicide
in despair, and
Creon’s wife
does the same.
Left alone, Creon contemplates the ruins of his family, in the
wake of his attempts to enforce justice his way.
Tragedy & Oedipus
Greek theater brought out many complex ideas in an
emotional context.
Their complex world view was carried out in ideas of fate,
hubris and hamartia.
Tragedy & Oedipus
Tragedies often spurred
serious discussions among
theater attendees. Some
issues for us:
Hubris – blind
arrogance – often sets
off a chain of events
that leads to
destruction. Was hubris
a factor for any of the
protagonists in the
Theban Saga?
Tragedy & Oedipus
Hamartia – a
tragic flaw – is
often a blind
spot, a
personality
feature, or even
just a chance
deed that causes
disaster for a
character. Is this
a factor in the
Theban saga?
Tragedy & Oedipus
Miasma, or
pollution, follows
Oedipus despite his
moral
blameworthiness –
how can humans
deal with the
inevitable
consequences of
even accidental
actions?
Tragedy & Oedipus
And what is the
role of Fate: did
any of the
characters have a
chance against
the fate the gods
had planned for
them? If not,
what was the
purpose of their
sufferings?
finis