Oedipus the King
Greek Theatre
• 5th Century
(BCE)
Athens,
Greece
Oedipus the King
Greek Theatre
Oedipus the King
The Festival of Dionysus
•
Annual Festival every March honoring the God Dionysus
involved a huge drama festival
–
Festival lasted 5 days
–
One of the city leaders (“archon”) would give 3 tragic poets
the chance to produce plays for the competition
–
Each competitor was assigned 3 actors and a group for the
chorus
–
Each tragedian put on three tragedies and a satyr drama
–
In the early years the plays were thematically connected and
put on as a tetralogy, but Sophocles and Euripides helped to
introduce a single play format.
–
The plays were interpretations or extensions of well-known
Greek myths – the audiences would have been familiar with
the general stories and characters, but each playwright would
give his own unique “spin” to the story.
Oedipus the King
Greek Theatre
Oedipus the King
•
•
•
•
•
Sophocles
496-406 BCE (lived to be 90 years old!)
Won fame for his victories in theatre
competitions
Wrote approximately 120 plays, but only 7 of
them remain intact
Won 24 times at the festival of Dionysus
Introduced several innovations to the Greek
dramatic traditions
–
–
–
–
•
Ended the tradition of writing trilogies for the
contest
Painted background scenery
Changed number of speaking actors from 2 to
3
Increased the size of the chorus from 12 to 15
Philosophically conservative: in contrast to
the Sophists, he believed in the divine
knowledge of the Gods rather than the
knowledge of mankind.
Oedipus the King
The plays: then vs. now
– During this time, Greek society was in transition
between an oral and a written culture, books
were not widely available until the end of the 5th
C.
– People learned through memorization. The
festivals of Dionysus continued into the 4th
century with the older plays of Sophocles still
being performed as “revivals”.
– Around 330 BCE, Lykurgus, an Athenian politician
passed a law that required the preparation of
“official” versions of the plays for re-performance.
These were made based on a mix of what was
already available in written and oral material, and
even these manuscripts (which were written on
papyrus, not paper, had to be re-copied).
– The original manuscripts didn’t even have
divisions between words, or assignments of lines
to individual speakers, and didn’t necessarily
have fixed titles created by the playwright.
Oedipus the King
The Oedipus Myth
• The “prequel” to OTK.
• A story that all, or most
of Greek citizens would
have been familiar with.
• …and you thought
YOUR family was
messed up.
Oedipus the King
• Pythia  The Delphic Oracle
(believed to be able to communicate
with Apollo and give prophetic
messages about the future)
Apollo  important Greek God, at
various times described as the god of
truth and prophecy, as well as healing
and the bringing of plague.
The shrine of Apollo at Delphi 
Where citizens of Greece would go to pray
and listen to the word of Apollo through
the Oracle.
Oedipus the King
It all comes back to
KUNG FU PANDA…
I know you all know this story very
well…(it is one of the greatest stories
of all time, after all), but let me remind
you anyway:
So there’s this sacred dragon
scroll that is supposed to
contain mystical secrets of the
universe that can unlock
amazing powers in anyone
who reads it.
But this dragon scroll is only
to be read by the legendary
“dragon warrior”– a master of
kung fu who could use this
knowledge to do great things.
Oedipus the King
It all comes back to
KUNG FU PANDA…
Tai Lung, who is a great kung
fu warrior and who is also
seen by the wise Master
Oogway to have “darkness” in
his heart, tries to take the
scroll by force.
Oogway stops him and locks
him up in a prison with
thousands of guards just to
keep this dangerous warrior
from obtaining the powerful
scroll.
Oedipus the King
It all comes back to
KUNG FU PANDA…
One day, Master Oogway calls his
student, Master Shifu to tell him
that he has had a vision of Tai Lung
returning to steal the dragon scroll.
Shifu feels intense fear upon
hearing his master’s prophecy, and
immediately sends a messenger to
the prison with a command to
double the number of guards so
that the prediction may never come
true.
Oogway offers some words of
wisdom at this point:
“One often meets his destiny on the
road he takes to avoid it.”
Oedipus the King
It all comes back to
KUNG FU PANDA…
Upon arriving at the prison, the
messenger, Zheng is assured by the
head guard that there are more
than enough guards and that there
is no chance of Tai Lung escaping.
The guard takes Zheng down to the
cell where TaiLung is shackled
helplessly. As they leave the room,
the guard confidently slaps Zheng
on the back, sending one of his
feathers over near the imprisoned
Tai Lung.
Oedipus the King
It all comes back to
KUNG FU PANDA…
The crafty TaiLung uses the
feather that Zheng dropped
to pick the lock on his
shackles and break free from
the prison…
Oogway’s prophecy comes
true. TaiLung DOES
return…but only because of
Shifu’s attempts to prevent it
from happening…
“One often meets his destiny
on the road he takes to avoid
it.”
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King