Oedipus
• Laius married to Jocasta
• Prophecy that Laius’ son would kill him and
have children with his own mother, Jocasta
• Laius ordered newborn son to be exposed
• Infant discovered by a shepherd OR shepherd
didn’t have heart to leave the child to die
– Shepherd gave child to Queen of Corinth, wife of
Polybus, who raised child as their own
– Oedipus = swollen foot
Oedipus
• Learned from Delphi prophecy that he would
kill his father and marry his mother
• Thought Polybus, king of Corinth, was his
father, so he left to avoid the prophecy
• Oedipus met an old man in the road
– Old man and his guards attacked Oedipus
– Oedipus killed the old man and his guards except
for one
Oedipus and the Sphinx
• Sphinx had been killing travelers who couldn’t
answer her riddle
– What walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the
afternoon, and 3 legs at night?
• Oedipus answered correctly: Man
– because as infant would crawl on it hands and feet
(4); in most of his life, he would walk on two legs;
but when he was old, he would have to rely on a
walking stick (3)
• The Sphinx drowned herself
Amphora, 450-440 B.C.
Oedipus
• Creon married Oedipus to Jocasta and gave
him the kingship as a reward
– Oedipus had just unknowingly married his mother
• Oedipus ruled happily with Jocasta until their
sons were grown
– Had 4 kids
• Polyneices, Eteocles, Ismene, Antigone
• Then Thebes was struck with a plague that led
to a famine . . . Things were bad
Oedipus
• Sends Creon to Delphi
– Oracle said murderer of Laius must be punished
• Teiresias
– Blind prophet
– Reveals that Oedipus had killed Laius
• Oedipus refuses to believe and investigates
further
Oedipus
• Messenger comes to Thebes to announce that
Polybus, king of Corinth, has died
– Oedipus believes he has beaten the prophecy
– Messenger reveals Oedipus was adopted!
• Jocasta puts together the truth and slips away
• Oedipus learns from the old shepherd that
Laius was his father and Jocasta his mother
Oedipus
• Oedipus goes to find his mother/wife
• Finds she has committed suicide
– She hung herself
• Oedipus puts out his own eyes
– Doesn’t want to see the shame in his new world
• Oedipus goes into exile
– His daughter Antigone went with him
– Both daughters present when he died (antigone
and Ismene)
Seven Against Thebes
• While Oedipus was in exile, sons Eteocles and
Polyneices were to alternate years as rulers
• However, Eteocles refused to give up the
throne when Polyneices returned to Thebes
for his turn and banished his brother from
Thebes
• Polyneices went to Argos to appeal to king
Adrastus for help
• Recruited Argives and began the war of the
Seven Against Thebes
Antigone
• Waited in Thebes during the war for the Seven
Against Thebes to see which brother would
win
• Neither won, and Creon, Jocasta’s brother,
became the ruler of Thebes
• Polyneices and the others who died fighting
against Thebes, were to be left as bird food
according to a decree from Creon
Antigone
• Ismene refused to go against Creon’s orders
• Antigone snuck out and performed burial rites
for Polyneices even though it was a crime
– Ismene tried to share the blame, but Antigone
wouldn’t let her
• Creon punishes Antigone by entombing her in
a cave
Antigone in front of the dead
Polynices – Nikoforos Lytras - 1865
Antigone at her Brother's Grave
Red Figure, 4th century BC
Musáe du Louvre, Paris
Antigone
• Her fiance, Creon’s son Haemon, went to
rescue her, but she had already hung herself
• Creon came to let her out as well, at which
point Haemon tried to kill Creon, failed and so
killed himself in front of his father
• Creon’s wife, Eurydice, killed herself out of
grief of losing all 3 of her children
• Creon’s pride killed his niece and destroyed his
own family