What happened before the play
Oedipus Rex begins…
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Cadmus was told by
the Oracle at Delphi
to follow a cow and
where the cow
stopped he should
build a city and call it
Thebes.
So he did.
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Until Cadmus
discovered a nasty
dragon who was
guarding the well.
So, he killed it.
Unfortunately, this
particular dragon was
the god Apollo’s
favorite.
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And cursed Cadmus’
family for generations
to come.
The Oracle at Delphi
(Apollo’s oracle) said
that at some point in
time a king and queen
of Thebes would have
a son who would kill
his father and marry
his mother.
Apollo God of light and the sun.
Also of truth,
prophecy,
healing,
plague,and
music.

King Lauis and Queen
Jocasta had a baby.
Sadly, King Lauis
knew of the curse put
on his family by
Apollo.
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And put a metal bar
between the baby’s
feet and gave him to a
Messenger (#1) who
put the baby out in
the woods to die.
Feeling sorry for the
baby, the Messenger
(#1) gave the baby to
a shepherd who took
him home.
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The Queen, Merope,
was having trouble
conceiving
The Shepherd gave the
baby to Queen Merope
and King Polybus
The King and Queen
were elated and never
told the baby he was
adopted.
The named him
Oedipus or “Swollen
foot”
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…But poor Oedipus
had to deal with rumors
that he was not his
parents’ real son.
He defied their wishes
and went to the Oracle
at Delphi for answers.
They told him that he
would murder his
father and marry his
mother.
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He traveled away
from Corinth and got
into a fight with a
man on the road
Oedipus, enraged that
the man would not
move out of the way,
killed him
The next town he
came to was Thebes.
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And poor Thebes was dealing
with one who went about
burning buildings and killing
people.
According to legend, a sphinx
has the head of a woman, body
of a lion, tail of a serpent and
wings.
No one could solve her riddle:
What goes on four legs in the
morning, two at midday, and
three in the evening?”
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Said Oedipus and so
they made him King
of Thebes, since the
previous king had
never come back from
a trip he had taken.
Oedipus also married
the Queen, Jocasta,
and had several
children.
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Even after the sphinx
left town there was
still a plague. People
were dying, crops
were failing, and
nothing seemed to be
going right.
So begins Oedipus Rex