Oedipus Rex

Sophocles (c.496–c.406 BC), translated by Theodoridis, G., (contributor-contact-email)

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Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, performed circa 429 BC, is a prominent Athenian tragedy initially titled Oedipus and later named Oedipus Tyrannus to differentiate it from the subsequent Oedipus at Colonus. The play, part of Sophocles’ Theban trilogy, was authored after Antigone but precedes it and Oedipus at Colonus in narrative sequence. The story follows Oedipus, King of Thebes, who unknowingly fulfils a prophecy of killing his father, Laius, and marrying his mother, Jocasta. The plot revolves around his quest to find Laius’ murderer in order to end a plague ravaging Thebes, leading to the harrowing discovery that he himself is the culprit. The play concludes with Jocasta’s suicide and Oedipus blinding himself in anguish over his actions. Aristotle, in his Poetics, frequently cites the play as an exemplar of tragic form.

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Theodoridis, G.,

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