The story of Oedipus the King (also called Oedipus Tyrannus and Oedipus Rex) was told in the play by Sophocles written about 430 B.C. and performed in Athens. It won second place in the drama competition that year.

Through the play we learn that the Delphic Oracle prophesied to Laius, the king of Thebes, that he would be killed by his son and that his son would marry his own mother. Shocked by such a prophesy, the king and queen decided to kill their first-born son; they gave him to a shepherd to be put out on a mountainside to die. The infant's feet were pierced and tied together, and he was taken away. However, the shepherd took pity on the child and took him to Corinth where he was adopted by King Polybus and his childless queen.

When he was grown, by chance Oedipus heard that he was not Polybus's son, and he went to Delphi to learn if it was true. The oracle did not answer his question, but prophesied that he would kill his father and marry his mother. To protect his parents, he decided not to return to Corinth. Leaving Delphi, he came upon a man at a crossroads with four attendants who tried to force him from his path. The man prodded him with his stick and Oedipus, arrogant and quick to anger, slew him and three of the attendants. The fourth attendant escaped.

The incident was not further investigated because Thebes was having such problems with a Sphinx, a monster with the body of a winged lion and the breasts and face of a woman. The Sphinx stood on a rock outside the gates and devoured everyone who failed to solve her riddle: "What creature walks on four feet in the morning, on two at noon and on three in the evening?" Another version says: "What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?" [Apollodorus 3.5.7]

Oedipus solved the riddle and the Sphinx hurled herself to her death on the rocks below. [Can you solve the riddle? What walks on four legs in the morning, two at mid-day, and on three legs before evening? Oedipus said it was a man. As an infant, he crawls on all fours at the beginning or "dawn" of his life; when grown, he walks upright; when old, he walks with a cane.]

Oedipus was welcomed as a savior of the city and he was offered the vacant throne. He became king and married the recently widowed queen.

Years later the ill-fated city of Thebes was again stricken, now by a plague. The Delphic Oracle was asked what could stop the city's suffering. The oracle told that the plague would end when the murderer of King Laius was punished. Oedipus dedicated himself to solve the mystery of the murder and thereby rid the city of its curse.

The play reads like a murder mystery, a "Who-done-it?" which leads to its dramatic conclusion.

After you have read the play... Follow-Up Discussion and Research

• Where did drama first develop?
• How did Greek drama evolve?
• Which features of modern drama are similar to or the same as the ancient Greek drama?
• Which features are different?
  • Drama first developed in Athens from its religious ceremonies in honor of the god Dionysus. The first "dramas" were choral and dance presentations and some were based on stories, such as the Iliad or Odyssey and other hero epics. Eventually an actor was added to respond to the chorus. This was first done by the playwright and actor, Thespis. (We still call actors "thespians" today to honor him as the first actor.) A later playwright added a second actor.
  • Sophocles made even more changes. He added a third actor and reduced the chorus from 18 to 15.
  • In Oedipus Rex, the chorus had 15 members, all teenage boys. They represent the elderly citizens of Athens.
  • Part of the chorus would be sung and danced with the accompaniment of musical instruments like the double flute, drums, tambourine, and sometimes the kithara (something like a guitar).
  • Only men would be actors, no women.
  • There were only three actors with speaking parts.
  • Masks were worn by the actors. When an actor went off stage, he would come back on in another role wearing a different mask. There could only be three actors at a time delivering lines, plus the chorus (which often functioned as an additional character).
  • The theater was in the open-air; there were no spotlights, curtains, microphones, or special effects. The audience had to use its imagination to fill in the scenes with detail. Performances were during the day and began at sunrise.
  • The focus of the performance was upon the language of the play, the poetry and song. Translations into English cannot fully capture the beauty of the original Greek poetry.
  • The contests were part of the Great Dionyssia (the biggest celebration after Panathenea) and were held in March. This celebration lasted for six days. The first day was the day of the sacred parade and sacrifices. The next two days were for the dithyrambic dancing contests. During the last three days the drama contests were presented.
  • The playwright was required to present four plays: three tragedies and one satyr comedy.
  • Ten judges were elected and from them five were chosen by lottery to decide the winner. The winner was announced and the Honorable Archon (magistrate) put on the winner's head a crown of ivy, the holy plant of the god Dionysus.

   

The Theater of Dionysos on the South Slope of the Acropolis, Athens.

The chorus, as shown on a Greek vase.

Dramatic masks shown in a mosaic in Pompeii, Italy.

Tragedy The word "tragedy" refers primarily to tragic drama in which a hero suffers some serious misfortune which is logically connected with the hero's actions. Tragedy stresses the vulnerability of human beings whose suffering is brought on by a combination of human and divine actions.	Comedy Greek comedy probably grew from the often satirical choruses of the feast of Dionysus . Aristophanes targeted the abuses of politicians and the destructiveness of war in comedies of great wit.	Satyr Plays Satyr plays were short, slapstick pieces characterized by a chorus of satyrs (half men, half beasts) who act as a farcical backdrop to the traditional mythological heroes of tragedy.
Copyright, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.	Courtesy Etruscan Museum	Copyright, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Above: vase showing actors dressing, and masks.	Above: vase painting showing Zeus and Hermes about to enter into the home of Alkmene, mother of Hercules, in heavy comical costumes (Etruscan Museum)	Above: Vase painting showing satyrs and musicians.
Surviving Tragedy texts available on-line:	Surviving Comedy texts available on-line:	Surviving Satyr Play texts available on-line:
Aeschylus (the "father of tragedy"): Oresteia (trilogy consisting of Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides); The Persians (Perseus and Internet Classics Archive from MIT); Prometheus Bound (Perseus) Sophocles: Oedipus the King (AKA Oedipus Tyrannus is also on Perseus), Antigone (Oedipus's daughter) (Perseus), Oedipus at Colonnus (Perseus); Electra (Perseus). Euripides: Medea, Trojan Women	Aristophanes: The Clouds (Perseus), The Frogs (Perseus), The Birds (Perseus)	Euripides: Cyclops (Perseus)
What do tragedies show us about Athenian way of life?	What do comedies show us about Athenian way of life?	What do satyr plays show us about Athenian way of life?
Aeschylus is considered "the father of the dramatic tragedy", 525?-456 B.C. He is the playwright of "The Persians" (written in 472 B.C., available on-line) which portrayed King Xerxes as a man destroyed by his own hubris, or pride. Sophocles' play Antigone is a critique of absolute power and unenlightened rule. The play details the disasters that befall a society in the midst of change, when long-accepted traditions conflict with interests of a new era, and gives us a view of the thinking of the people of Athens at that time. Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, is told that she cannot bury her dishonored brother. This play is about the conflict between personal obligation (to bury her brother) and respect for authority (which refused her permission to bury her brother). See a Guide to Antigone (Classics Page) for a brief introduction to the play. See brief summaries of Sophocles' plays In Medea by Euripides, views of women are presented (by a man, of course). "Women would be better off as cattle, than as we are - a subspecies of the human race. First - at great expense - we buy ourselves a husband - what is a dowry unless a down-payment on marriage? - but then he owns us, especially our bodies! Thus two wrongs make a worse wrong. And secondly, the big question - will the man we get be all right, or a total write-off? We can't get rid of him, it's not respectable; we can't fight him off, it's not possible. Someone like me, not trained up in your culture, a stranger to your customs and traditions, needs magic powers to keep a husband sweet in bed. And if our husband is not violent, and endures the burden of marriage to us patiently - we are the envy of our friends! If anything else - death would be a better fate. If a man is bored by the company at home, he can go out and find a welcome elsewhere. A woman has only one source of comfort. Men say we live a life of ease at home all day, while they go off to war. They do not understand. Personally I'd rather face the battleline three times than go through childbirth once." (Medea, lines 225 - 250) Read a brief summary of Medea by Euripides.	"The Clouds" which makes fun of philosophers like Socrates; and "Lysistrata" in which the Athenian women sexually boycott their husbands to end a war; "Women in Politics" in which the women take over the government; "The Acharnians" which is an attack on the Peloponnesian War, and more. "The Birds" (online from Perseus Project) is widely regarded as Aristophanes' greatest play. Originally produced in 414 BC in Athens at a time of tumultuous social upheaval and civil strife, "Birds" tells the story of two ordinary men in search of a better life as far as possible from the problems of the city, the choking law courts, corrupt politicians, and endless war. Our heroes conspire to persuade the Birds to join them in the creation of a new city .	Only a few Satyr Play fragments and plays have survived. These satyr plays emphasize sexual comedy. The satyr is an uninhibited creature who is half goat, half man. Satyrs show "animal nature" and were forest dwellers associated with Dionysus, god of wine, procreation, and of drama. Satyrs were the attendants of Dionysus, were great lovers of wine and of assaulting nymphs. Along with the maenads (fairies of the forest), they form the train of the god Dionysus, dancing and singing and were naturally associated with the Festivals of Dionysus.