In some accounts he was cast into the sea, where he was eventually found by a fisherman. The couple passed their infant son to one of the servants and implored him to hide the baby out in the mountains where he would eventually perish. The priestess of the oracle at ancient Delphi, Greece, by John Collier ( Public Domain ) Delphi, Centre of the World and Home to a Powerful Oracle.Eagle Mistakes Bald Head for a Rock: The Bizarre Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Aeschylus.Once this was done, and the infant was unable to crawl and eventually walk, Laius prepared to get rid of the child.
To prevent this, he pierced his son's ankles and joined them together. Laius did not heed the oracle’s warning, however, and the couple soon gave birth to a son.ĭespite ignoring the warnings, Laius was still fearful of the prophecy coming true. The oracle declared that if Laius produced a son, that son would ultimately kill him. The tale begins with King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, who one day decided to consult the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. This telling largely follows the same lines as Seven Against Thebes and Antigone, combining the major plot points of the two.Ĭombined with other, less complete sources of the myth from Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Aeschylus, and Euripides can be used to create a more complete picture of Oedipus’ life. In Euripides’ account ( Phoenissae), Oedipus’ story is told from the perspective of his birth mother Jocasta. However, rather than focusing on Oedipus’ life, these plays focus on the fate of Thebes during his reign. This trilogy is made up of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, all of which survive. The latter records the war between Oedipus’ two sons Eteocles and Polynices.Īnother of the most complete sources on Oedipus’ life is Sophocles’ The Three Theban Plays, another trilogy of plays written in the 4th century BC. The trilogy is made up of Laius, Oedipus and Seven against Thebes, but only the last one survives today. But the sharp-eyed Erinys saw it, and destroyed his warlike sons through mutual slaughter.” ( Olympian One, 35)Īeschylus’ Seven against Thebes was a trilogy of plays written in 467 BC, and is suspected to have been one of the most complete sources of Oedipus’ later life. “In such a way does Fate, who keeps their pleasant fortune to be handed from father to son, bring at another time some painful reversal together with god-sent prosperity, since the destined son met and killed Laius, and fulfilled the oracle of Pytho, spoken long before. In his first Olympian Ode, the Greek poet Pindar (518-438 BC) briefly covers some of the tale. However, it is important to shed some light on these sources that provide the finer details as well. In this article, the most extensive ones have been combined in order to create the clearest picture of the myth possible. There are a number of sources from the 5th century BC which tell of Oedipus’ life. Complete with blind prophets and deadly riddles, the tale of Oedipus’ life is not one to be missed.
#OEDIPUS AND THE BLIND PROPHET FULL#
In doing so, the story is full of intrigue and revelation. It warns that fate cannot be neither challenged nor escaped. The myth of Oedipus contains moral lessons about the dangers of tempting fate.
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