Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles: Composed for Male Chorus and Orchestra (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Sophocles Sophocles

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9780332286648: Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles: Composed for Male Chorus and Orchestra (Classic Reprint)

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ISBN 10: 0332286649 ISBN 13: 9780332286648

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2020

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Excerpt from Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles: Composed for Male Chorus and Orchestra

Laius, son of Labdacus, being childless consulted the oracle of Apollo, which warned him that if he had a son, he should die by that son's hands. On the birth of 'a son therefore he desired Jocasta to destroy the babe but she, not having the heart to do this, gave it to a shepherd slave to make away with; who took it to Mount Cithaeron with its feet' pierced through and tied to gether; and there falling in with a shepherd of Polybus, king of Corinth, in pity gave the child to him to take away to his own land. The child was adopted by the king Polybus and Merope who were childless, and brought up as their son. One day at a feast a drunkard taunted him with not being their genuine son; and as they did not satisfy him when he questioned them on the subject he secretly went to Delphi to consult Apollo. The oracle merely answered that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother; and to avoid, as he thought, all chance of this he would not return to Corinth. Travelling alone to Phocis he met in a narrow road Laius in a chariot (who was also going to Delphi, to ask whether his son was really dead). A quarrel having arisen, Oedipus, not knowing who he was, killed Laius and his attendants, except one slave who escaped. He then travelled on into Boeotia, and came to Thebes; where Creon, the queen's brother, himself a descendant of Cadmmi, succeeded to the throne of Laius. Thebes was now in great distress from the Sphinx; a winged animal half woman and half lion, who posted herself on a rock near Thebes, and proposed to every Theban who passed a riddle, what animal is it that is both qua druped, biped, and triped, &c. Whoever was unable to solve it was killed by her. In this dis tress Creon promised the throne and the queen's hand to any one who should solve it. Oedipus solved the riddle, and married his mother Jocasta, with whom he shared the kingdom. Some time afterwards Thebes was wasted by a pestilence.

Here the plot of the play begins. The scene is the front of the royal palace.

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