The Oedipus Cycle (collective work) (edit title/settings)

Characters/People edit see section history

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• Oedipus: The protagonist, king of Thebes
• Creon: When Oedipus eventually died, Creon took over for him, as king as the city of Thebes. (Or something like that. I can't remember it all since I haven't read Oedipus Colonus, yet.)
• Theseus: King of Athens
• Antigone: At the beginning of Antigone, she wants to bury her brother, Polynieces, because he supposedly committed treason against Thebes, and Creon, the current king at the time, refused to give him a burial, even though he died in battle. Antigone wanted to honor both of her brothers, and that showed her strong, resolute character, which is surprising for that period, especially when women weren't given the same rights, in ancient Greek life, as in most other ancient cultures.
• Polybus: The "father of Oedipus, and the husband of Merope. Also, the king of Isthmus.
• Zeus: King of the gods - He also happens to be unfaithful, a rapist, and has a very short temper.Oh, and he also hates humans. I wouldn't want to have him as a god now, would I?
• Haemon: Son of Creon
• Jocasta: Queen of Thebes -Kills herself, like many other characters in the story.
• Teiresias: Blind seer. He greatly angered Oedipus at the beginning of the book by telling him that he was the murderer of the previous king, Laios. Seemed to be very wise. (That must be why he's called the seer!)
• Demeter: Sister of Zeus, goddess of grain and the fields
• Cadmus: Add a description of this character.
• Laius: Father of OedipusKilled by Oedipus, and that 's how the story begins, with Oedipus finding out that the prophecy was true, he really did kill his father.
• Persephone: Daughter of Demeter, wife of Hades, goddess of youth and flowers(Doomed to an eternity of eating pomegranates, and being around cranky old Hades all the time. So much fun.)
• Pericles
• Dionysus: God of wine - That must mean he gets tipsy all the time, right? Just imagine it, Dionysus shows up to a party, already drunk! Lots of wine, all the time. He's not a very useful god then, if he just drinks and parties.
• Phoebus: God of the sunDoesn't he ride across the sky in his little chariot every night or something? That wouldn't be too much fun, because he probably gets some major sunburns all the time. The other gods must have to buy an awful lot of sun screen for him.
• Polyneices: Son of Oedipus
• Ismene: Daughter of OedipusMore cautious than Antigone, that's for sure.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Thebes is tossed on a murdering sea and cannot lift her head from the death surge. A rust consumes the buds and fruits of the eart; the herds are sick; children die unborn, and labor is vain.”

  Oedipus in Prologue of "Oedipus"

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• You with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life,

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• What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can.

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• I curse myself as well ... if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house, here at my hearth, with my full knowledge, may the curse I just called down on him strike me!

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• Oh it’s terrible when the one who does the judging judges things all wrong.

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• How terrible—to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees!

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• “No woman,” they say, “ever deserved death less, and such a brutal death for such a glorious action.

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• “You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see— you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!”

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• he digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying, “You, you’ll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness—blind!”

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• The hero of the play is thus his own destroyer; he is the detective who tracks down and identifies the criminal—who turns out to be himself.

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• I am not the man, not now: she is the man if this victory goes to her and she goes free.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Thebes: Home of Oedipus
• Heaven
• Sophocles
• Laos
• Apollo
• Cithaeron
• Labdacus
• Attica
• Thrace
• Athens: Home of Theseus
• Persia
• Colonus: Place not far from Athens
• Corinth

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Metamorphosis, and followed by Walden.

Preceded by Tales from Ovid, and followed by The Aeneid.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Sophocles (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Bernard Knox (Editor)
2. David Grene (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 882.01

Notes for Parents edit see section history

The violence happens offstage, but the themes range to adult

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( S ) › Sophocles
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Drama › Classical & Early
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Drama › Greek & Roman
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Project Gutenberg: Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: Full text of the plays in English translation by F. Storr, available to read online, or to download in various eBook formats.
• Perseus Digital Library: Oedipus: Full text of the play in Greek available online.