106: Sophocles: Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex, also known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus (Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, pronounced [oidípuːs týrannos]), or Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles.

Summary: "Prior to the start of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus has become the king of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father, Laius (the previous king), and marry his mother, Jocasta (whom Oedipus took as his queen after solving the riddle of the Sphinx). The action of Sophocles's play concerns Oedipus's search for the murderer of Laius in order to end a plague ravaging Thebes, unaware that the killer he is looking for is none other than himself. At the end of the play, after the truth finally comes to light, Jocasta hangs herself while Oedipus, horrified at his patricide and incest, proceeds to gouge out his own eyes in despair" (more).

In his Poetics, Aristotle refers several times to the play in order to exemplify aspects of the genre.

A collection we have used earlier has a translation of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex:

Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm, eds. The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (Modern Library Classics)

Table of Contents of the whole collection:

• Persians ; The Oresteia: Agamemnon ; The Oresteia: Libation bearers ; The Oresteia: Eumenides ; Prometheus Bound / Aeschylus
• Oedipus the king ; Antigone ; Electra ; Oedipus at Colonus / Sophocles
• Alcestis ; Medea ; Hippolytus ; Electra ; Trojan women ; Helen ; Bacchae / Euripides.

The Greek text, edited by Herbert Weir Smyth, is online on the Perseus Hopper at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0191