This story of Oedipus the King was presented by Sophocles at the Festival of Dionysius in Athens of the fifth century before the common era. The words of Oedipus are in black; the words of all the other characters are in blue since there would be only two or three actors on the Greek stage at once. The words of the chorus, representing the people of the city, are in green.

Sophocles

I am Oedipus, king of the city-state of Thebes. I owe a great debt to the citizens of Thebes, because when I was a homeless wanderer I was able to do them a favor and in return they made me king of their city and gave me as a wife the beautiful Jocasta. Today, about 15 years later, Jocasta and I have 4 children, our daughters Antigone and Ismene, and our sons Eteocles and Polyneices. The favor I was able to do Thebes in the beginning was to answer the riddle of the Sphinx, who had besieged the city and was laying it waste with drought, famine, and pestilence. The riddle was "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?"  I was lucky that something about Thebes put me in mind of my childhood, and I got the answer: a human crawls, walks, and walks with a cane. If I had failed to answer correctly the Sphinx would have eaten me, but since I did the Sphinx left Thebes in peace. And, until recently, we have remained peaceful and prosperous.

But a few months ago, the curse returned. I sent a messenger to the Oracle to find out why and the answer was that the old king Laius, king before me and Jocasta's first husband, was murdered and the murderer has never been found nor punished. I regard it as my duty to Thebes to solve this problem as I solved the first, and so I vow to all Thebans that I will discover and punish the murderer. Toward this end I have arranged for a series of interviews; the first is with my second-in-command (and brother-in-law) Creon and the blind prophet Teresias.

Creon, do you know anything at all that will shed light on this crime?

No Oedipus, I do not. Lauis left here with his entourage of bodyguards and never returned. We never suspected a thing until the one bodyguard who escaped returned and told of the attack. I have summoned this bodyguard to come and give testimony at this inquiry.

Please Click the green Play button to see Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Good Creon, I thank you, that was well done. Now, Tereisias, we know that you have the blessing of the gods and the gift to see the future and know things that other men cannot, in return for the loss of your mortal sight. Do you know anything that will help us solve this crime?

Oedipus, I say to you with all respect and honesty that I have nothing to say about this matter.

Oh Creon, surely you can do better than that. The citizens of Thebes are depending on you to help if you can; if you cannot they will doubt that you have the true gift of prophecy.

Oedipus, I say again, I have nothing to say. But I will give you one piece of advice. Drop this investigation; pursue it no further; some things are best left alone and this is one of them. Leave it alone.

Tereisias, I think your strange words are a cover for your lack of knowledge. You have been honored as a seer, but now when your city needs you, this is all you have. I think you have exposed yourself as a fake and a charlatan.

Oh Oedipus, I have attempted to remain silent but you have insulted me beyond reason. Therefore I say to you that the man you seek is you yourself. You are the murderer!

Fraud! You have no answer so you make one up. I see it now, you and Creon have conspired together to weaken my authority with the people of Thebes. You hope to depose me and have Creon become king; Begone, I think you are both guilty of treason against Thebes.

King Oedipus, we the citizens of Thebes, assembled in chorus, wish to speak with you. We hold you in great honor; you have saved us once, and you have ruled us with great wisdom and compassion; we believe you will save us again. But be careful please, you have insulted Tereisias who is beloved by the gods and you have banished Creon who has served you and us faithfully and loyally for all these years. We are afraid and do not know what will come of this anger and suspicion.

Thank you for your words, chorus of Theban citizens, but I will pursue this matter until the end, regardless of who it implicates. And now I will interview the one survivor of the attack on king Lauis. Sir, please tell your story.

We were ten bodyguards accompanying king Lauis and were set upon by a hundred armed men who overwhelmed us and killed the old king. I only escaped because I pretended to be dead until the marauders left. The attackers were many, Oedipus, at least 50.

Sir, I see a discrepancy in your story, how many did you say the attackers were?

At least 20, king....Oh I have borne this lie for too many years Oedipus, please have pity on me; there was only one man who overwhelmed Lauis's bodyguards and killed the old king, when Lauis attempted to bully the stranger off the highway so we could pass. I escaped by running away.

Thank you for your honesty, old soldier. I believe you have paid the price for your lie; you may go in peace. Curiously, this reminds me of an incident from my own past. When I was a homeless wanderer, I too came upon an entourage of soldiers who attempted to bully me off the road. I fought and killed them, and one ran away. This is an amazing coincidence. Next we will interview a servant to the old king. Honored servant, can you tell us anything useful?

I do not think so, lord; I am so old now that I remember the distant past so much more clearly. Perhaps I prefer to remember the old days, when Laius and Jocasta were happy together, before the child was born.

The child! What child? This is the first I have heard of a child of the old king! Where is that child?

King, my apologies; in my age and confusion I have spoken of something that I swore to never speak of again. But you say you value the truth above all, so I will tell you. King Lauis was told by the oracle that he would bear a child who would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Lauis was so horrified by this prophecy that he would not lay again with Jocasta as husband with wife. Jocasta had not heard the prophecy and did not know the reason for the king's coldness, so one night she dressed to attract his interest, refilled his wine glass repeatedly at dinner, and danced for him afterward. These actions had their intended effect and nine months later the ill-fated child was born. Lauis immediately ordered me to steal the child away, staple his feet together, and take him out to leave on the mountain to die. I was a faithful servant to my lord, but I could not leave the child to die, so I gave him to a shepherd to do with as he will. To this day I do not know his fate.

Faithful servant, you have been loyal to your masters and grown old and feeble in their service. You may retire now to live out your life in serenity, if you can. This is another curious coincidence; I am named Oedipus because of my crippled feet. That child, if he lived must have had a similar injury. I believe I can get further truth if I interview the shepherd. Is he here? Yes? Good. I notice that my wife Jocasta has retired; I will see to her well-being as soon as I interrogate this shepherd. Sir, you were handed an infant boy by this servant. Did you raise that child as your own?

No, king, I did not. I took him to the king and queen of Corinth, a childless couple named Polybus and Merope. They raised the child as their own, never telling him that he was not their natural born son.

By the gods, I see it all now. I was that child. Polybus and Merope were my father and mother. When I came of age and visited the oracle, I was told that I would grow up to kill my father and marry my mother. To prevent this prophecy from ever coming true, I exiled myself from the land of Corinth, which I thought was the land of my birth, and from my parents, or those I thought were my parents, and vowed to wander the roads of Greece as a homeless beggar till the end of my days. Thus I met king Lauis and killed him. Thus I came to Thebes, and in the guise of doing good by saving the city, became an abomination by marrying and siring children by my own mother! I hear a scream from my wife's chambers; I must attend to her.

People of Thebes, I am a servant to Queen Jocasta and I have just seen the most piteous events of my life. I followed King Oedipus into his lady's chambers and saw her as he saw her, hanging dead, a rope around her broken neck. Our King gently lowered his dead wife to her bed, and removing a long pin from her robes, he gouged out his eyes, one after the other. The blood spurted from his eyes, down his face, and onto his robe in a torrent. I could bear no more and ran out to bring you this story. But now, I hear footsteps, I believe Oedipus is returning.

People of Thebes, my eyes have seen what no man should ever see and so I have darkened them forever. For you, I have found the murderer. To you, I leave his punishment. Is Creon, who I falsely accused, here? Find him that he may take charge and dispense my punishment.

I am here Oedipus. My heart is broken; I have lost my sister and my king. But I will fulfill my duty to Thebes. Oedipus, I sentence you to be banished forever from the city of your birth, to wander endlessly, a blind beggar. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. To ease your burden, I command your daughter Antigone to accompany you in your exile.

We, the citizens of Thebes, assembled again in chorus, say to you who have heard this story: Look to your own lives. Count no man happy until he has seen the end of his days.

Twenty years after he presented Oedipus Rex, Sophocles returned to the Festival of Dionysius with a new play, Oedipus at Colonus, about the end of Oedipus's life. After wandering for years through Greece, attended by his daughter Antigone, Oedipus was tired. He saw a grove of trees that looked cool and inviting, and sat down to rest there. Oedipus did not know that the inhabitants of the nearby village regarded the grove as sacred to the gods. When they found out that Oedipus was the one sitting in their grove, they were infuriated. They asked him to leave and he refused. They were on the verge of doing him violence when the god Apollo appeared and took Oedipus bodily away in a flash of light. This end was an unprecedented honor in Greek mythology. The chorus's final epitaph for Oedipus was "He lived his life."