Oedipus and the Myths of Thebes

Question 1

Cadmus

Man from the East

Answer 1

Founder and King of Thebes

Oracle of Delphi, Pythia, told Cadmus to give up searching for his mother and follow a cow and found a city where it lays down in exhaustion

Question 2

Ares’s Dragon

Answer 2

• serpent defending a spring Cadmus’s men wanted to use it to clean hands
• Cadmus defeated it in a great battle.
• Athena tells him to plant half its teeth. POP Warriors
• Throws a rock, they fight each other, 5 left = **The Sparti.
• Ancestors of the aristocratic families of Thebes “Founding of Thebes #1”**
• Cadmus: forced to serve Ares for 8 years as punishment for killing his dragon

Question 3

Harmonia

Answer 3

(daughter of Ares and Aphrodite)
* Cadmus married her
* Wedding attended by god
* Gifts for Aphrodite: Necklace (made by Hephaestus) and a robe (gave owner royal dignity), Jinxed (curse of misfortune for future generations “all there kids”)
* They grow old and leave Thebes and arrive in Illyria
* Changed into serpents and sent by Zeus to live forever in the Elysian Fields
* Cadmus abdicates -> Penthes (grandson) briefly rules until he’s killed by his own mother.

Question 4

Amphion and Zethus

Folktale of triumph of magical twins

Answer 4

Sons of Antiope
* Lycus, kills the king of Sicyon, and takes Antiopê prisoner back to Thebes
* She gives birth to Amphion and Zethus on the road to thebes leaving them behind
* Shepherd finds and raises the twins.
* Antiope, after much torture by Dircê, finder her sons, (oh Hey MOM), they kill Dircê (follower of Dionysus) and Lycus.

Question 5

Amphion

Answer 5

Playes the lyre (man of intellect).
marries Niobê (7son 7daughters killed by Apollo and Artemis)

Question 6

Zethus

Answer 6

Cattle breeder (a man of action).
marries Thebê (name for Thebes)

Question 7

Second founding of Thebes

walls of Thebes had seven gates

Answer 7

Cadmus had founded the higher city “The Cadmeia”
Amphion and Zethus build the city walls of the lower city
named after Thebê, wife of Zethus

Question 8

Oedipus’s Presents

Answer 8

Laius and Jacasta:
* Laius, King of Thebes (cursed for having violated xenia)

Question 9

Oedipus’s Prophecy

Answer 9

Oracle at Delphi; Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother
Jocasta becomes pregnant, Oedipus (Swollen foot) feet are pinned together and exposed but gets saved by shepherd (Euphorbus) who gives him to a visitor from Corinth. **Polybus (king of Corinth) **raises Oedipus.

Question 10

Murder of Laius

Answer 10

for fear of the oracle’s message Oedipus heads east towards Thebes
Away from Polybus and Meropê (not knowing he’s adopted). Oedipus kills Laius in a rage.

Question 11

Sphinx at Thebes

Answer 11

Devouring Thebans who could not solve her riddle. Oedipus answers it. She kills herself.
Riddle: “What goes on four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the evening?” Answer: Humans. 4 legs as infant, 2 as adult, 3 as old.
So upset that someone solved the riddle throws herself off a cliff.

Question 12

Marriage to Jocasta:

Answer 12

Oedipus, after solving the riddle, marries her and becomes the king

Question 13

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (Play)

Answer 13

Most famous play in the ancient world.
* Miasma causes a plague in Thebes.
* Oedipus learns that he killed his father and married his mother.
* Jocastra commits suicide, Oedipus blinds himself and begs to be sent into exile.
*

Question 14

Is Oedipus a hero?

Answer 14

Not really
Victim of fate, attempts to prevent the oracle’s prediction didn’t change the outcome.
But foreknowledge is not fate, and gods didn’t make him want to learn the truth about his birth.
Power of the story is: a man chooses to pursue the truth, regardless of the consequences (even his own ruin).
From the viewpoint of ancient Greeks, Oedipus has no moral fault.
Wants to obey gods, uses intellect and courage to help the people, freely chooses fate (even if it lead to destruction)
Theme: reversal of appearance. Parricide and incest