Oedipus Review

Question 1

what did the Oracle tell King Laios and Queen Jocasta?

Answer 1

their newborn son would marry his mother and kill his father

Question 2

Over what kingdom did King Laios and Queen Jocasta rule?

Answer 2

Thebes

Question 2

What did they do in reaction to this prophecy?

Answer 2

they have their baby to a shepherd and ordered he be left out to die

Question 3

Who adopted Oedipus?

Answer 3

Queen and Ling of Corinth

Question 3

What does ‘Oedipus’ mean?

Answer 3

“Swollen Foot” and or “Club Foot”

Question 4

Why did Oedipus run away from home?

Answer 4

he figured out the Oracle’s prophecy and he believed the king and queen of Corinth (who adopted him) were his real parents so terrified he ran away in order to protect him

Question 4

How did Oedipus running away from home result in the part of the prophecy coming true?

Answer 4

While on his wanderings an old man tried running him off the road and they both fought because honor was at stake. Oedipus ended up killing the man thinking nothing of it as it must occur commonly, he would later find out it was his father he had killed

Question 5

How did Oedipus’ encounter with the Sphinx save Thebes?

Answer 5

The Sphinx had been terrorizing the travelers going into the City (if they guessed wrong they would be killed, no one guessed right) Because no one could enter Famine was near at hand and when Oedipus was asked he answered correctly therefore killing the creature and saving Thebes.

Question 6

What information does Oedipus not know about Thebes?

Answer 6

Thebes was the city he had been born in and where his Parents resided (or one of them now).

Question 7

How did the second part of the prophecy come true once Oedipus entered Thebes?

Answer 7

Since he had saved Thebes and their king, Laios had just died (killed by Oedipus, unbeknownst to him), he was offered to take his throne and queen, Jocasta, as his bride, his mother

Question 8

Why did Oedipus send Creon to the Oracle at Delphi?

Answer 8

figure out the cause for the plague that struck Thebes, responsible for the death of many crops, animals, and people

Question 8

What did Oedipus learn from Teiresias?

Answer 8

the man he had killed on the road years ago was actually King Laios and he was the son of King Laios and Queen Jocasta (which he married)

Question 8

Who were Oedipus’ and Jocasta’s children?

Answer 8

Polyneices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene

Question 9

What did Creon learn at Delphi?

Answer 9

in order for the plague to go away, Thebes had to punish the murderer of King Laios

Question 10

Who was the ruler when Antigone returned to Thebes?

Answer 10

Her two brothers had decided to rule Thebes together in alternate years

Question 10

How did Jocasta and Oedipus react to this information? (information at Delphi)

Answer 10

Jocasta killed herself and Oedipus gouged his eyes out in order to punish himself form having been blind to the truth

Question 11

Who took over after Oedipus? What happened to Oedipus?

Answer 11

Creon (Jocastas brother) took over and after several years he exiled Oedipus, who was accompanied by his daughter Antigone. He wandered around as a beggar until he reached the sanctuary of Colonus, where he died

Question 12

Why did Creon consider Polynices a traitor? How did he punish him?

Answer 12

he had raised an army to attack Thebes after Eteocles, his brother, refused to give up his throne to him after his turn of Ruling. They ended up killing each other during the battle. He punished him by having his body be left unburied, to rot in the sun outside of the city gates

Question 13

How was this in conflict with the holy law? (leaving Polynices unburied)

Answer 13

holiest laws demanded that certain ritual burial rites must be performed or else the soul of the dead would be condemned to eternal unrest

Question 14

What does Antigone believe about god’s law?

Answer 14

believes that God’s laws must be obeyed, regardless of the consequences