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Pericles And Oedipus Comparison Essay

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It is possible that Sophocles was making a comparison between Pericles and Oedipus because they(Sophocles and Pericles) were alive during the same time period(497 B.C.-405 B.C.) and Sophocles probably witnessed the life of Pericles: his rise to power, his great exploits and his death. Also, Sophocles wrote about a great plague in the text, one that caused great sorrow and misery and this is said to be a reflection of the plague in Athens that started 430B.C. The similarities between both men and the effect of Sophocles' comparison will be discussed. Pericles was a pioneer that brought democracy to Athens. He was a politician and worked his way to the top defeating his opponents and leading the Athenians in battles victoriously. He rebuilt the Athenian Agora and constructed the Parthenon, winning the hearts of the Athenians. Sparta felt threatened by Athens because of how much they'd grown under Pericles' rule and they began to demand concessions from the Athenians. Pericles refused and in 431 B.C., the …show more content…

He presented it as an allegory. The Ancient Greeks were very religious and they believed in gods and fate. Curses, blessings and punishment from the gods, these were familiar ideas to them. They accepted things that happened as the will of God. So, the tragedy was an interpretation of what happened to Pericles and to Athenian people. Oedipus was portrayed as a tragic hero(as Pericles was). He cared for his people and he was upright, yet he was a victim of 'misfortune'. Sophocles might have seen faults in certain things that Pericles did and therefore decided to use the story as a message to aspiring political leaders. He probably had respect for Pericles as a good leader and so, he did not mention him out rightly in the text but rather changed the

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