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Thebes In Oedipus The King

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Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King is the first play in the Theban trilogy written by the playwright, Sophocles. About 427 B.C.E. in Ancient Greece, the tragedy takes place in the cities of Thebes. King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes have trouble conceiving a child. Laius asks the Oracle of Delphi, the prophetic priestess located at the slopes of Mount Parnassus and soon learns that his future son will murder him and marry his wife. King Laius is the descendant of Cadmus, who is the founder of Thebes while Queen Jocasta is the descendant of Menoeceus who is the descendant of Cadmus. After the birth of their son, they give their child to one of Thebe’s herdsman with orders to tie his feet together and pierce his ankle, wounding the feet then …show more content…

He sends Creon to ask the Oracle of Delphi for help. As told by the Oracle of Delphi, the murderer of the King Laius must be founded, either killed or exiled (in other versions). He tells King Oedipus and suggests he should call Tiresias, a blind old priest of Apollo, famous for being a seer. At first, Tiresias does not want to expose the truth to King Oedipus. He threatens him then Tiresias finally tells him that he is the murderer of King Laius. King Oedipus does not want to believe Tiresias and thinks he and Creon were against him. Queen Jocasta confirms that robbers killed King Laius where the three roads meet. King Oedipus recalls a similar event that perfectly describes that situation. He sends the only survivor of the attack to find out the truth. Meanwhile, a messenger informs King Oedipus that King Polybus died, making the prophecy false. The herdsman who delivered him as a baby to Corinth appears to tell Oedipus that he is an adopted baby of King Polybus and Queen Merope. As Queen Jocasta remembered the prophecy that made her abandon her son, the whole scenario fits together. Finally, the survivor shows up to tell King Oedipus that he is the killer of his own father. In other versions, the survivor is the same person who brought him to the mountainside when he was an infant. With the truth piercing through him at once, he also finds out that Queen Jocasta committed suicide

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