What is the cause of plagues? The ancients had their tales. The answer from Sophocles,
Oedipus Tyrannus (5th century BCE) might
surprise you.
 |
| Sophocles (5th cent. BCE) |
The story opens with a scene at
Thebes in southern Greece, which is located between Italy and present-day Turkey. The people are gathered at the altars before
the palace of King Oedipus where they are offering up prayers and incense. When the king asks why they are morning, the
priest of Zeus tells him it is because of the blight, plague, and death that
ravages the city. Oedipus informs the
priest that he had sent his relative Creon to consult Pythia at Delphi (the
high priestess at the Temple of Apollo) to learn what must be done to protect
the city. When Creon returns, Oedipus
asks what instructions the oracle had given to purify Thebes from the raging disaster. He is told to punish the man who shed the
blood of King Larius. This he promises
to do. Unbeknown to the king, though, the
victim who will suffer at the king’s own hand is a tragedy. He wants to blame someone else, but the king himself is the guilty party. He had mistakenly killed his own father and married his mother.
No comments:
Post a Comment