Oedipus

By:Julia
 * How I Met My Mother**

Oedipus had a very hard life. He had to take a long journey to figure out who he really was. He had no idea what was going to happen to him in the long run. There were many different exciting things about his life, including the Oracle of Delphi and the Sphinx. . Oedipus’s parents were Laius and Jacasta. They ruled Thebes. Laius wanted to know more about his new son. He traveled to the Oracle at Delphi and he gave him bad news about his new son. He said that he was going to end up marrying his mother and killing him father. When he heard the news he gave his son away and wanted him to be killed. They put a needle through the baby’s feet. That gave him his name which means “swollen-footed”. He was left there to die, but a peasant came and rescued him. The peasants name was Merope and his wife was Polybus. They adopted Oedipus and kept him as their own child and never told him that he was adopted. He later found out that he was adopted but his parents denied it so he was determined to figure out who he was, so he traveled to the Oracle of Delphi. (Oedipus-Ancient Greece). . He travels to Delphi to go ask the Oracle who he really was. He got there safely and asked the oracle who he was. He answered by telling him that he was going to end up killing his father and marry his mother. He was confused so he started to go back home. When he was going home he decided that he doesn’t want to go back to [|Corinth] ever again so he was going to go to Thebes. He didn’t want to hurt his parents because of what the Oracle said so he thought he was keeping them safe by going to Thebes. While he was going to Thebes there was a man in a chariot, followed by many people. The path way was very narrow and was hard to get through safely. He man started yelling at Oedipus to get out to the way. He didn’t and the man ran over his foot. That made him really mad so he ended up killing the man and the other people he was with. Oedipus didn’t know that the man that he just killed was his own father and the oracle was true. ( Fuseli, Henry ). ( Keenan, Sheila ). . The Sphinx is a horrible monster. It has the body of a lion, it has the wings of an eagle, and it has head of a women. The Sphinx was sent by the gods to torture. The Sphinx is supposed to get rid of all the bad people. To know if they are bad he asked every person who passes him a riddle. If they couldn’t answer it then the Sphinx would kill them. No one has been able to answer the question right yet so Thebes was a small town and closed off from the rest of the world. The Sphinx asked Oedipus “Who in the morning walks on four legs, at midday on two, and in the evening on three?” He answered the question right. “The answer is Man: Crawling on all fours as a baby; walking on two legs as an adult; and as an old man, leaning on a cane.” After he answered to question right the Sphinx killed himself making Thebes free for everyone to come in and out. Oedipus found out that he killed the king of Thebes and he thought the queen of Thebes was super attractive. He ended up marrying her without knowing that she was his mother. (Oedipus-Ancient Greece). . While Oedipus was king he had 4 kids with him mother and they were named Antigone, Ismene, Polynices and Eteocles. Later a plague struck Thebes, a priest begs Oedipus to find a solution to this plague. People were dying and even plants and animals were dying too. Oedipus sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to Delphi to figure how to get rid of the horrible plague. He came back with an answer Apollo said “the city itself is unclean as it harbors the killer of Laius, and he must be found and punished before the city can become cleansed.” Oedipus said he was going to find him and execute him, not knowing that it was him. Oedipus called the blind prophet, Tiresias, and asked him to help; he didn’t want to tell Oedipus who the killer was. Oedipus gets really mad which made Tiresia say that he was the killer and he was the person who was polluting the town. He was mad and starting accusing him of wanting to steal the throne from him. A messenger soon after that told Oedipus that he was adopted. When Oedipus’s wife found out he went inside and hung herself. He followed her inside and removes the pins on her dress and gouge out his own eyes. He later comes out of the palace blind and very bloody, he was hoping that doing that would make the plague stop. (Fuseli, Henry) ( Oedipus-Ancient Greece).

Antigone tells the story of what happens after Oedipus’s exile. Oedipus became a wonderer. He was being taken care of by his own daughter, Antigone, they were outside Athens. Theseus felt bad for both of them and decided she would look after them until Oedipus dies. After Oedipus dies Sophocles says that the kingship was in the hands of Polynics and Etocles. Both of them were ruling alternate years. Creon convinced Eteocles to stay in power that made Polynices really mad so he got an army and started heading towards Thebes. The brothers ended up killing each other. This made it so Creon was the king of Thebes. He said that Polynices was passaged to the underworld. Antigone tries to stop her brother but ends up being sentenced to death. Antigone was left in a cave to starve but by the time he gets there Antigone has put matters in her own hands and she hung herself. Since she killed herself Haemon killed himself also. When Creon heard about the new he told his wife, Eurydice, and she ends up hanging herself too. That just left Creon alone. (Oedipus-Ancient Greece). (Sacks, David). . Most people would agree that Oedipus had a hard life. He had to go through a lot and be blamed for something that wasn’t his fault. At the same time his life was pretty exciting. He was the only person who answered the Sphinx question right, he also had a very interesting journey to the Oracle of Delphi. Over all, he had a hard life.

Worked Cited

"Oedipus - Ancient Greece." //Ancient Greece - History, Mythology, Art, War, Culture, Society, and Architecture.// Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

Fuseli, Henry. "King Oedipus Homework Page." //Thanasi's Greek Restaurant//. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

Sacks, David, Oswyn Murray, and Margaret Bunson. //Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World//. New York: Facts on File, 1995. Print.

Keenan, Sheila. //Gods, Goddesses, and Monsters: an Encyclopedia of World Mythology//. New York: Scholastic, 2000. Print.

"The Classics Pages." //Madasafish//. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. .