Chapter 14: Thebes
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Aischylos fr 122a R Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 3, p. 232, ed. S.L. Radt. Göttingen 1985.
Antimachos, Lyde 70 W Antimachi Colophonii Reliquiae, ed. B. Wyss. Berlin 1936.
DS (Diodoros Siculus) 4.64.2
Later, after the boy had attained to manhood, Laïus, decided to inquire of the god regarding the babe which had been exposed, and Oedipus likewise, having learned from someone of the substitution which had been made in his case, set about to inquire of the Pythian priestess who were his true parents. In Phocis these two met face to face, and when Laïus in a disdainful manner ordered Oedipus to make way for him, the latter in anger slew Laïus, not knowing that he was his father. Greek Text
Nikolaos of Damascus 90F8 Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker 1, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957
Σ Phoinissai (Phoenician Women) 26 Scholia in Euripidem
Seneca, Oedipus 768-72
Retracing the dim path of memory, I see one met on the way fallen ‘neath the blow of my stout staff and given o’er to Dis; but first the old man arrogantly from his car thrust the younger from the way. Yet that was far from Thebes, where Phocis’ land parts the three-forked roads. Latin Text
Hyginus, Fabulae 67
When he was going to Delphi, Oidipus met him, and when servants bade him give way to the King, he refused. The King urged on his horses, and a wheel grazed Oidipus’ foot. Enraged, he dragged his father from the chariot, not knowing who he was, and killed him. After Laius’ death, Creon, son of Menoeceus, ruled; in the meantime the Sphinx, offspring of Typhon, was sent into Boeotia, and was laying waste the fields of the Thebans. She proposed a contest to Creon, that if anyone interpreted the riddle which she gave, she would depart, but that she would destroy whoever failed, and under no other circumstances would she leave the country. When the king heard this, he made a proclamation throughout Greece. He promised that he would give the kingdom and his sister Jocasta in marriage to the person solving the riddle of the Sphinx. Many came out of greed for the kingdom, and were devoured by the Sphinx, but Oidipus, son of Laius, came and interpreted the riddle. The Sphinx leaped to her death. Oidipus received his father’s kingdom, and Jocasta his mother as wife, unwittingly. Latin Text
ApB 3.5.7 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
So he went to Delphi and inquired about his true parents. The god told him not to go to his native land, because he would murder his father and lie with his mother. Greek Text
Pherekydes 3F94 Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker 1, p. 86, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♦ Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco 16541 (H569): Attic red-figure cup by the Oidipous Painter, with Oidipous and Sphinx.
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
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Artistic sources edited by by R. Ross Holloway, Elisha Benjamin Andrews Professor Emeritus, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown Univ., and Frances Van Keuren, Prof. Emerita, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Univ. of Georgia, August 2020
Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, March 2020
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