The myth of Oedipus

Sophocles, one of the most fabulous and prolific tragedians, drew in great part
on the myth of Oedipus to pen down his dramas. However, Sophocles did not
bother to provide the reader with an account of the origin of the myth( maybe,
because the Greek people had been well-acquainted with the myth) , but
rather, he started to dramatise the myth only after Oedipus had come of age
and been crowned king of Thebes, having killed the sphinx.

To begin, I think we should cast a look at the house of Thebes. Mythologically

speaking, the foundation of the city-state of Thebes is based on two characters:
Cadmus and Europa, two of the children of a Phoenician King named Agenor.
Unfortunately, a sad misfortune comes over Europa. Promiscuous Zeus, the
ruling god of the gods kidnapped and forced himself upon Europa. As a
consequence, Cadmus, her brother, set off to track her down. He journeyed to
Delphi wherein the oracle of Apollo, the god of archery, medicine, dance, and
music, was located. Instead of guiding and instructing Cadmus to find Europa,
the oracle exhorted him to abandon his search for his sister and to find a given
cow, follow it, and then found a city where the cow stopped walking 1.

So devout and pious, Cadmus carried out the god’s command. Dramatically, as
soon as the cow stopped walking and Cadmus was about to slaughter it for
Athena, the goddess of war, a wild dragon showed up and disrupted the
religious ceremony. Consequently, Cadmus flew off the handle and butchered
the intruding dragon. Then, under the command of the goddess Athena,
Cadmus implanted the huge teeth of the dragon into the soil, and from which a
great phalanx of armed men sprouted up with glowing eyes and thirsty spirit
for battle. A bloody battle was erupted by a stone thrown into the middle of
the armed men by Cadmus, and only five of them survived the battle. At last,
these five surviving men would become the founding fathers of the city of
Thebes.

1
I could not ignore the incredible similarity between this legend of the cow and of the founding of the city where it
stopped walking and the Islamic legend/story of the prophet’s camel who was told by revelation to build up the
first mosque exactly where the camel stopped walking and lay down.
Cadmus had two children, Semile and Polydorus. Semile grew infatuated with
seductive Zeus. He impregnated her, but she died of terror as she confronted
the amazingly formidable personality of Zeus. Zeus took the unborn child out
of his mother’s womb, Dionysus, and fastened him to his thigh. On the other
hand, Polydorus begot Labdacus, and the latter ascends to the throne of
Thebes. Once again, Labdacus fathered Laius, the natural father of Oedipus.
Laius became king of Thebes. With such a prominent position, Laius was
sexually desirous of Chrysippus, a son of Pelops. Blinded by his homophile
passion, Laius molested and penetrated Chrysippus. Apparently, such a deed
would not go unpunished. Pelops accursed Laius that he would never have
children, and if he did, that he would be killed by his own offspring.

In a preemptive measure, Laius abstained from having coitus with his wife,
Jocasta, so that the curse be not fulfilled. Unfortunately, Jocasta being a human
being seduced Laius to make love with her. After nine months or so, Jocasta
gave birth to the unwanted child, Oedipus. Immediately, this nascent child
was sent away to the forest to be killed in an attempt of warding off the curse.

In light of what I sketched out above, it is obvious to us the origin of the curse
that befell Oedipus. He is fated to murder his father and marry his mother,
because his father was sexually perverted and assaulted Chrysippus. However,
it seems to me that we should not regard Oedipus as a pawn in the hands of
the gods and curses. Rather, Oedipus is depicted as a man conscious of his
choices and cravings. In other words, Oedipus should be looked at after the
curse, parricide, and incestuous marriage.

…………………………………………………………………………….

To write this, I relied considerably on a very instructive introduction to The

Theban Plays: Oedipus, Oedipus at Colunus, and Antigone translated and
prefaced by Ruth Fainlight and Robert J. Littman.