The Theban Plays Introduction.

Talk about what you learned about the story of Oedipus from what you read in the introduction.

What did you learn (or what questions do you have) about the play from what you have seen and read so far?

Oedipus is very respected as king even due to his prophecy. It was said that Oedipus would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. This disgusted and worried Oedipus' father Laius. He could not bear to have this prophecy come true. So he gave his son to a shepherd to have him killed. (metal bars through back of ankles causing him to die as an infant). The shepherd, however, could not do such a thing. So he gave him off to adopt. This is where he later became king and saved the people of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx. By this time he also had fulfilled the prophecy. He killed his father in a rash act unaware of who it was, and married his mother bearing 4 children with her (also unaware of this). The people of Thebes also think he can save them from this bad time now. Everything in the city is dying and no one knows why, yet. They need to find out who murdered Laius to fix it.