Dr Kousoulis is a research assistant in the History of Medicine Department of the University of Athens and the general secretary of the Society of Junior Doctors. Oedipus' wife and mother hanged themselves when the truth of their relationship was known, although Oedipus continued to rule Thabs until his death. The Sphinx, in her anger, threw herself off a cliff. It should be noted that exploring the diseases of history requires examining the social, economic, and demographic aspects of each era because this is the only way to better understand how diseases work over centuries (10). The main conflict is when Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is responsible for the plague, and Oedipus refuses to believe Tiresias. The Altmetric Attention Score for a research output provides an indicator of the amount of attention that it has received. The priest begs Oedipus to save Thebes, just as Oedipus . As Eteocles' turn came first, Polyneices withdrew to . Joel Christensen is an associate professor of classical studies at Brandeis. Creons wife, Eurydice, hears this terrible news and rushes away into the palace. The oracle announces that the plague is a result of religious pollution and that the god Apollo requests that the people of Thebes exile the previously unknown miasma (a word of Greek origin with a sense of moral noxious pollution) away from the town (lines 9698) (2,3). The stage directions state that. Creon curses him and threatens to slay Antigone before his very eyes. Citizens are dying from plague, crops fail, women are dying in childbirth and their babies are stillborn. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. Oedipus responds with a terrible curse, upbraiding his son for letting him be sent into exile, and predicting that Eteocles and Polynices will die at one anothers hands. -Graham S. Oedipus is a hero and a man of action. Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data. In despair Jocasta hanged herself, while Oedipus blinded himself in an agony of remorse. A second messenger enters and describes scenes of suffering. At this early moment, we see Oedipuss dangerous pride, which explains his willful blindness and, to a certain extent, justifies his downfall. Creon was told by Apollo that in order to be free of the plague, they must "Pay the killers back- whoever is responsible" (Sophocles 1430). Sophocles lived between 496 and 406 bc; although he seems to have written 123 plays, only 7 have survived in a complete form (1). Log in here. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. Now "a black sea of terror" has overwhelmed him because he was all too successful in solving this latest riddle of the pestilence upon Thebes. Want 100 or more? The priest glorifies his honor and describes that a plague is destroying the whole city: blight in the city causing famine and sickness. Questioned further, he answers that the baby was in fact the child of Laius himself, and that it was Jocasta who gave him the infant, ordering him to kill it, as it had been prophesied that the child would kill his parents. Best Answer. Teachers and parents! March 3, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Oedipus asks why the Thebans made no attempt to find the murderers, and Creon reminds him that Thebes was then more concerned with the curse of the Sphinx. Tiresias tragically reveals to Oedipus that the king himself is the cause (since he had killed King Laius). All of this, of course, was unbeknownst to him. Oedipus Rex, apart from the undeniable literary and historic value, also presents significant medical interest because the play mentions a plague, an epidemic, which was devastating Thebes, the town of Oedipus hegemony. The plague is an infestation of disease-carrying insects that spread rapidly through the population, killing many. Oedipus must find the killer of former King Laius to save the city. At that time, a Sphinx held the city captive and refused to leave until someone answered her riddle. Consequently, a solution for the situation is requested from the oracle at Delphi (lines 6872), while the Chorus plead for Athena, Zeus, Artemis, and Apollo to save the town from the disaster (lines 160165) (2,3). Tiresias predicts that the gods will bring down curses upon the city. Latest answer posted September 14, 2020 at 1:34:55 PM. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. Seven Against Thebes, in Greek mythology, the seven champions who were killed fighting against Thebes after the fall of Oedipus, the king of that city. Wed love to have you back! We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. After blinding himself in anguish over what he has done, Oedipus allows himself to be exiled, and the plague ends. $24.99 Oedipus curses and insults the old man, going so far as to accuse him of the murder. Theseus grants them this, and the Chorus tells the girls to stop their weeping, for all rests in the hands of the gods. Sophocles epidemic seems to have enough strength to appear as a historical base on which the theatrical economy of the play is evolving (12). Hearing this, Oedipus fled his home, never to return. Oedipus replies that he is more eager than anyone to find out the cause of the pollution and remove it. The epidemic, in fact, is mostly a matter that serves the theatrical economy by forming a background for the evolution of the plot. Subscribe now. he mortality rate for untreated brucellosis is difficult to determine from the literature of the preantibiotic era (6); nevertheless, an 80% rate has been reported in situations of comorbidity with endocarditis (7). Theseus returns to the stage, asking the daughters to stop their weeping. The story of Oedipus begins in Thebes, the Greek city founded by Cadmus, at a time when Laius had been restored to the throne.Laius would wed Jocasta, sister to Creon, and descendant of one of the Spartoi, but almost immediately a prophecy was made that said that the son of Laius . C. The sphinx was terrorizing Thebes, so citizens couldn't investigate. Oedipus Rex is a figure of Greek mythology from at least the 5th century B.C. Jocasta tells him that Laius was killed at a three-way crossroads, just before Oedipus arrived in Thebes. The twins Eteocles and Polyneices, who had been cursed by their father, Oedipus, failed to agree on which of them was to succeed to the Theban throne and decided to rule in alternate years. An oracle warned Laius, the king of Thebes prior to Oedipus, that his son would murder him. Oedipus, King of Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to ask the advice of the oracle at Delphi, concerning a plague ravaging Thebes. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. The opening of the drama, with the city of Thebes in the midst of plague has often been, historically, taken as a reference to the plague that devastated Athens in the opening years of the Peloponnesian War and has been used to assist in the dating of this play (13). eNotes Editorial, 3 Jan. 2020, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-reason-plague-thebes-sophocles-oedipus-rex-662761. The Plague in the Land of Thebes. In their final words, the chorus reminds the audience that it was Oedipus who solved the riddle of the sphinx. Although the Choruss first ode (168244) piously calls to the gods to save Thebes from the plague, the answer they get to their prayer arrives in human form. King Oedipus vows to find King Laius's murderer and immediately remove him from Thebes to lift the curse. Thucydides and Sophocles use similar terms when describing attempts to deal with the epidemic. As the play Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, opens, the people of Thebes are dealing with a kind of plaguein this case, a famine. The knowledge of the existence of a highly contagious and fatal disease is phrased clearly in these rhymes, strongly suggesting that Thebans were aware of the oncomingmost possibly from the adjacent city of Athensdanger (24). The priest responds that the city is dying and asks the king to save Thebes. In a moving speech, a priest tells Oedipus the city's woes: the crops are ruined, cattle are sick, women die in labor and children are stillborn, and people are perishing from the plague. The messenger took the baby to the royal family of Corinth, and they raised him as their own. The rising action occurs when Creon returns from the oracle with . on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% Oedipus has a chance to cure the plague in Thebes, and its presented by the legitimate seer, Tiresias. A plague has stricken Thebes. Bearing in mind the aforementioned observations and the fact no other epidemics were reported in the eastern Mediterranean during the 5th century bc, we posit that the plague described by Sophocles in the tragedy Oedipus Rex has an actual basis in the plague of Athens described by Thucydides in his histories. The blight Years passed while Oedipus was king of Thebes. During the time the play is set, Laius is deceased, but he is a critical . Oedipus replies that he already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle at Delphi to learn how to help the city. Arriving at Thebes, Oedipus was confronted by the Sphinx: a monster that was half woman and half lion. Photo courtesy Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou. Creon decides to pardon Ismene, but vows to kill Antigone by walling her up alive in a tomb. In other words, he became a hero by figuring out the truth. Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. Refine any search. . He thinks he knows what happenedthieves killed Laiusbut is actually blind to the truth. Sophocles, a preeminent ancient Greek tragedian, authored plays that have enthralled audiences for over two thousand years. Terrible thunder sounds, and the Chorus cries out in horror. Oedipus arrives in Thebes, solves the riddle of the Sphinx, and is made their king. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. In the fifth century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins "Oedipus Tyrannos" with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Sophocles, the author, is a famous philosopher of the ancient times The Play is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who kills his father and marries his mother. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. On the surface, the problem afflicting Thebes is a plague. Oedipus the King. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page. Oedipus, stunned, tells his wife that he may be the one who murdered Laius. She runs back into the palace. He's one step ahead of the suggestions his subjects make to him and has already sent for Tiresias. Creon says that he thinks some of the dissidents of the city bribed the sentry to perform the rites, and he vows to execute the sentry if no other suspect is found. from Oxford University Ph.D. from St. Andrews University. But while Oedipus finds great comfort in the fact that one-half of the prophecy has been disproved, he still fears the other halfthe half that claimed he would sleep with his mother. He avidly begins an all-out manhunt. Just as the plants do not grow so is women not able to bear children. He knows that the city is sick with plague. The reference to the Sphinx reminds the audience that Oedipus is a genuine hero. Sometimes it can end up there. A messenger enters and recounts the tragic events: Creon and his entourage first gave proper burial to Polynices, then heard what sounded like Haemons voice wailing from Antigones tomb. Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind prophet, and asks him what he knows about the murder. Haemon, Creons son and Antigones betrothed, enters the stage. These taunts provoke Tiresias into revealing that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus questions Creon about the murder of Laius, who was killed by thieves on his way to consult an oracle. The plague symbolizes the effect that Oedipus's defiance of the will of the gods . When Creon returns from the oracle, he informs Oedipus that the person responsible for murdering the former King Laius must be banished from Thebes in order to put an end to the devastating plague. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Had his king been murdered, nothing would have stopped him from finding the murderer, just as he is promising to let nothing stop him now. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Oedipus also discovers that he married his mother. We adopted a critical approach to Oedipus Rex in analyzing the literary description of the disease, unraveling its clinical features, and defining a possible underlying cause. The citizens of Thebes hated Laius, so they didn't care. Creons son then took a sword and thrust it at his father. In the end, it turns out that Oedipus has also murdered his father. Creon reports that the gods have caused this plague in response to the murder of Laius, the previous king of Thebes, and they demand that the murderer ("the pollution of this land") be killed or exiled. Section 6: Oedipus the King, lines 338-706, Section 8: Oedipus the King, lines 1008-1310, Section 9: Oedipus the King, lines 1311-1684, Section 10: Oedipus at Colonus, lines 1-576, Section 11: Oedipus at Colonus, lines 577-1192, Section 12: Oedipus at Colonus, lines 1193-1645, Section 13: Oedipus at Colonus, lines 1646-2001. The devastating plague that dominates Thebes is presented to the audience through the dialogue between Oedipus and the Priest (lines 167) (2,3). The sentry soon exonerates himself by catching Antigone in the act of attempting to rebury her brother, the sentries having disinterred him. Almost as soon as he has said this, Creon returns and tells the story which is to lead Oedipus to the truth, and to the conclusion that it would have been better for him never to have been born. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country.

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