''Oedipus'' is a ''

fabula crepidata A ''fabula crepidata'' or ''fabula cothurnata'' is a Latin tragedy with Greek subjects. The genre probably originated in adaptations of Greek tragedy (hence the names, coming from ''crepida'' = ''sandal'' and ''cothurnus'') beginning in the early ...

'' (Roman

tragic play Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...

with Greek subject) of c. 1061 lines of verse that was written by

Lucius Annaeus Seneca Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

at some time during the 1st century AD. It is a retelling of the story of

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...

, which is better known through the play ''

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' ( grc, Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Gr ...

'' by the Athenian playwright,

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

. It is written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Characters

is the king of Thebes, husband of Jocasta, and he is the supposed son of king Polybus of

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

. He is the main

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the play. *

Jocasta In Greek mythology, Jocasta (), also rendered Iocaste ( grc, Ἰοκάστη ) and also known as Epicaste (; ), was a daughter of Menoeceus, a descendant of the Spartoi Echion, and queen consort of Thebes. She was the wife of first Laius, t ...

is the widow of the former king

Laius In Greek mythology, King Laius (pronounced ), or Laios ( el, Λάϊος) of Thebes was a key personage in the Theban founding myth. Family Laius was the son of Labdacus. He was the father, by Jocasta, of Oedipus, who killed him. Mytholog ...

, wife of Oedipus and sister of Creon. *

Creon Creon may refer to: Greek history * Creon, the first annual eponymous archon of Athens, 682–681 BC Greek mythology * Creon (king of Thebes), mythological king of Thebes * Creon (king of Corinth), father of Creusa/Glauce in Euripides' ''Medea' ...

is Jocasta's brother, and the chief aid to Oedipus in Thebes. *

Tiresias In Greek mythology, Tiresias (; grc, Τειρεσίας, Teiresías) was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph ...

is a blind

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

who is charged by Oedipus to find the killer of King Laius. *

Manto may refer to: People * Mando (singer), Greek singer * Manto Mavrogenous, Greek national heroine * Saadat Hasan Manto, Urdu short story writer known by his pen name Manto * Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (1940–2009), South African politician * Manto ...

is the daughter of Tiresias. She is used in the play to describe Tiresias' sacrifice to him, and therefore also to the audience. * An Old Man (''senex'') is a messenger from Corinth who comes to tell Oedipus that Polybus is dead, and reveals part of Oedipus' history to him. *

Phorbas In Greek mythology, Phorbas (; Ancient Greek: Φόρβας ''Phórbās'', gen. Φόρβαντος ''Phórbantos'' means "giving pasture"), or Phorbaceus , may refer to: *Phorbas of Elis, son of Lapithes and Orsinome, and a brother of Periphas. ...

is an old shepherd who had given Oedipus to the Old Man when Oedipus was a child and who reveals Oedipus' real parentage to him. *

Messenger ''MESSENGER'' was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. The name is a backronym for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geoche ...

(''nuntius'') is the man who, in Act 5, relates what has become of Oedipus. * The

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

are singers that aid the audience in understanding what emotion they should feel after a scene.

Plot

Act One

The play opens with a fearful Oedipus lamenting a vicious plague which is affecting Thebes, the city over which he rules. People are dying in such huge numbers that there are not enough of the living to ensure that each of the victims is cremated. He also mentions a prophecy that he had received from

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

before he came to Thebes that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He had thus fled the kingdom of his father Polybus. However, Oedipus is so disturbed by what is occurring in Thebes that he even considers returning to his home city. But Jocasta strengthens his resolution, and he stays.

Act Two

Creon returns from the

Oracle at Delphi Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...

with the instruction that Thebes is required to avenge the death of the former King Laius if the citywide plague is to end. Oedipus utters an ironic curse on the yet unrevealed killer, wishing for him "the crimes that I have fled from". The prophet Tiresias appears and is asked by Oedipus to make clear the meaning of the oracle. Tiresias then proceeds to carry out a sacrifice, which contains a number of horrific signs. As Tiresias does not have the name of King Laius' killer, he proposes to summon Laius' spirit back from

Erebus In Greek mythology, Erebus (; grc, Ἔρεβος, Érebos, "deep darkness, shadow".), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness and one of the primordial deities. Hesiod's ''Theogony'' identifies him as one of the first five beings in exis ...

to learn the identity of the guilty one.

Act Three

Creon returns from seeing Tiresias after he has spoken to Laius' ghost, but is unwilling to reveal to Oedipus the killer's name. Oedipus threatens him, and then Creon relents. He says Laius accuses the king of having blood on his hands, and who "has defiled his father's marriage-bed". He goes on to say that Laius promises the plague will cease if the king is expelled from Thebes. Creon advises Oedipus to

abdicate Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

, but Oedipus believes that he has invented this story, along with Tiresias, in order to seize his throne. Despite Creon's protestations of innocence, Oedipus has him arrested.

Act Four

Oedipus is troubled by the faint memory of a man whom he had killed on the road for behaving arrogantly before him while Oedipus was travelling to Thebes. An elderly messenger comes from Corinth to tell Oedipus that his father King Polybus has died and for him to come and take his throne. Oedipus does not want to return as he still fears the prophecy that he will marry his mother. The messenger then tells him that Corinth's queen is not his mother, and that he was given Oedipus as a baby on mount

Cithaeron Cithaeron or Kithairon (Κιθαιρών, -ῶνος) is a mountain and mountain range about sixteen kilometres (ten miles) long in Central Greece. The range is the physical boundary between Boeotia in the north and Attica in the south. It is mai ...

. Oedipus then learns, after threatening the shepherd that gave him away, that he is in fact Jocasta's son.

Act Five

A messenger relays the news that Oedipus contemplated suicide and wanted his body flung to wild beasts; but then Oedipus decided that his crime deserved something even more horrible, on account of the suffering Thebes has endured. He resolved to find a slow death for himself. He craved a punishment in which he would neither "join the number of the dead nor dwell among the living". The messenger goes on to explain how Oedipus tore out his eyes with his hands. The chorus question fate, each person's "commanding thread of life", and then hear Oedipus entering. He appears with both eyes removed and is confronted by Jocasta. She realises from his action that she, too, must punish herself for her crimes. While on stage, she takes his sword and kills herself with it.

The role of the chorus

The chorus at the end of Act 1 give an account of the plague, and its development. At the end of Act 2 they give an account of

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

, who was the

patron god A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...

of Thebes. At the end of Act 3 they recount earlier horrific occurrences connected with Thebes. At the end of Act 4, however, they turn more reflective and praise living a life along "a safe middle course" rather than pursuing ambition. They therefore relate the story of

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...

as a

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

of a person who flew too high. They do, however, specify that no one is able to alter their

fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

. This second point is made much more forcefully in their speech in Act 5, where they stress that neither God nor prayer can alter the life that is predestined for the individual. (This view of fate is contrary to the teachings of

Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...

, which hold that fate and divinity are the same. Also, the view of fate as arbitrary, rather than rational and benign, is not part of the Stoic cosmological view.)

Comparison with Sophocles' ''Oedipus Rex''

* The character of Oedipus in Seneca's play is fearful, "guilt-ridden and open from the beginning to the notion that he may be implicated in the great Theban plague; whereas Sophocles' Oedipus is proud and imperious." * Seneca's play has a considerably more violent tone. For example, the sacrifice carried out by Tiresias is described in graphic and gory detail. * Sophocles’ play does not contain the character of Manto. * In Seneca's play, Oedipus blinds himself before the death of Jocasta by pulling out his eyeballs. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus blinds himself after seeing the corpse of Jocasta, using golden brooches from her dress to stab out his eyes. * In Seneca's play Oedipus is, at best, an aid to the death of Jocasta, and from the ambiguous lines may even have taken her life. In Sophocles’ play, Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus subsequently discovers her lifeless body. * In Seneca, Laius names his killer. In Sophocles, Oedipus’ guilt emerges gradually throughout the developing play. * In Seneca's play there is no mention of Oedipus’ feelings towards his children, whereas in Sophocles’ play Oedipus leaves them to Creon's guardianship and wants to hold them again. * Seneca's play ends with Oedipus leaving Thebes, whereas in Sophocles’ Oedipus is told by Creon that his rule is ended. * Seneca names the Theban shepherd as Phorbas, whereas Sophocles leaves him nameless.

Translations into English

* The first translation into English of ''Oedipus'' was by

Alexander Neville Alexander Neville ( 1340–1392) was a late medieval prelate who served as Archbishop of York from 1374 to 1388. Life Born in about 1340, Alexander Neville was a younger son of Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby and Alice de Audley. He ...

and it appeared in 1563, as well as in Thomas Newton's collection of Seneca's plays, ''His Tenne Tragedies'', in 1581. * An English translation from Frank Justus Miller's 1938 edition of this work is available online a
theoi.com
an
archive.org
* ''Oedipus'' is one of the five plays of Seneca chosen and translated by

E. F. Watling Edward Fairchild Watling (8 October 1899 – 6 September 1990) was an English schoolmaster, classicist and translator. He produced translations for Penguin Books#Penguin Classics, Penguin Classics of Sophocles's Oedipus Cycle, three Theban plays, n ...

and published by

Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Western ...

in 1966. * The English

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

br>published
a translation of the play in 1969. * In 1999 Professor Michael Rutenberg published his free translation of the play, into which he has placed excerpts from Seneca's moral philosophy. * Fitch, John G., ed. and trans. 2004. Seneca, Tragedies. Vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press. * Boyle, Anthony J. 2011. Oedipus, Seneca. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Reputation

During the

English Renaissance The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...

Elizabethan England The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

, ''Oedipus'', along with Seneca's other plays, was regarded as a model of classical drama. The translator Alexander Neville regarded the play as a work of moral instruction. He said of the play: "mark thou ... what is meant by the whole course of the History: and frame thy lyfe free from such mischiefes". The influential early 20th Century French Theatre critic Antonin Artaud considered Seneca's ''Oedipus'' and ''Thyestes'' models for his Theatre of Cruelty, originally speaking and writing about Seneca's use of 'the plague' in ''Oedipus'' in a famous lecture on 'Theatre and the Plague' given at the Sorbonne (April 6, 1933) and later revised and printed in "

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including And ...

" (no. 253, 1 Oct. 1934). In recent times, A. J. Boyle in his book ''Tragic Seneca: An Essay in the Theatrical Tradition'' (1997) rejects the criticism of T. S. Eliot that ''Oedipus'', like the other plays of Seneca, is simplistically peopled by

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...

s. He says that "In the ''Oedipus'', for example, it is hard to name any stock character except the messenger." The play, particularly with its theme of one's powerlessness against stronger forces, has been described as being as "relevant today in a world filled with repeated horrors against those who are innocent, as it was in ancient times". In 2008, translator Frederick Ahl wrote that in comparison with Sophocles's ''Oedipus the King'', Seneca's version of the myth "is today among the least commonly read of ancient tragedies, largely because the scholarly world regards it as a dull and vastly inferior work".

Performances

Although it is debated whether the play was written for performance in Antiquity, it has been successfully staged since the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

and music for the choruses by

Andrea Gabrieli Andrea Gabrieli (1532/1533Bryant, Grove online – August 30, 1585) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Ven ...

survives from a 1585 production.

On stage

* In the mid-1550s there was a performance of the play in the English city of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. * In 1968, Ted Hughes' adaptation was staged at the National Theatre in London, directed by

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

. * In May 2005, Michael Rutenberg was invited to stage the play by the Department of Theatre at the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming Is ...

in Israel. He chose to set it in a post-nuclear holocaust future. * Also in 2005, a version based on Hughes' translation, and which closed with Johnny Nash's "

I Can See Clearly Now "I Can See Clearly Now" is a song written and recorded by American singer Johnny Nash. It was the lead single from his album I Can See Clearly Now (Johnny Nash album), ''I Can See Clearly Now'' and achieved success in the United States and the U ...

", was performed on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

by the Theatre By The Blind, and directed by

Ike Schambelan Ike or IKE may refer to: People * Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname * ...

. * In 2011, Ted Hughes' adaptation was staged at BAC (

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade ...

) in London, directed by Linda Manfredini. * (MCTC) * In 2015, Theatre Nisha staged performances in various Indian cities.Capturing the anguish of fate
/ref>

In the cinema

The director Ovliakuli Khodzhakuli made his cinematic debut in 2004 with the

Kirghiz language Kyrgyz (; autonym: , tr. ''Kyrgyz tili'', ) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia. Kyrgyz is the official language of Kyrgyzstan and a significant minority language in the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture in X ...

film, ''Edip'', which is based on Seneca's play. Khodzhakuli makes a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

in the film as King Laius. The principal actors are Anna Mele as Oedipus, and Dzhamilia Sydykbaeva as Jocasta. For a review of the film, see