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Oedipus at Colonus

Oedipus at Colonus

Published
401 BCE
Language
Ancient Greek

Synopsis

Sophocles's final Theban play follows the blind, exiled Oedipus in his last days as he arrives with his daughters at the sacred grove of Colonus outside Athens. Under the protection of King Theseus, Oedipus confronts his sons and Creon, who seek to use him for Thebes's political ends, and comes to a mysterious end that transforms him into a guardian spirit for the city that sheltered him. Written and staged after Sophocles's death, it completes the Theban trilogy's meditation on fate, exile, and reconciliation.

About the author

S
Sophocles

Sophocles (circa. 496 BCE - 406 BCE) was the second of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived to the present day. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than those of Euripides. According to the Suda, a 10th century encyclopedia, Sophocles wrote 120 or more plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form, namely Ajax, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus....