Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Myths and Legends: Oedipus at Colonus

Oedipus at Colonus. To find out more about the wanderings of Oedipus, see this Wikipedia article: link; for information about the image: image source.

Sophocles wrote a play on the subject of Oedipus at Colonus; Colonus is a village near Athens and it also happens to be the village where Sophocles himself was born. In the play, Oedipus, now blind, has come to Colonus seeking refuge, accompanied by his daughters Antigone and Ismene, whom you can see in the painting below, along with Oedipus's son Polyneices (also shown below), who is fighting against his brother Eteocles for the throne of Thebes. Oedipus is furious at both his sons and prophesies that they will kill one another in battle. That, of course, is exactly what will happen, as famously told in Sophocles' play Antigone.

You can also find more myths and legends for the week of July 8-14 here. For more information and links to the actual javascript code, see the Myths & Legends Widget Reference Page.