Cover of Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles Ebook Oedipus at Colonus
Ebook · Sovereign

Oedipus at Colonus

Author
Sophocles
Series
Plays by Sophocles
Language
English
Length
98 pages
ISBN
9781910833971
Published
15 October 2015
Imprint
Sovereign
  • Oedipus
  • Antigone
  • Sophocles
  • Greek
  • tragedy
  • play
  • Greece
  • drama
  • mythology
  • history

Description

Oedipus enters the village of Colonus and sits down on a stone. They are approached by a villager, who demands that they leave, because that ground is sacred to the Furies, or Erinyes. Oedipus recognizes this as a sign, for when he received the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, Apollo also revealed to him that at the end of his life he would die at a place sacred to the Furies, and be a blessing for the land in which he is buried.

Author

Sophocles (c. 496–406 BCE) made Greek tragedy feel inevitable. Oedipus hunts a crime and finds himself; Antigone buries a brother and breaks a state. Gods, chorus, and human stubbornness share the stage without anyone being merely a symbol. Sophocles wrote into old age, refining a form he had helped perfect: fewer actors, tighter action, a moral intelligence that never lectures. Read him for the shock of a story that knows more than its hero.