What really happened to Oedipus? - Stephen Esposito

754,386 views ・ 2024-06-18

TED-Ed


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Though Oedipus would dodge death, vanquish the monstrous Sphinx,
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and whether wrathful plagues,
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the truth would prove his greatest challenger.
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When Oedipus’ mother, Queen Jocasta of Thebes,
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gave birth to him, a grim heir seized the occasion.
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Her husband, King Laius, had received a prophecy from Apollo’s oracle
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foretelling that he would die at the hands of his own son.
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Determined to escape this fate, Laius had the newborn’s ankles pierced,
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and Jocasta ordered a shepherd to abandon him on Mount Cithaeron to perish.
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But divine prophecies can be quite stubborn.
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The shepherd took pity on the baby and gave him to to another shepherd—
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this one from Corinth.
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He decided to bring the baby to the childless Corinthian king and queen,
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Polybus and Merope.
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They called the boy Oedipus, or “swollen-foot,”
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and raised him as their own, never revealing his true origin.
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Years passed, till one night,
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a drunken reveler told Oedipus that he was not Polybus and Merope’s son by birth—
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an allegation they staunchly denied.
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But the seeds of doubt burrowed into Oedipus’ mind.
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He left to seek counsel from Apollo’s oracle at Delphi,
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who instead delivered a deeply disturbing prophecy:
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Oedipus would murder his father and have children with his mother.
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Horrified, Oedipus determined to stay far from Corinth
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and the only parents he’d ever known.
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He ventured towards Thebes— and thus, unwittingly,
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towards the city where his birth parents reigned.
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At a crossroads on the way,
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a fancy carriage threatened to run Oedipus off the road,
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and a lethal fight ensued.
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Little did Oedipus know, one of the casualties was King Laius of Thebes,
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his own birth father.
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In killing him, Oedipus had fulfilled the first half of Apollo’s prophecy.
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When Oedipus reached the gates of Thebes, he was met by the treacherous Sphinx.
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She’d ravaged the city,
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posing a bewildering riddle to those she encountered
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and mercilessly devouring all who answered incorrectly.
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But when she fixed her keen, expectant gaze on Oedipus,
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he gave the correct response.
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Thebes celebrated the Sphinx's defeat,
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and Oedipus married the city's recently widowed queen, Jocasta.
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They had four children, neither realizing they were, in fact, mother and son—
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or that they’d completed the second half of Apollo’s prophecy.
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Eventually, a devastating plague descended on Thebes.
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To save the city, Oedipus sent his brother-in-law to consult Apollo’s oracle.
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She declared that the divine plague would only relent
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if the killer of Thebes’ previous king, Laius,
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was finally revealed, then driven out or avenged with blood.
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Oedipus hastily opened an investigation.
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He interrogated Tiresias, a blind prophet,
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who stayed silent before suggesting that Oedipus himself was the killer.
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Oedipus denied and deflected the accusation.
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But it stuck with him.
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Jocasta likewise insisted that Laius’ killer couldn’t have been Oedipus,
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for she'd heard that Laius was killed at a crossroads by robbers.
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Yet, through conversations with a messenger from Corinth and, finally,
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the shepherd who’d rescued him as an infant,
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the truth came bearing down upon Oedipus.
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In searching for Laius’ murderer, he’d been looking for himself,
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and Apollo’s prophecy had come to pass, in all its dreadful detail.
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Full of fury, resentment, and shame, Oedipus rushed to kill Jocasta—
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but she too had realized the truth and taken her own life.
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Using brooches from her dress, Oedipus blinded himself in anguish,
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expunging his deceitful sense of sight,
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which had kept him from truly seeing so much.
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Oedipus begged for exile,
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but was led back into the castle to await word from Apollo’s oracle.
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Thus ends Sophocles’ first play centering Oedipus.
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But it wouldn’t be his final word on the tragic hero.
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Decades later, a roughly 89-year-old Sophocles wrote its sequel,
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set in Colonus, his own birthplace.
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It finds Oedipus, now aged and exiled,
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confronted with accusations of incest and patricide.
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Oedipus, having accepted the truth and released himself from its shame,
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proclaims his innocence and maintains that he committed these deeds unwittingly—
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and unwillingly.
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Finally, Oedipus knows it’s time to go— and a divine voice urges him on.
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Having said his loving farewells,
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Oedipus then transcends— peacefully and marvelously— into death.
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