of
Thebes._

JOCASTA, _Queen of Thebes; widow of Laius, the late King, and now wife
to Oedipus._

CREON, _a Prince of Thebes, brother to Jocasta._

TIRESIAS, _an old blind seer._

PRIEST OF ZEUS.

A STRANGER _from Corinth._

A SHEPHERD _of King Laius._

A MESSENGER _from the Palace._

CHORUS of the Elders of Thebes.

A Crowd of Suppliants, men, women, and children.

The following do not appear in the play but are frequently mentioned:--

LAIUS (_pronounced as three syllables, La-i-us_), _the last King of Thebes
before Oedipus._

CADMUS, _the founder of Thebes; son of Agenor, King of Sidon._

POLYBUS AND MEROPE, _King and Queen of Corinth, supposed to be the
father and mother of Oedipus._

APOLLO, _the God specially presiding over the oracle of Delphi and the
island Delos: he is also called_ PHOEBUS, _the pure;_ LOXIAS,
_supposed to mean "He of the Crooked Words"; and_ LYKEIOS, _supposed
to mean "Wolf-God." He is also the great Averter of Evil, and has
names from the cries "I-e" (pronounced "Ee-ay") and "Paian," cries
for healing or for the frightening away of evil influences._

KITHAIRON, _a mass of wild mountain south-west of Thebes._

ARGUMENT

While Thebes was under the rule of LAIUS and JOCASTA there appeared a
strange and monstrous creature, "the riddling Sphinx," "the She-Wolf of
the woven song," who in some unexplained way sang riddles of death and
slew the people of Thebes. LAIUS went to ask aid of the oracle of
Delphi, but was slain mysteriously on the road. Soon afterwards there
came to Thebes a young Prince of Corinth, OEDIPUS, who had left his home
and was wandering. He faced the Sphinx and read her riddle, whereupon
she flung herself from her rock and died. The throne being vacant was
offered to OEDIPUS, and with it the hand of the Queen, JOCASTA.

Some ten or twelve years afterwards a pestilence has fallen on Thebes.
At this point the play begins.

_The date of the first production of the play is not known, but was
probably about the year 425 B.C._

OEDIPUS, KING OF THEBES

SCENE.--_Before the Palace of_ OEDIPUS _at Thebes. A crowd of suppliants
of all ages are waiting by the altar in front and on the steps of the
Palace; among them the_ PRIEST OF ZEUS. _As the Palace door opens and_
OEDIPUS _comes out all the suppliants with a cry move towards him in
attitudes of prayer, holding out their olive branches, and then becom