by Sophocles
First performed 429 BCE
Tragedy
Oedipus Rex — also known as Oedipus the King, King Oedipus or Oedipus Tyrannus — is an ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles, first performed in Athens around 429 BCE. One of the most influential of all Greek tragedies, it is the central play of Sophocles' three Theban plays, staged alongside Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. A plague grips the city of Thebes, and its king, Oedipus, vows to save the city by hunting down the still-unpunished murderer of the previous king, Laius. Guided by the blind prophet Tiresias and pressed by his brother-in-law Creon, Oedipus slowly uncovers the truth the oracle foretold at his birth: that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. The investigation reveals that Oedipus himself killed Laius — his true father — and has unknowingly married Queen Jocasta, his own mother. As the horror of Laius's murder and of his own origins comes to light before the people of Thebes, Jocasta takes her life and Oedipus blinds himself — a downfall that has defined tragic drama for more than two thousand years.