Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ
Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles · Produced posthumously at the City Dionysia, 401 BC, by his grandson Sophocles
Old, blind, and exiled, Oedipus comes with Antigone to the grove at Colonus, near Athens, where an oracle said he would die. Theseus takes him under his protection, and he dies there.
Persons, in order of appearance
- Οι.Oedipus
- Αν.Antigone
- Ξε.Stranger
- Χο.Chorus
- Ισ.Ismene
- Θη.Theseus
- Κρ.Creon
- Πο.Polyneices
- Αγ.Messenger
Translations
- R. C. Jebbprose · 1883–1900 · aligned by line · with Jebb's Greek
- F. Storrverse · 1912 · aligned by speech · with Storr's Greek
- Jebb, rev. Ceragioli & Nagy (Kosmos Society)prose · aligned by speech · with Dain & Mazon's Greek
- Ian Johnston (VIU)verse · aligned by speech · with Dain & Mazon's Greek
Greek texts
- Dain & Mazon, Sophocle, vol. 31960
- F. Storr, Sophocles, vol. 11912
- R. C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, part 2, The Oedipus Coloneus1889
Cite as Soph. OC 1–1779
Full synopsis (tells the ending)
Blind, old, and exiled from Thebes, Oedipus arrives with Antigone at Colonus, a village near Athens, and knows the grove of the Furies where an oracle said his life would end. Theseus takes him under the city's protection. Then Thebes wants him: an oracle says his grave will bring power, and Creon comes to seize him and keep him on the border, kidnapping his daughters until Theseus gets them back. His son Polynices comes to beg his blessing for the march on Thebes and gets a curse instead. Thunder calls Oedipus; he walks into the grove with Theseus alone and vanishes, and his grave becomes Athens's.
Drawing: Line drawing after the Apulian red-figure calyx-krater close to the De Schulthess Painter, 340s BCE, formerly Melbourne, Geddes collection A 5:8, read as a scene from Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus (Taplin, Pots & Plays no. 27); traced from photographs, chiefly those in J. R. Green, Ancient Voices, Modern Echoes (2003): cut out, columns left out, redrawn as line.