Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (or Oidipous Tyrannos in the original Greek) is the most famous ancient Greek tragedy. Its plot, in which a man discovers he has unwittingly killed his father and married his mother, is among the most recognizable in world theater.
But the fame of Oedipus Rex obscures the fact that Sophocles was only adapting a story that was already well-known throughout Greece, and had been told – and would be retold – even farther afield.
Sophocles Didn't Originate the Plot of Oedipus Rex
The story of Oedipus was an old one even when Sophocles first heard it. A variant – where Oedipus survives his crimes unscathed – appears in Homer's Odyssey, for instance, and the blinding of Oedipus may have come from a version even earlier that that.
The Oedipus story seems to have come from ancient folklore, a theory that gains credence from the numerous analogous stories recorded in the folklore of many countries. Oedipal stories developed in such diverse locales as Albania, Burma, and Oceania.
Scholars disagree over whether the story is truly universal, but it is certain that it was well ingrained in ancient Greek culture by the time Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex – well enough that it could be modified or changed to suit the needs of poets and tragedians.
Euripides, for example, in his Phoenician Women, has Oedipus' mother/wife Jocasta (who has not killed herself as in Sophocles or Homer) recount the fate of Oedipus in the Prologue. Aeschylus had also written a play, now lost, about Oedipus.
Other Variations of the Oedipus Myth
Other surviving ancient accounts, though not as complete as Oedipus Rex, record still more variations.
Some attribute Oedipus’ tragedy to fate, while others blame a curse laid upon Oedipus' father Laius by Pelops for the rape of his son, Chrysippus. Likewise, in some versions the Sphinx accosts passers-by with her riddle, while in others, she repeatedly puts it to all the Thebans, carrying off citizens each time until they should get it right.
By Byzantine times, the Sphinx is described as the jilted Amazonian wife of Cadmus, whose followers are pitted against a Corinthian army led by Oedipus. Medieval stories, on the other hand, transposed the Oedipus myth into Christian lore, making Judas Iscariot (of all people) the unwitting killer of his father and husband of his mother.
Interestingly, even the “swollen-foot” detail is preserved (possibly descended from Sophocles' version), as Judas’ shins had been pierced as a baby, just as Oedipus' had. The wounds serve to reveal Judas' true identity to his mother.
Sophocles' Oedipus Rex Just One Interpretation
The ubiquity of the Oedipus story in its most basic elements is very telling. It shows how the Sophoclean version, instead of being definitive, was only a part of a long tradition of Oedipal tales that spanned centuries.
From this perspective, Sophocles, instead of being the sole originator, seems more like a modern film director, successfully “remaking” a classic story.
Sources:
Lowell Edmunds, Oedipus: The Ancient Legend and Its Later Analogues, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985.
Lowell Edmunds and Alan Dundes, Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook, University of Wisconsin Press, 1995.
Stephen Walsh, Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Luke Arnott - Luke Arnott has a Master's Degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Western Ontario, where he is currently enrolled in the ...
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