Oedipus at Colonus

“This spot is clearly sacred, though. It’s full 

of olives, laurel trees, and vines with crows 

of sweetly singing nightingales within.”

Antigone speaks the above passage, noting from the grove’s appearance that they have clearly wandered into a sacred space. Her mention of olives invokes Athena, the city’s patron goddess, and the vines suggest Dionysus, in whose honor Oedipus at Colonus was performed. Laurel is associated with Apollo but also with the winners of contests. The passage is an example of how descriptions in Greek verse often contain coded meanings meant to be understood by their intended audience and obscure to those who are not ‘initiated’ in the sacred rites.

“It’s dread Poseidon’s realm, a sacred place.

The fire-bringing god Prometheus,

the Titan, also dwells within, but where

you’re standing—that’s the Brazen Avenue,

the prop that anchors Athens. Fields nearby

say this equestrian

Colonus first

united them. They’re all together now,

a single entity that bears his name."

In response to Oedipus’s question about where they are, the Stranger explains the sacred nature of the place. Ancient sources confirm a temple to Poseidon was located in this precinct. The immortalization of the hero theme is expressed through the reference to the statue of Colonus, after whom the precinct is named. This is also the spot where Oedipus will begin his afterlife as a hero, as it is from here that Oedipus will disappear, as a god leads him into the underworld.

“All of my words will have unerring sight.”

Oedipus has explained to the Stranger that his body will profit whoever receives him, which speaks both to The Hero as a Source of Collective Immortality and to the importance of place. It matters where heroes are buried because their earthly remains are believed to hold power that can manifest in the world. Oedipus’s words above frame him as a seer, confirming the potency of his words. Like seers, Oedipus is blind to the ephemeral but has vision into the eternal.

“O goddesses of fearsome countenance,

since I’ve approached your sanctuary first,

treat me and lord Apollo graciously.

When he foretold my many sufferings,

he said I’d find this resting place in time,

and it would mark my journey’s end. He said

that I’d be welcomed where great goddesses

reside, and there I’d end my sorry life.

he added that I’d benefit my hosts,

but be the bane of those who banished me.

He promised there’d be signs of those events:

the earth would shake and Zeus’s thunder roar.”

After the stranger departs to convey Oedipus’s message to the local residents (the Chorus), Oedipus addresses the above prayer to the Eumenides. Yoking himself with Apollo both seeks to confirm his earlier statement that his words “have unerring sight” (74) and foreshadow events at the end of the play. His transition to the underworld follows thunder and lightning.

“You raised me up and now you banish me,

fearing my name and only that. It’s not

my body that you fear, or deeds. My ‘deeds’

indeed are passive sufferings. The things

my parents did, if I may speak of them,

are really why you fear me so. Of that

I’m sure. Do they make me an evil man?”

At this point in the narrative, the Chorus has asked Oedipus to leave, and the above passage is his extended plea for them to allow him to remain. His defense is that his “deeds” were instead “passive sufferings” imposed on him from without, namely by his parents’ actions. In the larger sense across the play, he blames fate rather than will for what has befallen him.

“Why she’d no sooner given up 

her baby food and gained a bit of strength 

than she became my fellow wanderer, 

an old man’s guide. How many times she’s braved 

the wilderness, all barefoot, starving, lost, 

battered by drenching rain and scorching heat, 

disdaining comforts that a home provides 

to see her father adequately fed.”

Repeatedly across the play, Oedipus celebrates his daughters for their dedication, strength, and valor, contrasting them with his sons, who he accuses of casting him out. Sophocles’s Antigone, staged at least 40 years earlier, establishes her dedication to fulfilling her obligation to her family members and to the laws of the gods. The two converge in this moment, as Oedipus delivers his encomium in the sacred space of the Eumenides, who punish those who violate those same obligations.

“I’ve come to speak instead of evils that

have now enveloped your ill-fated sons.

They wished at first to keep the city free

of strife by letting Creon keep the throne

in view of that longstanding family curse

from which your tragic house cannot break free,

but now some god or evil impulse drives

that pair of thrice unhappy men to strive 

for power. Each desires tyranny.”

Ismene here reports to Oedipus and Antigone the events that are transpiring back in Thebes. Audiences would have been aware, not only from Antigone but from the familiarity of the mythic stories, that the brothers end up killing each other. Like Oedipus, Ismene appeals to fate, in this case as the cause of the strife between her brothers. Later in the play, Polyneices’s speech suggests a more complex dynamic between fate and free will.

“ISMENE:

The gods destroy and later on exalt.

OEDIPUS:

Destroyed in youth, exalted old—how kind!”

The above exchange between Oedipus and Ismene speaks to two central themes in the tragedy. Her statement that the gods first destroy, then exalt evokes the journey of ancient heroes: They endure wandering and suffering and are, at the end of their lives, immortalized by receiving ritual honors in cults that recur annually. Oedipus’s response may be read as sarcastic or as sincere, depending on the lens the reader brings to the passage.

“They saw their father shamefully expelled

and didn’t lift a hand, but watched while he

was drive out, proclaimed a fugitive.

You’ll say that I requested banishment;

therefore the city just approved my wish.

No so! The day in question, while my soul was agitated,

death was all I sought.

Yes, death by stoning seemed the sweetest fate,

but none stepped forth to aid my passion then.”

Oedipus repeatedly shows himself to be a somewhat unreliable narrator within Sophocles’s Theban plays, though it is possible other versions of his story developed a different plot. Here, Oedipus claims that he did not request banishment but that his sons drove him from the city. This contrasts with the end of Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus specifically requests to be banished.

“Provided you, my foreign hosts, and these 

exalted goddesses, who rule your deme, 

defend me, I will be your city’s great 

preserver, harassing my enemies.”

In effect, Oedipus is bartering with the Eumenides: In exchange for their protection, he will be a hero for Athens, meaning a talisman for the city’s protection. The passage demonstrates the power heroes were believed to have in their afterlife and highlights the importance of supplicating to them. They are figures of worship not because of their moral character or exemplary behavior but because they are powerful, a departure from conceptions of heroism in the modern world.

“Ill-fated Oedipus, I pity you

and would inquire what you hope to gain

from me or Athens since you’ve settled here,

you and the helper standing next to you.

Enlighten me. Don’t fear you’ll tell a tale

so horrible that I’ll abandon you.

We’ve much in common. I was also raised

away from home, a solitary man

confronting countless dangers all alone.

I never turn my back on homeless men,

Withholding aid from those in desperate need.

I know that I’m a human being and don’t

control the future any more than you.”

Theseus’s first speech conveys the stance he will maintain toward Oedipus across the play: He pledges his full support, whatever the circumstances that have brought Oedipus to Athens. His compassion for Oedipus comes from his also having suffered and from his recognition that mortals cannot escape their fates. Further, heroes achieve their status through their suffering, thus it seems that Theseus understands the significance of offering Oedipus sanctuary and the beneficent power it will bring to Athens. In the context of Athenian religion, cults existed for both Theseus and Oedipus in the city.

“OEDIPUS:

I bring my battered body as a gift.

It isn’t very much to look at, true,

but profits it will bring are more than fair.

THESEUS:

How so? What sort of profits come from it?

OEDIPUS:

You’ll see—in time, but not the present time.

THESEUS:

When will the profits manifest themselves?

OEDIPUS:

Upon my death, if you will bury me.”

After Theseus’s unconditional welcome, he asks Oedipus to tell him what he needs, but Oedipus begins by offering his body “as a gift.”. When Theseus presses for details, Oedipus specifies that the profits associated with possessing his body will come after his death, an explicit reference to the power he will hold in the afterlife. Notably, Theseus is not surprised and even thinks the request too easy, until Oedipus explains that Thebes may put up resistance.

“Dear Aegeus’s child, the gods, and gods

alone, are free from death and growing old.

All other things fall prey to ruthless Time.

The earth decays and mighty men decay.

As honor dies, dishonor flourishes.

The airy sentiments that bind good friends

and allied cities are impermanent.

To some it happens soon, to others late.

The sweet turns bitter, then turns back to love.

In Thebes it may be pleasant weather now

for you, but Time’s prolific womb gives birth

to many nights and many days, wherein

they shall discover some excuse for arms

to scatter solemn bonds of amity.”

Oedipus is here responding to Theseus’s surprise that Athens and Thebes should one day become enemies. Within the myth narrative, there is no reason for the two cities to be fighting, but in historical time, Athens and Thebes were enemies. While tragedies engaged mythic themes (or made myths of historical events, as in the case of Aeschylus’s Persians), they nevertheless interacted with events of their time. Tragedies were considered part of the education of Athenian residents and a vehicle for making them better stewards of their democracy. Here, Oedipus is educating Theseus about impermanence within the mortal world.

“You’re seeking me, though not to bring me home,

but to some border area. That way

your city might escape destruction here.

You’ll fail, however, gaining this alone:

my vengeful spirit always dwelling there.”

In his confrontation with Oedipus, Creon claims not to have “come with threats of force” (Line 732) against “[p]oor Oedipus” (Line 740) but only to bring him home, feeling his “awful suffering | the most” (Lines 743-44). Oedipus’s response above refutes Creon’s claims. Creon does not want to bring Oedipus home; he wants to ensure that Oedipus dies at the boundary of Thebes. This way, Thebes can establish a cult to him and secure the “gift” of his afterlife power. Oedipus denies him this gift, suggesting that his anger at Thebes will continue eternally.

“CREON:

Poor man! You’ve grown no crop of wisdom yet?

You stain the good repute of growing old.

OEDIPUS:

You’ve mastered clever speech. I never met

an honest man who always spoke so well.”

This exchange of insults between Creon and Oedipus exemplifies the way tragedy, even while pursuing eternal themes, engages with events of its time and attempts to educate its residents. Athens had a direct democracy, in which any citizen could speak publicly. Thus, rhetoric had become a coveted and valuable skill, with some claiming they could argue persuasively for any position, whether or not it was correct. Critics saw the danger in this and believed it had led Athens to its own destruction. Hence Oedipus’s response to Creon may also be Sophocles’s critique of Athens.

“The words you spew of murder, marriages,

and misery name matters I endured

perforce. It pleased the deathless gods. Perhaps

they had an ancient grudge against my race.

You won’t, however, find a fault in me

for which my self-destructive errors could be

considered punishment that I deserved.”

Creon has been attempting to justify his seizure of Oedipus, implying that providing sanctuary to a man who killed his father and married his mother could cause pollution, or at the least offend the gods. Oedipus’s reply above reiterates his earlier claim that he is innocent of wrongdoing because what happened to him was willed by the gods. The “ancient grudge against my race” may refer to a myth narrative concerning his father, Laius. According to some versions of the myth, Laius was cursed to die at his son’s hands after he sexually assaulted the son of Pelops.

“And don’t try stopping me. I have to make

my journey now, though doomed to failure, thanks

to father here and his Erinyes.

Zeus bless you both—provided you complete

my final rites. My life’s beyond your help,

so let me go. Farewell! You’ll never see

My living face again.”

After Oedipus angrily rejects Polyneices’s plea for support, Antigone begs her brother to give up his attempt to attack Thebes, but he refuses to back down, saying, “Retreat is shameful” (Line 1422). In the above passage, he elaborates that he knows he is doomed to fail, yet he will not stop. This moment exemplifies the convergence of immortal and mortal wills. On one hand, the prophecy stipulates that Polyneices cannot succeed without his father, but the actions he took prior to arriving in Athens ensured that his father would reject him. Thus, his own nature could be said to make the prophecy inevitable.

“You’ll learn about good fortune that awaits

your city, proof against the hurts of time.

I’ll lead you where it’s fated I must die—

yes, lead you there without a guiding hand,

but you must not reveal this secret spot or its vicinity to any man.

That way, the place will always be your strength,

surpassing many shields and allied spears,

and once you’ve entered there yourself, alone,

you’ll learn of sacred things, ineffable.”

Oedipus instructs Theseus not to reveal the location of his death to anyone until he himself is near death. Only by keeping its location secret will Theseus be able to secure Oedipus’s power for himself and Athens. Within the narrative, this is because if someone else knows the location, then Creon, or some other Theban, may remove Oedipus’s remains and rebury them near Thebes. There is historical precedent for this, as ancient sources report that Athenians located what they believed were Theseus’s remains and reburied them. The episode, within the narrative and historically, speaks to the power believed to reside in a hero’s remains.

“O my dearest friend!

may you yourself, your land and loyal men

be happy evermore and prosperous

and think of me, though dead, when fortune smiles.”

As Oedipus prepares to enter the grove, he utters the above blessing to Theseus. His edict to “think of me, though dead, when fortune smiles” refers to the eternal power of the hero. Oedipus is moments from his immortalization, and for Sophocles’s Athenian audience, his words to Theseus echo eternally, explaining the importance of offering heroes their due honors.

“The girls ascended Green Demeter’s hill,

which lay in view, and quickly did the things

their father told them to. They bathed him then

and gave him clothing fit for burial.

When he at last was fully satisfied,

when all that he commanded had been done,

the nether Zeus’s thunder shook the earth.”

Women in ancient Greece were responsible for bathing deceased loved ones and clothing them for burial. Here, though, Oedipus instructs his daughters to perform the rites before his death, to prepare him to be led into Hades. The moment echoes other hero narratives, notably Heracles, who is alive when he is placed on his funeral pyre. Zeus’s thunder signals Oedipus’s imminent immortalization: Again his lightning strikes Heracles’s funeral pyre just before the hero is raised to Olympus.

“Have courage, children. Show your noble hearts.

You must be going now. Don’t ask to see

unlawful sights or hear forbidden words.

Leave quickly! Quickly! Theseus alone

is authorized to learn what happens next.”

Scholars have debated the significance of Theseus being the only one permitted to see Oedipus’s resting place. While it can be justified within the narrative as a protective measure to ensure that Creon and the Thebans do not discover where Oedipus is buried, it has also been read as a potential critique of Athenian democracy, which had failed to protect the city. Thus, only the king—not the people—is entrusted with sacred knowledge about the hero. By doing this, Sophocles may be placing responsibility for Athens’s failure squarely on the citizens, not on its gods and heroes failing to protect them.

“Some god escorted him, or else the dark

abode of dead souls opened graciously.

No weeping marked his passing. No disease

tortured him. His death was wonderful

if ever a mortal’s was. For those who think 

my story mad, I offer no defense.”

The above passage concludes the Attendant’s report of Oedipus’s death to the Chorus and the audience of the tragedy. Some have questioned in what way Oedipus at Colonus is tragic, which is partly due to possible misapprehension of what tragedy means in ancient Greece. Here, the ‘reversal’ typical of tragedies is positive because Oedipus is released from his mortal suffering and becomes immortal. The idea of “wonderful” death refers, in myth narratives, to the relatively gentle death that Oedipus experiences, transitioning from myth (when the hero is alive and suffering) to cult (when the hero is simultaneously dead in the mortal world and eternally honored in ritual).

“CHORAL LEADER:

Is he gone?

ANTIGONE:

He is and by the kind of death

that anyone might crave—

not slain by Ares, god of war,

nor drowned by ocean wave.

The plains of death invisible

have taken him, and he

has gone to where he shall fulfill 

his secret destiny.”

Though typically in Athenian tragedies, the Chorus sings and characters speak, Oedipus at Colonus features numerous sung exchanges between the Chorus and characters, such as the one above. Antigone, Ismene, and the Chorus sings together about Oedipus’s death and immortalization. The notion of a “wonderful” (Line 1664), referenced above, is further explained here: Oedipus did not die a violent death but a quiet one.