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The Story Before the Story

The Story Before the Story. What happened before the play Oedipus Rex begins…. A long time ago in a land far, far away…(Greece). Cadmus was told by the Oracle at Delphi to follow a cow and where the cow stopped he should build a city and call it Thebes. So he did.

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The Story Before the Story

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  1. The Story Before the Story What happened before the play Oedipus Rex begins…

  2. A long time ago in a land far, far away…(Greece) • Cadmus was told by the Oracle at Delphi to follow a cow and where the cow stopped he should build a city and call it Thebes. • So he did.

  3. Everything was going well • Until Cadmus discovered a nasty dragon who was guarding the well. • So, he killed it. • Unfortunately, this particular dragon was the god Apollo’s favorite.

  4. Apollo got really mad • And cursed Cadmus’ family for generations to come. • The Oracle at Delphi (Apollo’s oracle) said that at some point in time a king and queen of Thebes would have a son who would kill his father and marry his mother. Apollo - Godof light -and the sun. Also of truth, prophecy, healing, plague,and music.

  5. Fast Forwardseveral generations

  6. Once upon a time there were a King and Queen of Thebes… • King Lauis and Queen Jocasta had a baby. Sadly, King Lauis knew of the curse put on his family by Apollo.

  7. So they did what any parents would do… • And put a metal bar between the baby’s feet and gave him to a Messenger (#1) who put the baby out in the woods to die. • Feeling sorry for the baby, the Messenger (#1) gave the baby to a shepherd who took him home.

  8. Nearby, the King and Queen of Corinth were also having baby troubles… • The Queen, Merope, was having trouble conceiving • The Shepherd gave the baby to Queen Merope and King Polybus • The King and Queen were elated and never told the baby he was adopted. • The named him Oedipus or “Swollen foot”

  9. The teen years are always awkward… • …But poor Oedipus had to deal with rumors that he was not his parents’ real son. • He defied their wishes and went to the Oracle at Delphi for answers. • They told him that he would murder his father and marry his mother.

  10. So Oedipus ran away from home • He traveled away from Corinth and got into a fight with a man on the road • Oedipus, enraged that the man would not move out of the way, killed him • The next town he came to was Thebes.

  11. Sphinxes are the worst • And poor Thebes was dealing with one who went about burning buildings and killing people. • According to legend, a sphinx has the head of a woman, body of a lion, tail of a serpent and wings. • No one could solve her riddle: What goes on four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the evening?”

  12. “A man, of course!” • Said Oedipus and so they made him King of Thebes, since the previous king had never come back from a trip he had taken. • Oedipus also married the Queen, Jocasta, and had several children.

  13. And yet… • Even after the sphinx left town there was still a plague. People were dying, crops were failing, and nothing seemed to be going right. • So begins Oedipus Rex

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