Οιδιπους
This is the story of the life of Oedipus. His father, Laius, was given a prophecy that if he were to have a son, his son would kill him and take his throne. Despite the warnings Laius’ wife Jocasta bore a son, and for fear of his life he pierced the newborn baby’s ankles and sent him away. The wife of King Polybus of Corinth, rescued the child and adopted him. She healed his ankles and named him Oedipus for his swollen feet.
Black Rainbow Over Oedipus at Thebes II by Malcolm Morley (1988)
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I had tired to warn Laius,
I told him what I knew.
I told him what a son would mean.
I told him what not to do.
But Laius did not listen.
My words he did not heed.
With Jocasta a son was born.
An escape was now in need.
So Laius took the child,
And had him sent away.
Periboea soon adopted him
In Corinth the child did stay.
Oedipus was his given name,
A child of the king and queen.
But a child of Corinth he was not,
But became because of the future seen.
Soon off to Delphi he did go
To come and visit me,
To question who he really was
And how he came to be.
I warned him of his future,
To his native land he must not go.
For if he did he surely would
Do what was foreseen so long ago.
Determined to heed my word
He decided not to leave
In Corinth he planned to stay,
But his fate had been conceived.
In the end he killed his father
And with his mother he did lie.
All came true that I had told
And warned them I did try.
So his mother became is wife
And his children she did bear,
His children, his sisters and brothers,
Of his fate I could not spare.
Once he had learned the truth
Himself he did despise.
In utter abhorrence and sadness
He gouged out his own eyes.
And as time went on we did see
His life has come to a close,
Natural or suicide
No one really knows.
Oh how I tried to warn them,
To save them from this fate.
But the gods had already decided
My warnings were just too late.
So the question then becomes.
What are the meanings of my words?
If the gods had already decided
My warnings are then absurd.
So are my words really warnings
Or am I on the gods’ side,
Creating such situations
So that the humans will abide?
They all think I am here
To save them from their fate,
To warn them what and what not to do,
Oh their whining I do hate!
You little fools would never think
That I am not on your side!
I am not here to save you
Your fears I only subside.
So nothing is really what you think,
As Oedipus has shown.
You think you know what’s going on
And so much goes unknown.
So in the end you life will be
What the gods have already said.
For in the end you all end up
Puppets on a thread.
Here I retold the story of Oedipus. I did not leave out too much information but at the same time I did not want to have the whole story here. Mainly what I left out was Oedipus’ reaction to his children and the exile that Oedipus lived in after he had found out who he was. I also changed this in the sense that I told it from the oracle’s point of view instead of just telling the story from third person. I also gave it a twist in that the oracle had no real job of warning people. It helped portray the idea that what we think is going on is not always the case and that nothing is what it really seems.
Title: Oedipus (Author: Carlos Parada 1997)
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Στορψβοοκ Χοϖερπαγε
(Storybook Coverpage)
Τηε Σπηινξ
(The Sphinx)
Ηλεχτρα
(Electra)
Ηλεχτρα ανδ Ορεστης
(Electra and Orestes)
