The Oedipus Myth Background to Antigone

NAME______PER.______

The Oedipus Myth – background to Antigone

Directions: Fill in the blanks to complete the story of the Oedipus Myth—a story Athenians knew well and one we must also know if we are to understand Antigone.

King Laos and Queen Jocasta of Themes learned from an oracle that their newborn son would ______. Horrified by this prediction, they gave the baby to a ______with orders to leave the infant to die. Instead, the shepherd took pity on the baby and gave the child to the childless ______of

______. They named the baby Oedipus, which means ______or

______, and they raised him as their son. They never told him he was adopted.

When Oedipus was a young man, he learned of the terrible prediction. Since he believed the king and queen of Corinth were his real parents, he ran away from home to avoid such a terrible fate. In the course of his travels, he encountered an arrogant old man who tried to run him off the road with his ______. Because his ______was at stake, Oedipus killed the stranger. Oedipus then continued on his journey to the city of Thebes.

At the outskirts of the city, Oedipus encountered the Sphinx, a terrible monster with

______. This Sphinx was attacking travelers and challenging them to answer a ______. If they could answer correctly, they could ______. If they did not, The Sphinx would

______. So far, no one had been able to solve the riddle, which went like this: “______

______?”

Oedipus immediately guessed that the answer was “______,” because he crawls on all fours as an ______, walks on two legs as an ______, and leans on a cane in ______. Upon hearing Oedipus’ answer, the Sphinx leaped into the sea.

When Oedipus arrived in Thebes, the people welcomed him as their ______.

Since Laios, their king, and been killed they offered Oedipus their throne and the young widowed queen, Jocasta, as his bride. So Oedipus became king of Thebes, married Jocasta, and had four children with her: two sons, ______and ______; and two daughters, ______and ______.

All went well until the plague struck, and Oedipus sent Jocasta’s brother, Creon, to consult with the great oracle at ______. The oracle warned that the plague would not end until Thebes had punished the ______of King Laios. After questioning several people, Oedipus found that the man he had killed on the road years before was none other than

King Laios. Furthermore, he found that he was actually the son of Laios and Jocasta, and had in fact fulfilled the oracle—he had killed ______and married ______.

When Oedipus and Jocasta discovered this horrible truth, she killed herself and he gouged out his eyes to punish himself for having been blind to the truth.

After these disasters, Creon took over as acting ruler of Thebes, and decided to exile

Oedipus. Accompanied only by his daughter ______, Oedipus wandered the countryside as a ______until he reached the sanctuary of Colonus, where he died.

Antigone returned to ______, where her two brothers had agreed to rule in alternate years. Eteocles’ turn came first, but when it ended, he ______to give up his throne to Polyneices. Polyneices fled to the city of ______, where he raised an army and attacked the seven gates of Thebes. In the course of battle, Eteocles and Polyneices

______each other.

Creon then became king of Thebes and gave Etocles, his ally, a ______burial.

Creon considered Polyneices a ______, so he decreed that his body be left unburied, to ______in the sun outside the city gates. To the Greeks, this was a terrible punishment:

Their holiest laws demanded that certain ______be performed, or else the soul of the dead person would be condemned to ______.

This story is the basis for Creon’s conflict with the strong-willed Antigone. As you will see, she believes that ______must be obeyed, whatever the consequences.