The Story of Oedipus: Prequel to Antigone

• LAIUS is left an orphaned minor by his father Labdacus

• AMPHION AND ZETHUS rule Thebes (Build the Cadmeia) and exile Laius

• Laius goes to live in Elis (PISA) with King Pelops (son of Tantalus son of Zeus)

• Laius becomes very good friends with young Chrysippus, youngest child of King Pelops

• Laius and Chrysippus run away together (or Laius rapes Chrysippus). Pelops curses Laius.

• Laius returns to Thebes and becomes King

• Laius marries his cousin Jocasta, but they are childless

• Laius goes to Delphi and intends to ask Apollo's advice; Apollo announces that Laius will have a child who will kill him

• Laius and Jocasta have a baby son (Oedipus) whom they plan to kill. The royal shepherd is ordered to dispose of the child on Mt. Cithaeron. Instead he gives Oedipus to the royal Corinthian shepherd.

• The Royal Corinthian Shepherd takes the child back to the childless king and queen of Corinth (Polybus and Merope), who adopt him.

• At about the age of 18, at a dinner party, one of Oedipus' friends makes a rude remark about his not being a real Corinthian but only adopted. Oedipus is shocked and shamed, and goes off to Delphi to ask Apollo about the truth.

• Apollo tells Oedipus he is doomed to kill his father and sleep with his mother.

• Oedipus unknowingly kills his father Laius (within hours, at The Three Ways)

• Oedipus kills the SPHINX on the way from the Three Ways to Thebes

• Oedipus is received at Thebes as a national hero, and invited to marry the recently widowed queen Jocasta.

• Oedipus and Jocasta have four children: Eteocles and Polynices, Ismene and Antigone.

• As the first Oedipus play (Oedipus Tyrannos) opens, there is sterility and a plague at Thebes; Oedipus sends to Delphi to ask Apollo what is wrong. Apollo sends a reply that they should find King Laius' murderer and then either kill him (retaliation, vengeance) or expel him from Theban territory.

• Upon the advice of his brother in law Creon, Oedipus asks the blind prophet Teiresias for help. He refuses stating the cure is worse than the curse. Oedipus threatens him if he won’t tell, he reveals that the person they seek is a son of Thebes and that no one will be as doomed as Oedipus if he continues his investigation.

• A messenger arrives from Corinth to announce that the King of Corinth is dead. Oedipus learns that he is not the son of the King of Corinth but a Theban. The Royal Theban Shepherd (who gave Oedipus to the Royal Corinthian Shepherd) is summoned and tells Oedipus who his parents really are.

• As this is happening, Jocasta runs off stage and hangs herself in her bedroom. Oedipus runs after her, but is too late. Shamed at his ancestry and predicament, he blinds himself.

• After consultation, it is decided to expel Oedipus from Thebes. His two sons agree, as does his brother-in-law (Uncle) Creon. Daughter Antigone goes with Oedipus.

• It is decided that the brothers will share the throne of Thebes, alternating one year each. Eteocles goes first, and is supported by Uncle Creon. • Oedipus comes to COLONUS in Attica, to a Grove of the Furies. He is given hospitality by King Theseus.

• The elder brother Eteocles refuses to resign the kingship to Polynices at the end of the first year. A civil war breaks out, with Polynices trying to recruit an army from Argos.

• Apollo reveals to the Thebans that whoever possesses the person of Oedipus is fated to win a war at Thebes.

• Eteocles, king of Thebes, sends Uncle Creon to get Oedipus back.

• Polynices, King-elect of Thebes (in exile in Argos), comes looking for Oedipus

• OEDIPUS IS GIVEN SANCTUARY AT COLONUS (a country district in Athens). At Colonus there is a Grove of the Furies, a shrine of Demeter, and a shrine of Poseidon. King Theseus, who happens to be coming to the shrine of Poseidon to sacrifice, personally intervenes when Uncle Creon tries to kidnap Oedipus.

• Oedipus curses his sons for their callousness and self-interest.

• Polynices, who accepts the curse and the inevitability of his death, asks his sister Antigone (who is also his aunt) to be sure that he is given a proper burial. She takes an oath to do so.

• Thunder and portents are heard from the sky: Oedipus knows that it is his last moment on earth, Oedipus dies.

• The war at Thebes THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES results in (a) the self-sacrifice of Creon's son Menoecius; (b) the deaths in combat of both of Oedipus' sons.

• ANTIGONE returns to Thebes to fulfill her oath and family obligations.