Oedipus at ColonusSophocles
About Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles wrote near the end of his life. It was produced in 401 BC by his grandson. The play continues the story of . Blind and exiled, Oedipus arrives at Colonus, a village near Athens and the poet's own birthplace, guided by his daughter Antigone. He sits in a grove sacred to the Eumenides. The local people recoil. Theseus, king of Athens, receives him as a suppliant and promises protection.
The action turns on the value of Oedipus' body and his death. An oracle has said that the place where he is buried will be strong. Creon of Thebes tries to seize him by force. Polyneices, the son who cast him out, comes begging for a blessing in the war against his brother. Oedipus curses both sons and holds to the promise of Theseus. Thunder signals the appointed end. Oedipus walks to his death; the place remains secret, a gift to Athens.
Where shows knowledge destroying the knower, this play shows suffering transformed into a civic blessing. The polluted man becomes a hero-protector. The work takes up fate, family, and citizenship: what a city owes the stranger, and what the outcast can still give.