Oedipus the King, also known by its Latin title Oedipus Rex, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles first performed around 429 BCE. Of his three surviving Theban plays dealing with the story of Oedipus, Oedipus the King was the second written; however, in terms of the chronology of events the plays describe, it comes first, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone.
Prior to the start of Oedipus the King, Oedipus has become the king of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy he would kill his father, Laius (the previous king), and marry his mother, Jocasta (whom Oedipus took as his queen after solving the riddle of the Sphinx). The action of Sophocles’ play concerns Oedipus’ search for the murderer of Laius in order to end a plague ravaging Thebes, unaware the killer he is looking for is none other than himself. At the end of the play, after the truth finally comes to light, Jocasta hangs herself while Oedipus, horrified at his patricide and incest, proceeds to gouge out his own eyes in despair.
In his Poetics Aristotle refers to Oedipus the King as an example of aspects of Greek tragedy.
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