Oedipus the Latin literature of ancient Rome. Julius Caesar wrote a play on Oedipus, but it has not survived into modern times. Ovid included Oedipus in "Metamorphoses", but only as the person who defeated the Sphinx. He makes no mention of Oedipus' troubled experiences with his father and mother. Seneca the Younger wrote his own play on the story of Oedipus in the first century AD. It differs in significant ways from the work of Sophocles. Seneca's play on the myth was intended to be recited at private gatherings and not actually performed. It has however been successfully staged since the
Oedipus Rex to anyone. Literal and metaphorical references to eyesight appear throughout "Oedipus Rex". Clear vision serves as a metaphor for insight and knowledge, but the clear-eyed Oedipus is blind to the truth about his origins and inadvertent crimes. The prophet Tiresias, on the other hand, although literally blind, "sees" the truth and relays what is revealed to him. "Though Oedipus' future is predicted by the gods, even after being warned by Tiresias, he "cannot" see the truth or reality beforehand because his excessive pride has blinded his vision…" Only after Oedipus has physically blinded himself does he gain a limited prophetic