Oedipus Rex Oedipus Rex Oedipus Rex, also known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus ( IPA: [oidípuːs týranːos]), or Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Greeks, the title was simply "Oedipus" ("Οἰδίπους"), as it is referred to by Aristotle in the "Poetics". It is thought to have been renamed "Oedipus Tyrannus" to distinguish it from another of Sophocles' plays, "Oedipus at Colonus". In antiquity, the term “tyrant” referred to a ruler, but it did not necessarily have a negative connotation. Of his three Theban plays that have survived,
Oedipus Rex the prophecy that the king had sought to avoid by exposing Oedipus at birth is fulfilled. Before arriving at Thebes, Oedipus encounters the Sphinx, a legendary beast with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lioness, and the wings of an eagle. The Sphinx was sent to the road approaching Thebes as a punishment from the gods, and would strangle any traveler who failed to answer a certain riddle. The precise riddle asked by the Sphinx varied in early traditions, and is not stated in "Oedipus Rex", as the event precedes the play; but the most