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 of the Delphic Oracle. He visits Delphi to find out who his real parents are and assumes that the Oracle refuses to answer that question, offering instead an unrelated prophecy which forecasts patricide and incest. Oedipus's assumption is incorrect, the Oracle does, in a way, answer his question: "On closer analysis the oracle contains essential information which Oedipus seems to neglect." The wording of the Oracle: I was doomed to be murderer of the father that begot me refers to Oedipus' real, biological father. Likewise the mother with polluted children is defined as the biological one. The wording of the