Oedipus (Euripides) Oedipus (Euripides) Oedipus ( or ; , "Oidípous") is a play by the 5th-century BCE Athenian dramatist Euripides. The play is now lost except for some fragments. What survives of the play covers similar ground as Sophocles' acclaimed "Oedipus Rex", but scholars and historians have found there are significant differences. In "Oedipus Rex", the title character blinds himself upon learning his true parentage, accidentally killing his father and marrying his mother Jocasta. In Euripides' play, however, it appears Oedipus is blinded by a servant of his father Laius, Oedipus' predecessor as king of Thebes. Furthermore, Euripides' play implies Oedipus was
Oedipus at Colonus of guilt; the fact that Oedipus is "rationally innocent" – that he sinned unknowingly – decreases his guilt, allowing his earthly sufferings to serve as sufficient expiation for his sins. Darice Birge has argued that "Oedipus at Colonus" can be interpreted as a heroic narrative of Oedipus rather than a tragic one. It can be viewed as a transitional piece from the Oedipus of "Oedipus Rex" whose acts were abominable to the Oedipus we see at the end of "Oedipus at Colonus", who is so powerful that he is sought after by two separate major cities. The major image used