Oedipus at Colonus
Oidipous epi Kolono
The exiled, blinded Oedipus dies transfigured rather than merely punished, and the place that grants him a peaceful, mysterious death will be blessed and protected because it did so.
- exile transformed into sacred protection
- reconciliation after catastrophe
- Theseus and Athenian hospitality
- a mysterious, hero-cult death
- Sophocles's late-life, posthumously staged play
Composed near the end of Sophocles's long life and produced posthumously by his grandson in 401 BC, Oedipus at Colonus follows the aged, blind Oedipus in his final wanderings, arriving with his daughter Antigone at the sacred grove of Colonus outside Athens, a site traditionally associated with Sophocles's own birthplace. King Theseus of Athens grants Oedipus sanctuary despite his terrible history, and Oedipus, learning that his death will confer lasting protection on whatever land holds his grave, curses his warring sons and dies in a mysterious, self-willed passing witnessed only by Theseus, vanishing rather than simply expiring. The play transforms Oedipus from the horrifying, self-blinded figure of Oedipus Tyrannus into something closer to a protective hero-spirit, offering a rare instance of reconciliation and grace at the close of a life defined by catastrophe.
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