Gary Beck writes

Oedipus 

Everyone blames Oedipus

for the terrible things

that happened to his family,

but it started before him.

When his daddy, Laius,

was chased out of Thebes

he took refuge with Pelops,

a welcoming king.

He repaid his hospitality

by kidnapping his son

and raping him,

a no-no then, as well as now.

There were no cops or law courts

in ancient times,

and Laius might have gotten away with it,

but Apollo cursed him for his crimes

and in those days

it wasn’t dirty words.

The Oracle of Delphi,

was a thriving retail establishment

known far and wide

for the fine art of prophecy

for a reasonable fee,

albeit frequently obscure,

which sometimes led to confusion,

followed by disaster.

The Oracle warned Laius if he had a son

he would kill his father

and marry his mother,

a delicate way for the Oracle

to describe hot sex, begetting, death.

Laius was already suspected

of not being the brightest of mortals

and married princess Jocasta

without revealing

what was in store for her, if…

But he refrained from sex,

until he got drunk one night,

forgot the prophecy,

and visited Jocasta

with the usual result,

before pregnancy prevention

avoided unwanted offspring.

They didn’t have orphanages,

so they couldn’t leave the kid on a doorstep

in a comfy basket.

Instead they exposed him on a mountain

where it was expected he would die,

thus avoiding the curse.

But a shepherd wandered by,

found the squalling brat,

couldn’t afford to keep him

and dumped him on the king and queen of Corinth,

kind recipients for some reason,

who raised Oedipus to young manhood.

One night at a banquet

a drunken gent told Oedipus

that the king and queen weren’t his parents.

He went to the Oracle of Delphi,

still a booming business,

to find out who his parents were,

if they weren’t the Corinth royals.

In the usual misleading way

the Oracle told him not to go home,

or he would kill dad, bed mom.

Being a good son

and not wanting to go home and…

He went toward Thebes

to avoid you know what.

He met an arrogant stranger

who was traveling to Delphi,

who turned out to be Laius

and in one of the earliest road rage incidents

they argued, fought and Oedipus killed him,

fulfilling the first part of the prophecy.

In those days, as well as gods,

there were monsters, like the Sphinx,

with the head and breasts of a woman,

the body of a lion,

wings of a bird and a snake’s tail.

The Sphinx, another historical bully,

hulked before the gates of Thebes

and killed anyone coming or going

who couldn’t answer the riddle:

What walks on four legs in the morning,

two in the afternoon, three at night?

Oedipus must have been pretty smart

because he answered the riddle, ‘Man’

and vanquished the Sphinx.

A good thing too, or a lot more

dumb Thebans would have bit the dust.

He was proclaimed King of Thebes

married Queen Jocasta, yes, mommy,

and they had four children.

Just in case you like Greek names,

Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone and Ismene.

So things were pretty good for Oedipus

for a couple of years,

then plague swept Thebes

Oedipus sent for Tiresias,

the blind prophet,

who reluctantly revealed

that Oedy killed Dad and _____ Ma.

Poor Jocasta, who hadn’t done anything wrong,

hanged herself in shame.

Oedipus blinded himself,

then renounced the throne.

To this day Thebans still can’t figure out

why he didn’t kill himself,

or go somewhere far away

where they never heard of him.

Shrug. The victims of curses

often do peculiar things.

Eteocles and Polyneices

disputed the rulership,

then agreed to alternate,

(We didn’t need the Oracle

to know it would end badly)

and Eteocles ruled first.

When it was time to give up the throne

Eteocles refused, banished Polyneices

who came back with an army

and besieged Thebes.

They fought in single combat,

killed each other, and Creon,

brother of Jocasta, became king.

He issued a proclamation:

Eteocles, defender of the city,

would get honorable burial rites.

Polyneices would be exposed to the wild beasts,

maybe on the same mountain

where baby Oedipus once hung out.

Antigone asked Creon

for burial rites for her brother

according to law and custom.

Creon refused.

Antigone said it was her duty

to give her brother burial rites.

Again Creon refused,.

this time proclaiming death

to anyone giving Polyneices

burial rites.

Antigone left defiantly

claiming it was her duty to the Gods

to give her brother burial rites.

Creon’s son, Haemon,

betrothed to Antigone,

tried to intercede

knowing how stubborn they both were,

but Creon refused to listen.

Antigone gave Polyneices

burial rites.

Creon found out,

had her buried alive,

Haemon killed himself,

Ismene went mad,

ending the House of Laius.

The moral is…?