In the world of Sophocles' Oedipus the King everything happens on a grand scale, from feats of heroism to the most terrible of mistakes. It is a world of gods,prophets, kings, and plagues; a world of ancient tragedy whose stories unfold with relentless majesty and high emotion. As the great philosopher Aristotle explained in his Poetics (350 BC), the great tragedies are plays capable of arousing pity and fear, and thereby of purging those very emotions in us. Since at least Aristotle's time, Oedipus the King has been praised as a model of the greatness of Greek tragedy. For Aristotle the genius of the play resided in the organic perfection of its structnre, and Sophocles' characterization--remarkably complex for his time---of Oedipus.

INTRODUCTION

CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT GREEK THEATER

CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT GREECE

TRANSLATOR"S PREFACE

OEDIPUS THE KING

NOTES

INTERPRETIVE NOTES

CRITICAL EXCERPTS

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE INTERESTED READER