CLAS 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Oedipus The King, Dirce, Laius

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLAS 2000
• Professor: John Walsh

Document Summary

Sagas are clusters of legends concerning an individual hero, prominent families or a particular region. Thebes was an important region that produced a lot of sagas. Sophocles 5th bc: sophocles is the writer we are most familiar with. Wrote: oedipus tyrannus, oedipus at coll(idk) etc. This is the saga that started it all. Zeus turns himself into a bull to seduce europa: this occurs in greece tyre. Zeus abducts europa at tyre and swims. Agganor the king at the time and europa"s daughter sends his son cadmus out to find europa and get her back: cadmus sets out to consult the oracle. The oracle was the oracle of apollo: the pythia. This will be the city of thebes. When the cow settles he must sacrifice the cow to the goddess athena: however sacrifices are set to a standard in ancient greek times. The animal must agree to being sacrificed.