1. THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
OEDIPUS REX
THE STORY BEHIND
THE STORY

4. The King’s name was Laius.
The Queen’s name was Jocasta.

9. LAUIS HAD COMMITTED A TERRIBLE CRIME… He had kidnapped a young boy who had been mistreated while in his care. This is the crime which would be avenged according to the oracle.

20. And the king – Polybus, and his wife- Merope, decide to name the child….
They name the infant Oedipus.
Oedipus means “swollen foot”

31. The oracle predicts that Oedipus will kill his father…

32. …and marry his mother!

43. What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening?

44. And the answer to the riddle was…
…Man

45. Oedipus was praised by the Thebans upon his arrival for eliminating the Sphynx which had brought the people so much anguish.

46. Being without a king, they invited Oedipus to become their new king.

47. He accepted and went on to marry the recently widowed queen – Jocasta.
The two lived and loved and raised a family of children until things starting going wrong in Thebes once again………….