Oedipus Rex

In Our Time: Culture

BBC

History

4.6 • 978 Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex begins with a warning: the murderer of the old king of Thebes, Laius, has never been identified or caught, and he’s still at large in the city. Oedipus is the current king of Thebes, and he sets out to solve the crime.

His investigations lead to a devastating conclusion. Not only is Oedipus himself the killer, but Laius was his father, and Laius’ wife Jocasta, who Oedipus has married, is his mother.

Oedipus Rex was composed during the golden age of Athens, in the 5th century BC. Sophocles probably wrote it to explore the dynamics of power in an undemocratic society. It has unsettled audiences from the very start: it is the only one of Sophocles’ plays that didn’t win first prize at Athens’ annual drama festival. But it’s had exceptionally good write-ups from the critics: Aristotle called it the greatest example of the dramatic arts. Freud believed it laid bare the deepest structures of human desire.

With:

Nick Lowe, Reader in Classical Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Fiona Macintosh, Professor of Classical Reception and Fellow of St Hilda’s College at the University of Oxford

Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Durham University

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.7	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
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0:10.7	programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC in our time. I hope you enjoyed
0:15.3	the program.
0:16.3	Hello Sophocles play Edopus Rex begins with a warning. The murderer of the old
0:21.6	king of thieves, Laius, has never been identified or caught and is still at large in the city.
0:27.0	Eedipus is the current King of Thebes and he sets out to solve the crime.
0:32.0	His investigations lead to a devastating... and he'd sets out to solve the crime.
0:32.6	His investigations lead to a devastating conclusion.
0:36.3	Not only is Eidipus himself the killer, but Laius was his father, and Laius wiped Jocasta,
0:41.8	who Eidipus has married, is his mother.
0:45.0	Eidipus rexas composed during the golden age of Athens in the 5th century BC.
0:50.4	It's unsettled audiences from the very start.
0:52.6	It's the only one of Sophocles surviving plays that we know miss out on the first prize
0:57.1	at Athens Annual Drama Festival.
0:59.2	A century later, Aristotle called it the greatest example of the dramatic arts.
1:03.7	Freud believed it laid bare the deepest structures of human desire.
1:07.7	With me to discuss Edo Bessrecks I Nick Lowe,
1:10.2	reader in classical literature at Royal Holloway, University of London.
1:13.5	Fiona McIntosh, Professor of Classical Reception and Fellow of St Hilders College at the University of Oxford,
1:18.8	and Eilith Hall, Professor of Classics at Durham University.
	...

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