Of the three Greek tragedians, only Sophocles embodies completely the mind and spirit of Athens in the fifth century B.C. His birth in 496 B.c. falls within a period characterized by the dissolution of tyranny and the ascendancy of Greece over the Persian Empire; in his youth and adulthood he saw the Golden Age of Athens inaugurated and promoted by the statesman Pericles; and before his death in 406 B.C. he witnessed the approaching and inevitable collapse of Athens under the strain of the PeloponnesianWilt.

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This new translation is for the contemporary reader. Specifically commissioned for stage production, it rings easily on the modern ear and yet retains fidelity to Sophocles' original, avoiding the archaisms of other translations.

The text is accompanied by a wealth of carefully chosen background materials and essays. Among the background materials are selections from Homer's Odyssey, Thucydides' account of the plague, and Euripides' Phoenissae. The best of ancient and modern criticism is represented, permitting discussion from many points of view: psy-chological, religious, anthropological, dramatic, and literary. Under the topic "Religion and Psychology" are included writings on the Oedipus myth by Martin P. Nilsson, Meyer Fortes, Gordon M. Kirk-wood, Thalia Phillies Feldman, and Sigmund Freud. The authors of the selections in literary criticism are Aristotle, C. M. Bowra, R. C.Jebb, S. M. Adams, A. J. A. Waldock, Albin Lesky, Werner Jaeger, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Jones, D. W. Lucas, Bernard M. W. Knox, Cedric H. Whitman, Richmond Lattimore, Robert Cohen, Francis Fergusson, and H. D. F. Kitto. The special question of Oedipus'guilt or innocence is studied by J. T. Sheppard, Laszlo Versenyi,P. H. Vellacott, E. R. Dodds, and Thomas Gould.

Preface

The Text of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus

Map

Passages from Ancient Authors

 Homer's Odyssey, Book 11, lines 271-280

 Thucydides' Account of the Plague

 Jocasta's Opening Speech in Euripides' Phoenissae

Religion and Psychology: Some Studies

 Martin P. Nilsson·[The Origin of the Oedipus Myth]

 Meyer Fortes·[Oedipus and Job]

 Gordon M. Kirkwood·Oracles and Dramaturgy

 Thalia Phillies Feldman·Taboo and Neurotic Guilt in the Oedipus Theme

 Sigmund Freud·[The Oedipus Complex]

Criticism

 Essays in Criticism

Selections from Aristotle's Poetics

C. M. Bowra·[Sophoclean Characters]

R. C. Jebb. [The Characters of the Oedipus Tyrannus]

S. M. Adams·Oedipus Tyrannus

A. J. A. Waldock·Drama of Dramas: The Oedipus Tyrannus

Albin Lesky·[Oedipus: An Analytic Tragedy]

Wemer Jaeger·[Sophocles and the Tragic Character]

Friedrich Nietzsche·[The Triple Fate of Oedipus]

John Jones·[The Tyrannus: Action and Actors]

D. W. Lncas·[The Drama of Oedipus]

Bernard M. W. Knox·[Oedipus and God]

Cedric H. Whitman·[Jocasta]

Richmond Lattimore·[The Chorus in the Tyr annus ]

Robert Cohen. Oedipus and the Absurd Life

Francis Fergusson·Oedipus Rex: The Tragic

Rhythm of Action

H. D. F. Kitto·Hamlet and the Oedipus

 The Problem of Guilt

J. T. Sheppard·The Innocence of Oedipus

Laszlo Versenyi·[The Flaw of Oedipus]

P. H. Vellacott·The Guilt of Oedipus

E. R. Dodds·On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex

P. H. Vellacott·The Chorus in Oedipus Tyrannus

Thomas Gould·The Innocence of Oedipus

Philip Wheelwright·The Guilt of Oedipus

Bibliography