Hodara: Oedipus as Athens

The classic tale of Oedipus The King was written somewhere between 429 and 420 B.C.E..

The tragedy was performed at the festival of Dionysus in Athens late in the fifth century B.C.E.. the drama tells the story of Oedipus, a successful man who thinks he can avoid his fate and work iround the gods plan for him, thus making him one who suffers from hubris. Oedipus suffers greatly in the end and must live with facing the terrible deeds he did in life, all results of not mowing himself and his refusing to realize who he really was. Though, throughout the play the answers are all laid out for him to see. Oedipus is suffocated by his own power and authority and loes not listen to anyone else's urgings to stop searching for the truth, which will eventually destroy him. He pursue's his blind adventure to find his identity which he should have already realized, and all the while fails to hear what those around him and the god Apollo are trying to tell iim. The polis of Athens also suffered from hubris in its history, relying too much on the self defined power and stature of their state, ignoring the fact that the polis was falling apart due to war and defeat. Instead of repairing the city and rebuilding their army during the Great Peloponnesian War, Althonim generals went on foolish conquests. Athens’ lust for power and refusal to realize it was not greater than the gods and that it too was subject to defeat brought about its own downfall. rhe height of Athenian power was during the fifth century B.C.E. and so it is logical to say then, hat Sophocles created the drama of the rise and fall of Oedipus, to symbolize the rise and fall of kthens. Not only did the play capture the audience with it's pull between pity and fear, but also aptured the Athenians attention with Oedipus' resemblance to their own polis!

The first parallel example of Oedipus' relationship to Athens was his ignorance of the fact hat he was not greater than fate itself, or in Athens' example, so great that nothing could effect their current state. "Apollo sent me away with my question unanswered but he foretold a dreadful, alamitous future for me-to lie with my mother and beget children men's eyes would not bear the ight of- and to be the killer of the father that gave me life. When I heard that, I ran away ... I was unning to a place where I would never see that shameful prophecy come true" (pg. 56). Oedipus is clearly suffering from hubris here, believing he can escape his fate which is of course, unescapable. Athens in the fifth century B.C.E. was the leader of the Delian League, acting as a powerful but increasingly oppressive leader. During the First Peloponnesian War, Athens sent a fleet to Egypt to fight the Persians. Meanwhile some of the client states of the Delian League revolted and the Athenians were badly defeated in Egypt. This forced Athens to make a treaty with Sparta called the Thirty Years Peace in 445 B-C.E. Athens had made bad decisions because they believed they could handle more than they really could. The Thirty Years Peace did not last for very long and Sparta, afraid of Athens growing power, invaded Athens and began the Great Peloponnesian War in 432 B.C.E. Athens whole strategy going into the war was purely arrogant. Athens wanted to show Sparta that they were invulnerable in the beginning, and then regain power by means of their strong fleet further into the war. Athens was clearly too confident of its own ability and later proved vulnerable to Sparta's army.

The second example of the relationship between Oedipus and Athens is how they lost themselves in the midst of their power and hubris. For if you think you are more then you are, you will never know who you really are. Athens was blind to its limited power and failed to foresee the results of it's actions. Oppression of weaker states, and Athens shift from an alliance to an empire, would only lead to rebellion and strife. Athens attempted conquest of Sicily during the midst of the Peloponnesian War was a foolish choice and a result of Athens not seeing itself clearly. Athens did not know itself and suffered from this ignorance. Oedipus had the same fate. Like Athens power', Oedipus' power and position worked against him. As a result of running from his fate Oedipus does not know who he is. In his search to find that truth he uses his political power to avoid listening to the advice of the people around him. On page seventy-seven Jocasta says to him, "Take my advice, I beg you-do not go on with it" Oedipus responds selfishly and ignorantly, "Nothing will move me. I will find out the whole truth." Oedipus is blind to the truth of his own parentage and the fact that his success and present life are all based on a falsehood-he is not aware that he has killed his father and is the father of his mother's children. Just as Athens and Oedipus suffer from hubris, they also suffer from not knowing who they are, a result of hubris.

What follows not knowing yourself is destruction and in Athens’ case, downfall of the city. In 404 B.C.E. Athens surrendered to Sparta, Sparta having starved Athens into submission. Athens' tried conquest of Sicily had failed, the states under the polis were rebelling, and it could not hold Sparta off any longer. Athens once so powerful had brought itself into a state it could no longer handle. Athens had suffered into truth and realized the consequences of hubris. Oedipus also suffers into the truth. He finally realizes his true identity and cannot live knowing his horrible reality. He rips out the pins of Jocasta's garments and spears his eyes yelling, "You will not see the horrors I have suffered and done. Be dark forever now-eyes that saw those you should never have seen, and failed to recognize those you longed to see" (pg.93). Oedipus must live his life in eternal darkness, but he was already living in darkness by not knowing himself and the truth.

One can also infer that a result of not knowing oneself is exile. Because Oedipus was lost in his life of lies, he did not know where he belonged in the world. "Yes, I can tell you. Apollo once announced that I am destined to mate with my mother, and shed my father's blood with my own hand. That is why for so many years I have lived far away from Corinth. It has turned out well- but still, there's nothing sweeter than the sight of one's parents" (pg.69) Oedipus has a very wrong notion of who he is, and in the end of the book he is exiled to Mount Cithaeron, back to where he began, and away from society. Athens did not know what its limits were and after the Peloponnesian War, it was "exiled" from Greece. The other polis " turned their backs on Athens, and it was isolated and diminished.

In the end Oedipus is a symbol for anyone and anything, including Athens, who thinks themselves so powerful that nothing can affect them. This misguided belief only leads to thinking of yourself as someone you are not and destroying yourself in the process. With this symmetry of Oedipus to Athens embedded in the play, Sophocles captured the hearts of his Athenian audience. At the same time he foresaw a dreadful end to the once so powerful polis.