Oedipus at Colonus

Oedipus at Colonus is a tragedy by Sophocles, first performed posthumously in 401 BCE. It is Sophocles's final Theban tragedy, written near the end of his life. In the story's chronology it follows Oedipus the King and precedes Antigone, although it was the last of the three plays to be composed.

Blind, exiled, and guided by his daughter Antigone, Oedipus reaches a sacred grove at Colonus, outside Athens. An oracle has told him that this will be his final resting place and that his grave will protect its host city, turning a destitute wanderer into a figure of political value.

King Theseus offers the protection of Athens, while Creon tries to force Oedipus back under Theban control and Polyneices seeks his blessing in the struggle against his brother. Oedipus refuses both claims, rescues his daughters through Theseus, and chooses where his power will remain.

The play brings exile, guilt, hospitality, family duty, and civic loyalty into a single last day. Oedipus does not undo his past, but Sophocles gives his suffering a new meaning: the outcast becomes a sacred guardian, and death becomes a mysterious form of belonging.

"OEDIPUS
Child of an old blind sire, Antigone,
What region, say, whose city have we reached?
Who will provide today with scanted dole
This wanderer? 'Tis little that he craves,
And less obtains—that less enough for me;
For I am taught by suffering to endure,
And the long years that have grown old with me,
And last not least, by true nobility."

This edition uses the English translation by F. Storr, from the 1912 Harvard University Press and William Heinemann edition.