Οιδίπους Τύραννος
Σοφοκλής (-496–-407), -429
★ 3.73 from 245.2k ratings on Goodreads
A king hunts the source of a plague and discovers how little anyone can know about their own life, or command its course. A slow, formal tragedy whose dread tightens as a king questions his own past, with choral odes that feel grave and uneasy.
Feels like dread, unease and grief. About family, morality and identity.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy Greek tragedy, moral puzzles, and watching a ruler reason his way toward what he fears. The formal choral language and unrelenting dread make it a demanding read, especially if you want relief or lightness.
Why read it
Its clear, terrible logic turns a public crisis into a private reckoning, asking how well anyone can know their own life.
Pages from the book
A life can look enviable until its final page is written.
Αλλοί σας γενεές θνητών,πως η ζωή σας τίποτε, τίποτε δεν αξίζει!Ποιος τάχα, ποιος θε να ’ν’ αυτόςο ζηλεμένος ο θνητός,που πιότερη ευτυχία φέρειπαρ’ όσηνε χρειάζεταιευτυχισμένος να φανή,κι έπειτα στην κακομοιριά να πέση;Τη δική σου πέρνοντας εγώπαράδειγμα την τύχην,δυστυχισμένε Οιδίπου,κανέναν δεν καλοτυχίζω. A journey meant to escape a prophecy may carry it closer.
Κι εκείνοι επροσβαλθήκανε στην κατηγόρια,κ’ έτσι βαρυθυμώσανε μ’ εκειόν που τα ’πεκ’ εγώ χαιρόμουνα γι’ αυτό. Αλλά μ’ εκένταπάντοτε ο ψόγος° χάλαγεν έτσι η καρδιά μου.Κρυφά λοιπόν απ’ τους γονείς παίρνω το δρόμογια τους Δελφούς. Και φθάνοντας εκεί ο Απόλλωνμε διώχνει, ανάξιος λέγοντας τάχα πως είμαιαπάντησι σε όσα ρωτώ, καμμιά να λάβω.Άλλα όμως φοβερώτερα μάντεψε ο Φοίβος.Πως τάχα με τη μάνα μου το αίμα θα σμίξωκαι γενεάν αισχρότατη στο φως θα φέρω,και του πατρός μου πως φονιάς μέλλω να γείνω. Some questions matter more than the safety of not knowing.
ΟΙΔΙΠΟΥΣΑς γείνη ό, τι κι αν γείνη° τη γενιά μουνα μάθω θέλω, κι άσημη ακόμη ας είναι.Αυτή με τη γυναίκεια της την περιφάνειαντρέπεται για την ταπεινή καταγωγή μου.Της τύχης, που αγαθά σκορπά, τον εαυτό μουγέννημα κράζοντας εγώ, λέω, δεν ξεπέφτω.Αυτή ήταν η μητέρα μου. Οι καιροί αδελφοί μουπου τώρα μ’ έδειχναν μικρόν τώρα μεγάλον.Τέτοιος αφού γεννήθηκα, δεν θα διαστάσωνα βρω ποιο ’ναι το γένος μου, γιατί νομίζωότι ποτέ χειρότερον δεν θα μ’ ευρήτε. What readers say
Readers are captivated by the play's masterful structure and intense psychological terror. They frequently discuss the inescapable nature of fate and the complex moral dilemmas presented by the characters.
Σοφοκλής.Sophocles’ play was first performed in Athens around 429 BCE, during a devastating plague that gives its opening crisis a stark contemporary resonance.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Οιδίπους Τύραννος for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy Greek tragedy, moral puzzles, and watching a ruler reason his way toward what he fears. The formal choral language and unrelenting dread make it a demanding read, especially if you want relief or lightness.
- What is Οιδίπους Τύραννος like?
- A slow, formal tragedy whose dread tightens as a king questions his own past, with choral odes that feel grave and uneasy. Feels like dread, unease and grief. About family, morality and identity.
- What should I read after Οιδίπους Τύραννος?
- If you liked Οιδίπους Τύραννος, try The Odyssey (Homer), Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell (Dante Alighieri) and Hamlet (William Shakespeare).
A taste of the feed
What the greatest of the Greek heroes would trade for a day of paid labour.
“I spake; Achilles quickly answered me:— ‘Noble Ulysses, speak not thus of death, As if thou couldst console me. I would be A laborer on earth, and serve for hire Some man of mean estate, who makes scant cheer, Rather than reign o’er all who have gone down To death. Speak rather of my noble son, Whether or not he yet has joined the wars To fight among the foremost of the host.
The Odyssey · Homer
A captain's speech to tired sailors about what humans are for.
Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.’ So eager did I render my companions, With this brief exhortation, for the voyage, That then I hardly could have held them back. And having turned our stern unto the morning, We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, Evermore gaining on the larboard side.
Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell · Dante Alighieri
The mind can make a prison out of the one door it cannot see through.
To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life;
Hamlet · William Shakespeare
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