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Oedipus: Father
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Oedipus was a figure who was ... used in the Latin literature of ancient Rome. Julius Caesar wrote a play on Oedipus, but it has not survived into modern times.[22] Ovid included Oedipus in Metamorphoses, but only as the person who defeated the Sphynx. He makes no mention of Oedipus' troubled experiences with his father and mother. Seneca the Younger wrote his own play on the story of Oedipus in the first century CE. It differs in significant ways from the work of Sophocles. The play was intended to be recited at private gatherings and not actually performed. It has however been successfully staged since the Renaissance.
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You may recall the story - when Oedipus was born, the oracles predicts he will kill his father. The child is mutilated and abandoned in the mountains, only to be recovers and sent to Corinth by kindly shepherds. There he becomes heir to the Corinthian throne, and returns to Thebes and semi -accidentally fulfills the prophecy, causing famine and plague on his countrymen. The Gods have only one solution for this sin - exile or death. Go figure.
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An interesting aspect of Oedipus at Colonus is that Sophocles was born, raised and died at Colonus. His father was a blacksmith there. Sophocles was from a well-to-do but not aristocratic family. He believed in the power of the people as opposed to Aeschylus who believed in a more aristocratic form of democracy. Sophocles was a friend of Pericles and a general in times of war. He was the consummate Athenian citizen.
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When he was grown, by chance Oedipus heard that he was not Polybus's son, and he went to Delphi to learn if it was true. The oracle did not answer his question, but prophesied that he would kill his father and marry his mother. To protect his parents, he decided not to return to Corinth. Leaving Delphi, he came upon a man at a crossroads with four attendants who tried to force him from his path. The man prodded him with his stick and Oedipus, arrogant and quick to anger, slew him and three of the attendants. The fourth attendant escaped.
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Rescued by the shepherd who was supposed to leave the baby to starve, and delivered to the royal palace at Corinth by a Messenger, Oedipus is raised as the son of the royal house. Life there is good, until Oedipus learns that a prophecy has named him as the murderer of his father and the husband of his mother. Determined to outwit fate, the young man flees the only home—and the only father—he has known.
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According to another Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, Oedipus found a place to rest in Colonus, near Athens. Both Eteocles and Polyneices found out that if one of them managed to receive a blessing or support from their father, that son would win the war. Instead of a blessing, Oedipus cursed both of his sons for not settling their differences. The curse would later have them kill one another, in single combat.
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