Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles401 BCESophocles wrote a meditation on suffering and redemption: the blind, exiled Oedipus finally finds peace at the moment of death.
Read this if you…
- are finishing out the Oedipus trilogy (this is the worst one but still good)
- like the philosophical exploration of "Is it better to not ever been born?"
Skip this if you…
- haven't read Oedipus Rex
Why It Matters
Sophocles wrote a meditation on suffering and redemption: the blind, exiled Oedipus finally finds peace at the moment of death. It is the quiet counterpart to the shattering drama of Oedipus Rex, and its picture of undeserved suffering turned to grace fed into Christian theology. The play argues that the worst things that happen to you can become the source of your power.
The 
Take
Good end to the trilogy, oedipus becomes the good the the prophet . Talks up Athens a tad too much though
Where to go next
- The Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus. Oedipus at Colonus built on it. - The brother-against-brother war that hangs over *Oedipus at Colonus* was dramatized first by Aeschylus, sixty-odd years earlier - Sophocles works against that older Theban material — when Oedipus curses his sons and Polynices comes to Colonus, he's lighting the fuse on the fratricide *Seven Against Thebes* already showed burning down - Read Aeschylus first and Oedipus's curse stops being abstract; you know exactly where it leads
- The Odyssey by Homer. Oedipus at Colonus built on it. - Sophocles was called "the pupil of Homer" in antiquity, and the *Odyssey* is where his Theban material starts - Book XI — Odysseus among the dead, the prophet Teiresias speaking, Epicaste glimpsed below — gives you the blind seer and the cursed house before Sophocles makes Oedipus himself the one who sees and prophesies - Read it first and the dying, blind, oracular Oedipus reads as the Homeric underworld turned inside out
Depicted in Art
A dying Oedipus raises his sightless face skyward, hands clasped, as Antigone and Ismene weep at his side just before his mysterious end at Colonus.
Bénigne Gagneraux, 1784
The blind, white-bearded Oedipus thrusts out his arm to curse the cowering Polynices; Antigone and Ismene try to restrain him.
Henry Fuseli, 1786
Antigone in flowing dark robes leads the blind Oedipus across a barren plain toward Colonus, his hand resting on her shoulder.
Franz Dietrich, 1872
Antigone leads the blind Oedipus by the hand through a barren landscape, his staff in his other hand, both barefoot exiles bound for Colonus.
Aleksander Kokular, 1825
The blind Oedipus rests at Colonus; his son Polynices kneels begging support while Antigone and Ismene cluster around their father.
Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust, 1788
Antigone in white drapery leads her blind father gently along a rocky path, Oedipus's bowed head and outstretched staff catching the light.
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, 1812
The newly blinded Oedipus, upright and dignified, walks into exile leaning on the young Antigone's shoulder; both figures statuesque against a dark sky.
Antoni Brodowski, 1828
Recommended Editions
Robert Fagles
Penguin Classics · 1982
Fagles again in the Three Theban Plays. Colonus is the strangest of the three, half political endgame and half holy mystery, and Fagles handles the tonal shift without breaking the spell.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“Not to be born is, past all prizing, best; but when a man has seen the light of day, the next best thing by far is to go back where he came from, as quickly as he can.”
“Not to be born is, past all prizing, best; but, when a man hath seen the light, this is next best by far, that with all speed he should go thither, whence he hath come.”
More by Sophocles
- Women of Trachis
c. 450 BCE · Tragedy
- Antigone
441 BCE · Tragedy
- Ajax
c. 440 BCE · Tragedy
- Oedipus Rex
c. 429 BCE · Tragedy
- Electra
c. 410 BCE · Tragedy
- Philoctetes
409 BCE · Tragedy