Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Blind Oedipus, guided by Antigone (Ismene joins later), reaches Colonus in Attica—a grove sacred to the Eumenides (Semnai / Erinyes) near Athens. The local chorus first tries to drive the polluted stranger away; Oedipus claims the right to sit where the goddesses receive him and prophesies that his body, buried in Attic soil, will be a blessing to Athens and a bane to Thebes. Theseus, king of Athens, arrives, honors the suppliant, and promises protection. From Thebes come conflicting embassies. Creon tries to seize Oedipus (and the daughters) so that the Thebans may control the tomb whose power an oracle has linked to victory. Polynices, exiled by Eteocles and mustering the Argive expedition of the Seven, begs his father’s blessing for the war. Oedipus, recalling his sons’ neglect when he was cast out, curses both: they will die by each other’s hands. Antigone fails to soften him toward Polynices. Theseus foils Creon’s violence and upholds the asylum. Thunder and signs announce Oedipus’s end. He dismisses all but Theseus, walks unguided to a secret place in the grove, and passes from life in a manner none may fully report—a mysterious, almost apotheotic vanishing that founds a hero-cult. Theseus alone knows the tomb’s exact spot; its secrecy protects Athens. Antigone and Ismene mourn and then turn back toward Thebes, where the quarrel of the brothers and the burial of the dead await. Sophocles thus closes Oedipus’s personal arc: from pollution to protective hero, from Theban outcast to Attic blessing—while launching the next Theban catastrophe through the curse on the sons.