Oedipus Remains King at Thebes (Homeric Variant)

Catalogue ID: 03-heroes/183-oedipus-remains-king-homer-odyssey-11

Cycle: Heroes — Theban / Homeric vs. tragic Oedipus

Version line: Homeric — *Odyssey* 11 (Epicaste); Oedipus continues to rule

Sources: Homer, *Odyssey* 11.271–280; cf. *Iliad* 23.679–680 (funeral games for Oedipus at Thebes)

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/03-heroes/183-oedipus-remains-king-homer-odyssey-11.md

Characters

Cadmeans — subjects who still have Oedipus as king
Jocasta — mother-wife; hangs herself when truth is known
Lyssa — torment Oedipus after Epicaste’s death
Oedipus — kills father (implied); marries mother; remains king at Thebes

Places

Hades — where Odysseus sees Epicaste’s shade
Thebes — Oedipus’s continuing kingship

Themes

Exile

Narrative

In the nekyia Odysseus sees Epicaste (Jocasta), who married her own son in ignorance; the gods made it known among people. She hanged herself, but Oedipus— Homer says—continued to rule the Cadmeans at Thebes, suffering the Erinyes of his mother. The *Iliad* alludes to funeral games held for a fallen Oedipus at Thebes, implying a king’s death in power, not blinded beggar-exile. This Homeric strand diverges sharply from Sophocles: no self-blinding exile to Colonus, but a polluted king who stays on the throne while the mother’s Erinyes torment him. Catalogue it as a distinct early epic version.