00:13Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Thebes, the Theban king, Lias, and his queen, Jocasta, had tried so
00:21long to beget a child, all to no avail.
00:24Lias paid the oracle of Delphi a visit to learn if he and his wife would ever have a child.
00:30To his greatest shock, the oracle revealed to him that the gods had made it so, for any son born
00:37out of their union was destined to slay him. The child would kill his father and marry his mother.
00:44Paying heed to the oracle's advice, Lias did his best to stay away from his wife's bed, until one fateful
00:50night, when he got drunk, and laid with his wife, and got her pregnant.
00:55When Jocasta gave birth, it was what they feared, a baby boy.
01:00To prevent the prophecy, Lias told his servants, to pierce the baby's ankles, so the baby would not be able
01:07to crawl, nor walk, when it was time. Therefore, would not be able to cause him harm.
01:13Lias then told one of his servants, to get rid of the baby, to take him far away, and leave
01:19him deep in the woods to die.
01:21Now the boy was gone. The prophecy, had been thwarted. So Lias thought.
01:27But his shepherd happened to be passing by, when he found the abandoned baby, and took him, to King Polybus
01:33and Queen Merope of Corinth.
01:35The Corinthian king and queen, had no child of their own. So they decided to adopt the baby, and raise
01:42him as theirs.
01:44Seeing his ankle wounds, the royal couple gave the baby the name, Oedipus, which means swollen foot.
01:51When Oedipus became a man, he was one day, told by a drunkard, that King Polybus and Queen Merope, were
01:58only his foster parents, and not his birth parents.
02:01Of course, Polybus and Merope denied this, and tried to dismiss the rumor. But Oedipus had begun having doubts.
02:09He traveled to Delphi, to learn the truth from the famed oracle herself, only to be told by the oracle,
02:16that he, Oedipus, would kill his father, and marry his own mother.
02:21Shaken to the bone, Oedipus hurried away from Delphi, forgetting to ask the question that brought him to the temple.
02:28Still thinking that Polybus and Merope were his real parents, Oedipus fled Corinth, in his attempt to protect them, from
02:35the grim prophecy.
02:36He headed towards Thebes, the city closest to Delphi. Unbeknownst to him, he was heading to his actual hometown, to
02:44the kingdom of his actual parents.
02:45His abominable destiny, was beginning to unravel.
02:49On his way, Oedipus reached Daulia, a place where three roads crossed each other.
02:55He saw a chariot approaching. The chariot, was carrying King Lias, his real father.
03:01Oedipus and Lias charioteer, started quarrelling, over who had the right to go first.
03:07As the charioteer tried to run him over, Oedipus, killed him.
03:12And when Lias stepped in, Oedipus killed him too. Thus, unknowingly fulfilling the first half of the prophecy.
03:20Coincidentally, a fleeing slave, who was also travelling on the same road, at that time, witnessed the whole scene.
03:28Still on his journey to Thebes, Oedipus came across the horrid flesh-eating sphinx, who had plagued that region of
03:35Thebes, for a long time.
03:37The sphinx was a creature, with the body of a lion, strong wings, like that of an eagle, and the
03:43head of a woman.
03:45It would stop all those travelling to Thebes, and ask them a riddle.
03:49If the travellers refused to answer, or were unable to answer correctly, the monster would kill, and devour them.
03:57But if they gave the right answer, they were free to continue, on their journey.
04:02The she-monster approached Oedipus, and asked him,
04:06What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?
04:11Oedipus thought for a while, and replied thus.
04:14The answer is man. For man as an infant, crawls on all fours.
04:19As an adult, he walks on two legs, and in old age, with a walking stick.
04:25No one had ever solved the riddle correctly.
04:27And the sphinx, so mad, that Oedipus solved her riddle, threw herself off the cliff, to her death.
04:35Oedipus was free to go on ahead, into Thebes.
04:38Before this incident, Creon, the brother of the widowed queen of Thebes, Jocasta, had made a decree, that any man
04:46who freed Thebes, from the terrible sphinx, would be rewarded with the throne of Thebes, and the hand of the
04:52queen, in marriage.
04:54And so, after Oedipus defeated the sphinx and her riddle, he was given his father's throne, and the hand of
05:01his mother, in marriage.
05:02The prophecy, had been fulfilled.
05:05Neither Oedipus nor Jocasta, recognized the other.
05:09And together, they had four children, namely, Etiocles, Polyneses, Antigone, and Ismenae.
05:17Some years later, a terrible curse, descended on Thebes.
05:21Plants and animals perished, the lands were rendered infertile, and the people, began to starve.
05:27King Oedipus sent his uncle, Creon, to the oracle of Delphi, to find out the cause of the plague.
05:34And at the advice of Creon, Oedipus also sent for the famed blind prophet of Thebes, Tiresias.
05:40Who, although blind, could see more than any man.
05:44Creon returned, with the words of the oracle of Delphi.
05:48That the kingdom was suffering, because the murderer of the former king, Lias, had not been brought to justice.
05:55Oedipus, who had no idea it was him, swore to find the killer, and exile him.
06:01When the blind prophet, Tiresias, was asked everything he knew about the situation.
06:06He responded, that the man who was presently king, was responsible for the murder.
06:12Confused, Oedipus blamed Creon and Tiresias, for plotting to overthrow him.
06:18Jocasta tried calming him down, and narrated to him how Lias was killed.
06:23Oedipus became nervous.
06:25The story sounded similar to the incident many years ago, in which he had killed a regally clothed man, and
06:31his charioteer.
06:32Still, he refused to believe it.
06:35Polibus and Merope were his parents.
06:37They had to be.
06:39When Oedipus heard that there was a slave, who witnessed Lias death.
06:43He sent for the slave.
06:45Just then, a messenger from Corinth, entered the court, to inform him, that Polibus of Corinth, was dead.
06:53Still believing that Polibus was his real father, Oedipus was relieved.
06:58There was no way he could kill his father now.
07:00But afraid of the second part of the prophecy, he refused to attend the funeral, to avoid meeting his mother.
07:07It was there, that the messenger revealed to Oedipus, that Polibus and Merope, weren't his real parents.
07:14The messenger knew this, because he was the very shepherd, who handed baby Oedipus, to Polibus and Merope, many years
07:22ago.
07:23Doubting the entire story, Oedipus waited for the slave to arrive.
07:28But Jocasta, who had been watching all along, did not need any more evidence than this.
07:34She fled to her chambers, in great distress.
07:37The warnings of the oracle, from the very first beginning, had come to pass.
07:42In tears, Queen Jocasta hanged herself, in her chambers.
07:47The slave arrived, and recognizing Oedipus, confirmed that the Theban king, was the one who murdered Lias, years ago.
07:55What a terrible moment it was, for Oedipus.
07:58His worst fears, had come true.
08:01What he tried running away from for so long, had finally found him.
08:05He had killed his father, and married his mother.
08:09Oedipus went to look for Jocasta, and found her lifeless body, dangling from the ceiling, in her chambers.
08:16He took two pins from Jocasta's gown, and blinded himself.
08:21Keeping his promise.
08:23The promise that he would exile the killer of Lias.
08:26Oedipus, banished himself from Thebes.
08:29His life was a curse.
08:31Guided by his daughter, Antigone.
08:33Oedipus reached Athens, where they were welcomed by King Theseus.
08:38Tired of life.
08:40Oedipus was mysteriously taken by the gods, who took pity on him, after he prayed to them, to end his
08:46cursed life.
08:47Truly, he did nothing, to deserve such a cruel fate.
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