Sophocles: Oedipus the King

Apr 2018 · Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries Book 57 · Cambridge University Press

About this eBook

For centuries the myth of Oedipus, the man who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother, has exerted a powerful hold on the human imagination; but no retelling of that myth has ever come close, in passion, drama, and menace to the one that we find in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. This new full-scale edition of that classic play - the first in any language since 1883 - offers a freshly constituted text based on consultation of manuscripts ancient and mediaeval. The Introduction explores the play's dating and production, its creative engagement with pre-Sophoclean versions, its major themes, and its reception during antiquity. The Commentary offers a detailed analysis, line by line and scene by scene, of the play's language, staging, and dramatic impact. The translation incorporated into the commentary ensures that the book will be accessible to all readers interested in what is arguably the greatest Greek tragedy of all.

About the author

P. J. Finglass is Professor of Greek and Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Nottingham, and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He has published widely on ancient Greek literature, including editions of Stesichorus (2014), of Sophocles' Ajax (2011) and Electra (2007), and of Pindar's Pythian Eleven (2007) with the series Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, as well as articles and chapters on ancient Greek literature. In 2012, he was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize by the Leverhulme Trust.