Oedipus, curious to know more, summoned the blind prophet Tiresias, whose reluctance to speak made Oedipus suspect him. The cause was religious pollution: Laius, the previous king and husband of Jocasta, had been murdered while travelling and the culprit had never been caught. He hoped to discover the cause of the plague that afflicted the city and sent his brother, Creon, to consult the Oracle at Delphi. It would kill any traveller who failed to answer its riddle – ‘which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening?’ Oedipus answered correctly – ‘Man?’ The Sphinx threw itself off a cliff and Oedipus was offered the city’s crown and its dowager queen, Jocasta. It sat outside the cursed city’s walls as a punishment from the gods. Oedipus became ruler after defeating the Sphinx, a creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lioness and the wings of an eagle. Oedipus, King of Thebes, is supported by his daughter (and half-sister) Antigone, as they walk though the plague-ravaged city.
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