Oedipodea

For the Aeschylus trilogy of the same name, see Seven Against Thebes.

The Oedipodea (Greek: Οἰδιπόδεια) is a lost poem of the Theban cycle, a part of the Epic Cycle (Greek: Επικὸς Κύκλος). The poem was about 6,600 verses long and the authorship was credited by ancient authorities to Cinaethon (Greek: Κιναίθων), a barely known poet who lived probably in Sparta.^[1] Only three short fragments and one testimonium survived.

It told the story of the Sphinx and Oedipus and presented an alternative view of the Oedipus myth. According to Pausanias,^[2] Cinaethon states that the marriage between Oedipus and his own mother, Jocasta (= Epicasta) was childless; his children had been born from another engagement with Euryganea (Greek: Εὐρυγανεία), daughter of Hyperphas (Greek: Ὑπέρφας). That is all we know about these two characters.

A small glimpse of Cinaethon's style survives in Plutarch's On the Pythia's Oracles 407b: "he added unnecessary pomp and drama to the oracles".

References

1. ^ IG 14.1292 2.11; Euseb. Chron. Ol. 4.1.
2. ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 9.5.10-1; West, Fr. 1.

Sources

• West, Martin L. Greek Epic Fragments. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 4–6, 38–42 and 250–251.