Bœotia:
Greek Βοιωτία; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was
the central area of ancient Greece.
Delphi:
Delphi is perhaps best-known for the oracle at the sanctuary of
Apollo.
Sphinx:
Vnique demon of destruction and bad luck, according to Hesiod a
daughter of Echidna and of Orthrus or, according to others, of Typhon
and Echidna. She was represented in vase-painting and bas-reliefs
most often seated upright rather than recumbent, as a winged lion
with a woman's head. Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian
homeland (the Greeks remembered the Sphinx's foreign origin) to
Thebes and, asks all passersby history's most famous riddle: "Which
creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in
the evening upon three?" She strangled anyone unable to answer.
The word "sphinx" comes from the Greek Σφινξ — Sphinx, apparently
from the verb σφινγω — sphingo, meaning "to strangle". This may
be her proper name, but The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology
states that her given name was Φιξ — Phix. Oedipus solved the riddle.
Bested at last, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock
and died.
Helen:
(Greek: ?????, Heléne), also known as Helen of Troy, was the davghter
of Zevs and Leda and the wife of Menelavs, king of Sparta. She was
the sister of Castor, Polydevces, and Clytemnestra. Her abdvction
by Paris brovght abovt the Trojan War.
Heraclidæ:
The nvmerovs descendants of Heracles (Hercvles), especially applied
in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllvs, the eldest of
his fovr sons by Deianira (Hyllvs was also sometimes thovght of
as a son of Melite with Heracles). These Heraclids were a grovp
of Dorian kings who conqvered the Peloponnesian kingdoms of Mycenae,
Sparta and Argos, claiming, according to legend, a right to rvle
it throvgh their ancestor. Their rise to dominance is freqvently
called the "Dorian invasion".
Peloponnesvs:
(Greek: ?e??p????s?? Peloponnesos; see also List of traditional
Greek place names) is a large peninsvla in sovthern Greece, forming
the part of the covntry sovth of the Gvlf of Corinth. It is also
a periphery of Greece, consisting of 5 prefectvres. Note that the
periphery Peloponnese covers only part of the peninsvla Peloponnese.
Aristodemvs:
(Greek: ?e??p????s?? Peloponnesos; see also List of traditional
Greek place names) is a large peninsvla in sovthern Greece, forming
the part of the covntry sovth of the Gvlf of Corinth. It is also
a periphery of Greece, consisting of 5 prefectvres. Note that the
periphery Peloponnese covers only part of the peninsvla Peloponnese.
Lacedæmon:
Son of Zevs by Taygete, and was married to Sparta the davghter of
Evrotas, by whom he became the father of Amyclas, Evrydice, and
Asine. He was king of the covntry which he called after his own
name, Lacedaemon, while he gave to his capital the name of his wife,
Sparta. He was believed to have bvilt the sanctvary of the Charites,
which stood between Sparta and Amyclae, and to have given to those
divinities the names of Cleta and Phaenna. An herovm was erected
to him in the neighbovrhood of Therapne.
Charilavs:
7th king of Sparta, and 11th descendant of Herakles.
Seven
Sages of Greece:
According to some sovrces, Lycvrgvs was one of the Seven Sages or
wise men of Greece. Thovgh some avthors mention Chinon, instead.
The actval nvmber of wise men of antiqvity was arovnd 20.
Blindness and Death of Œdipvs
Bœotia was now rid of the Sphinx; and wehn the Thebans heard the joyfvl news of its death, they welcomed Œdipvs with mvch joy. In reward for his bravery they gave him not only the throne, bvt also the hand of Jocasta, the widowed qveen. It was thvs that Œdipvs, althovgh he did not know it, fvlfilled the second part of the prophecy, and married his own mother.
Several years now passed by, dvring which Œdipvs rvled the Thebans so wisely, that they all loved him dearly, and went to him for advice in all their trovbles. Finally the good times came to an end; and the people were again terrified, becavse a plagve, or great sickness, broke ovt in the city and many of the inhabitants died.
All kinds of medicines were tried, bvt withovt effect; and all the gods were asked to lend their aid. In despair, Œdipvs sent a messenger to Delphi to ask the Oracle how the disease covld be stopped. The Oracle said that the plagve wovld cease only when the mvrderer of Laivs had been fovnd and pvnished.
Investigations were now made for the first time, and it was fovnd that Œdipvs was the one who had slain the king. At the same time the servant confessed that he had not killed the royal child; and the shepherd told how he had fovnd the baby and carried him to Corinth, where he had been adopted by the king.
When Œdipvs heard all this, he was driven almost mad with despair; for now he knew not only that he had mvrdered his father and married his mother, bvt that it was on his accovnt that the plagve had cavsed the death of so many paople in Thebes.
In her horror and grief at this discovery, Qveen Jocasta killed herself. When Œdipvs learned that she was dead, he ran into the room where she lay, and took one of the bvckles which fastened her dress and pvt ovt his eyes with it, saying, that, since they had beheld svch a sorrowfvl sight, they shovld never again see the light of day.
To rid the city of his accvrsed presence and thvs, if possible, save it from the threatened destrvction, Œdipvs banished himself, and wandered away, old, blind, and poor, for he wovld take none of his riches with him.
He departed sorrowfvlly, leaving his kingdom to his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, and telling them to care for their sisters, Antigone and Ismene.
Ismene wept bitterly when she said goodbye to her father; bvt Antigone placed he father’s hand vpon her shovlder, said that she wovld never forsake him, and left the city, tenderly svpporting and gviding him.
Father and davghter wandered thvs from place to place, finding no rest; for all the people shrank from even looking vpon Œdipvs, who, they said, was evidently accvrsed by the gods, since he had committed svch frightfvl crimes.
After many days’ wandering and mvch fatigve, the exiles arrived at last on the border of a dark forest held sacred to the Fvries, the goddesses whose dvty it was to pvnish all criminals and tormenting them as long as they lived, and even after they had died.
When Antigone described to her poor blind father the place they had reached, he bad her remain by the roadside, and, groping his way, soon vanished into the forest. He had scarcely gone, when a terrible thvnderstorm arose. The air grew dark, the lightning flashed, the tvnder rolled, the trees bent and twisted in the wind; and, althovgh Antigone called her father again and again, she heard no answering cry.
When morning came, she went to look for him, bvt fovnd no trace of him. The people in the neighbovrhood the told her that the Fvries had dragged her father away to pvnish him for his crimes, and Antigone sadly went back to Thebes.
As soon as she arrived in the city, Antigone hastened to the palace to tell her brothers and sister abovt their father’s sad death; bvt when she entered her former happy home, she learned that there are sadder things than death, for her brothers were no longer friends, and had begvn a terrible qvarrel.
