Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex

9.5
A famous Greek tragic play about a king who killed his father and married his mother without knowing
  • proper noun
  • /ˈɛdɪpəs rɛks/
  • NSFW
translation icon : Edipo Rey
  • In the play Oedipus Rex, the protagonist unwittingly fulfills a prophecy by killing his father and marrying his mother.
  • the plague in Oedipus Rex
  • Sophocles' Oedipus Rex
  • critical reading of Oedipus Rex

Examples

  • Oedipus Rex, apart from its undeniable literary and historic value, also presents significant medical interest because the play mentions a plague, an epidemic, which was devastating Thebes, the town of Oedipus' hegemony.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The writing of the tragedy Oedipus the King (original Greek title, most commonly known as Oedipus Rex) is placed in the first half of the decade 430-420 BC.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Our goals were to clarify whether the plague described in Oedipus Rex reflects an actual historical event; to compare it with the plague of Athens, which was described by Thucydides as occurring around the same time Sophocles wrote; and to propose a likely causative pathogen.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The themes of fate and free will are central to Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex.

  • Many scholars study Oedipus Rex to explore the tragic consequences of ignorance and destiny.

Synonyms

Oedipus
vsOedipus Rex
  • NSFW
15 9.9

A king in old Greek stories who does not know he killed his father and married his mother

is the same figure but used as the tragedy's formal title
King Oedipus
vsOedipus Rex
  • NSFW
9.4

A king of Thebes who kills his father and marries his mother without knowing

is the same figure but the title denotes the drama rather than the person

Surface Forms

Oedipus Rex main

Morphology

Oedipus + Rex

The title is a direct combination of the proper name 'Oedipus' and the Latin noun 'Rex' (king), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it means 'Oedipus the King' or 'King Oedipus'. Although the full tragic backstory requires cultural/literary knowledge, the basic referential meaning as a ruler named Oedipus is compositionally transparent and cross-linguistically recognizable.

Etymology

Oedipus Rex joins the name Oedipus and the Latin word Rex and comes from a famous Greek play by Sophocles about a king who, without knowing it, killed his father and married his mother. That's why Oedipus Rex refers today to that tragic story about 'fate' and painful truth.