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Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Oedipus and the Sphinx of Thebes, Red Figure Kylix, c. 470 BC, Inv. no. 16541, from the so-called Oedipus Painter.
Oedipus and the Sphinx. The Sphinx Quizmaster asks Oedipus the 1 Million Dollar question : “What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?" The Prize for his answer : He is the new King of Thebes, if the answer is wrong then he will be the next meal of the Sphinx. The answer of Oedipus is "Man". The Sphinx kills herself . Oedipus knows from the Oracle that he will marry his mother and he will kill his father. He tries to avoid this but of course it is impossible. If you know that something will happen then it will happen. If God knows what we will do in the future then there is no freedom. What will happen is determined. Is God so powerful that he knows everything? Then the Universe is a complex movie and we just actors. We can hope that God's knowledge is limited.
Who is Oedipus? I like a remark that Oedipus is Pericles. His father, the "Aristocracy", his mother the people of Athens. In that he accepted the democracy but the people accepted him to govern like a king represents the killing of his father and the marriage with his mother.
The story continues with Oedipus sons who inspired later soap operas such as "Dallas" and then with Antigone and her tragic death. Are the children responsible for what their parents did?
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