Oedipus and the servant who did not have the heart to expose him The Myth of Oedipus is marked by a series of shocking reversals the Corinthian stranger turns out to be a Theban native the new king of Thebes (which Oedipus becomes after defeating the Sphinx) turns out to be the cause of the plague that has fallen upon the city the Head of state becomes its most humble beggar the savior of Thebes turns out to be its greatest source of pollution the bright solver of riddles turns out to have been the most blind Oedipus, now a blind beggar, is led out of Thebes by his daughter Antigone Medusa: ancestor of the Sphinx Cerberus, the dog of Hades The two-headed dog of triple bodied Geryon (here fighting Herakles) The serpent guarding the apples of the Hesperides The eagle that eternally devours Prometheus liver The Lernean hydra (1 immortal and 8 regenerative heads, the latter cut off by the sickle of Herakles) The Chimaira: part lion, part goat, part serpent The invulnerable Nemean lion The Sphinx as a sexual monster The sexually aggressive Sphinx The TRIPARTITE nature of the sphinx 2 parts are animal, 1 part human Plato s discussion of the tripartite soul of man: one part bodily appetites one part emotions one part controlling intelligence References to feet in the genealogy of Oedipus Labdacus: man with shortened foot (the letter lambda was first written in the form of an inverted V, with one long and one short stroke) Laius lefty suggests the uneven strength of the cripple Oedipus: man with swollen feet (his ankles were pierced as a baby) Oedipus blinds himself with pins after he discovers who he really is Bellerophon defeats the Chimaira riding on Pegasos Titian. Diana and Actaeon (1559). A version in which Actaeon is deliberately intruding upon a scene clearly intended to be off limits.