Disease in Oedipus Rex

Sera Passerini

Importance of Disease in Oedipus Rex

• Analytical tragedy• First third of play features plague• Background for evolution of plot• Minor tragedy of Oedipus

Clues• “The herds are sick” (line 29)• “Children die unborn” (line 29)• “Our afflictions have no end” (line 172)• “Wasted thus by death on death all our city

perishes; corpses spread infection round” (lines 179-181 of Greek version)

Traits of Plague• Highly contagious• Cause stillbirths/infertility• Able to cause epidemic in 5th Century

B.C.• Zoonotic ?

Cows get infected too!

Most Likely• Brucella abortus

• Unsterilized milk, infected meat, infected secretions

• 80% mortality rate• First described by Hippocrates (460-377

B.C.)• Other possibilities

• Mixes• Lethal variations

Historical Connections• Setting: 430-420 B.C.• Peloponnesian War: 431-404 B.C.

• Ares → war → Thucydides → Athens (430-429 B.C.)

Works Cited"Brucella Abortus." « CFSPH. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

"The Plague of Athens: Epidemiology and Paleopathology." - Littman. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

"The Plague of Thebes, a Historical Epidemic in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex - Vol. 18 No. 1 - January 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease Journal - CDC." The Plague of Thebes, a Historical Epidemic in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex - Vol. 18 No. 1 - January 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease Journal - CDC. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.