Oedipus King of Thebes

Sophocles (495 BC-405 BC) was a well-known and successful Athenian tragedian writer during his lifetime. Only 7 of his 120 plays have survived. Oedipus: King of Thebes, also known as Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, was written around 420 BC and has long been considered not only his finest play but also the purest and most powerful expression of Greek tragic drama.Oedipus, a stranger to Thebes, became king after the assassination of King Laius, about fifteen or sixteen years before the play begins. He was offered the throne because he had saved the city from the Sphinx.