Red-figure vase ca. 470/460 B.C.

Red-figure vase ca. 470 B.C.

Red-figure vase ca. 460/450 B.C.

Red-figure vase ca. 540 B.C.

Some paradoxes: the doubleness of Oedipus (after M. Padilla)

Corinthian stranger = native of Thebes

legitimate king (son of father) = illegitimate king (killer of father, son of queen)

decipherer of riddles-oracles = riddle he can't decipher

detective-judge = criminal

hunter = prey (beast)

inquirer = subject of inquiry

innocent = guilty

pure = polluted

clairvoyant = blind man

savior of city = ruin of city (plague)

physician = disease

first of men = lowest of men

loved by the gods = hated by the gods

equal to the gods = equal to nothing

most intelligent man = most ignorant man

sees with human intelligence = blind to divine intelligence