Introductory note
The death of Oedipus is alluded to in a passage in the Iliad (23.677 ff.):
Clearly, the Iliad version is in direct contrast to the version immortalised by Sophocles in the Oedipus Coloneus, in which the wretched Oedipus died in exile in Athens; according to epic tradition as reported in Homer and Hesiod (fr. 192 M.-W.), Oedipus, still king (Od. 11.271 ff.), died at Thebes and was commemorated by funeral games, a traditional honour accorded to epic heroes. The only problem with the Iliad verses is the meaning of the perfect participle *dedoupo/tos*, which occurs only here in Homer and already in ancient times promoted discussion and close analysis. I will mention only briefly two more improbable interpretations, the one advanced by the scholiasts and suggesting that Oedipus committed suicide by throwing himself from some height (like the Sphinx) because of his misfortunes, the other suggested by Schneidewin, who interpreted *dedoupo/tos Oi'dipo/dao* as "Oedipus who died crushed by his own misfortunes."[1] I shall focus instead on two more plausible proposals: the first made by the so-called glossographers, who interpreted the participle as meaning simply "dead," the second made by Aristarchus, who identified in the use of *dedoupo/tos* a substantial difference from the later version by Sophocles.[2] Basing himself on the usual meaning of the verb *doupe/w*, which occurs in the Iliad mostly in the formula *dou/phsen de\ pesw/n*, "he fell with a thud," and expresses the heavy sound made by an armoured warrior as he falls dead to the ground, Aristarchus thought that in the epic version reflected by Homer Oedipus died in battle.[3]
- *Eu'ru/alos de/ oi` oi'^os a'ni/stato, i'so/qeos fw/s,
Mhkisth^os ui`o\s Talai"oni/dao a'/naktos,
o`/s pote Qh/basd' h'^lqe dedoupo/tos Oi'dipo/dao
e's ta/fon: e'/nqa de\ pa/ntas e'ni/ka Kadmei/wnas.*
The evident attraction of this interpretation, combined with the above-mentioned differences between the epic and the tragic version of the myth, brought C. Robert in his seminal book on Oedipus to accept Aristarchus' opinion.[4] In his attempt to contextualise the Iliad passage within a more solid and broader mythological and literary framework, Robert brilliantly related the Homeric verses to two other passages, one from Hesiod's Works and Days, the other from the mythographer Pherecydes.
The passage in Hesiod refers to the annihilation of the age of Heroes and reads (Works and Days 161 ff.):
Concerning the expression "fighting for the sheep of Oedipus" at 163, Robert thought that it did not refer to the war between Argos and Thebes which had been caused by the quarrel between Eteocles and Polynices over the succession to the throne of Oedipus. Instead, he thought that it referred to an episode occurring in a local war between Thebes and a neighbouring city, the cause of which was the typically epic motif of cattle-raiding, in which Oedipus himself was slain. Finally, in a fragment by Pherecydes (FGrHist 3 F 95) Robert found a possible mythological and historical framework for the death of Oedipus:
- *kai\ tou\s me\n po/lemo/s te kako\s kai\ fu/lopis ai'nh\
tou\s me\n u`f' e`ptapu/lwi Qh/bhi, Kadmhi/di gai/hi,
w'/lese marname/nous mh/lwn e`/nek' Oi'dipo/dao,
tou\s de\ kai\ e'n nh/essin u`pe\r me/ga lai^tma qala/sshs
e's Troi/hn a'gagw\n .`Ele/nhs e`/nek' h'uko/moio.*
*Oi'di/podi (fhsi/ [Fereku/dhs]) Kre/wn di/dwsi th\n basilei/an kai\ th\n gunai^ka Lai/ou, mhte/ra d' au'tou^ .'Ioka/sthn, e'c h`^s gi/nontai au'tw^i Fra/stwr kai\ Lao/nutos, oi`\ qnh/iskousin u`po\ Minuw^n kai\ .'Ergi/nou **. e'pei\ de\ e'niauto\s parh^lqe, gamei^ o` Oi'di/pous Eu'ruga/neian th\n Peri/fantos, e'c h`^s gi/nontai au'tw^i .'Antigo/nh kai\ [.'Ioka/sth] .'Ismh/nh, h`\n a'nairei^ Tudeu\s e'pi\ krh/nhs, kai\ a'p' au'th^s h` krh/nh .'Ismh/nh kalei^tai. ui`oi\ de\ au'tw^i e'c au'th^s .'Eteoklh^s kai\ Polunei/khs. e'pei\ de\ Eu'ruga/neia e'teleu/thse, gamei^ o` Oi'di/pous .'Astume/dousan th\n Sqene/lou.*The detail concerning the death of Oedipus' first two sons, Phrastor and Laonytus, in battle against the Minyans and Erginus induced Robert (1.114) to conclude that in the epic version of the myth Oedipus also died fighting against the Minyans, in one of the episodes of heavy fighting which characterized the relationship between Orchomenus and Thebes during the period prior to the Argive expeditions against Thebes narrated in the Theban epics. As is well known, the war between Thebes and Orchomenus, documented in many ancient sources, reflects an historical event confirmed by archaeological evidence.[5] The sources tell us that it ended with the victory of the Thebans led by Heracles over the Minyans led by Erginus.[6] According to Robert, therefore, Oedipus died at Thebes, slain by the Minyans who apparently intended to steal his sheep, as Hesiod seems to imply. Owing to his great skill in piecing together piecemeal and scattered evidence, and in situating it within a plausible historical context, Robert's reconstruction met with widespread acceptance among scholars and is still the most influential to date.[7] However, a closer reading of the relevant passages in Homer, Hesiod, and Pherecydes reveals that they do not support Robert's hypothesis.
I will begin by analysing the meaning of *dedoupo/tos* in the Iliad passage (23.679). In Homer, the verb *doupei^n* occurs 25 times out of 26 in the aorist tense; 22 times out of 26 it occurs in the context of a battle: 21 of these occurrences are in the formula *dou/phsen de\ pesw/n*, generally understood as "he fell and died" instead of the original meaning "he fell with a thud."[8] In most cases this formula is followed either by the formula *a'ra/bhse de\ teu/xe' e'p' au'tw^i*, "and his armour clattered about him," or by similar formulas. A careful reading of all the 21 formulaic occurrences makes it clear beyond all doubt that the verb *doupei^n* expresses only the thud of the body falling to the ground after being mortally wounded, whereas the fatal wounding of the warrior is always narrated in the preceding lines, and the clattering of his armour or further sounds are expressed by *a'rabei^n* or other verbs. In other words, contrary to what Aristarchus claimed, *doupei^n* is not connected with the sound of the arms,[9] nor is it necessarily connected with the scene of a battle, as three other Homeric occurrences demonstrate: in Il. 11.45, unaccompanied by the verb *pi/ptein*, *e'gdou/phsan* refers to the thundering of Athena and Hera; in Od. 12.443 the compound *e'ndou/phsa* unaccompanied by *pi/ptein* indicates the loud noise made by Odysseus in a fall which does not prove fatal; in Od. 15.479 *e'ndou/phse* refers to the noise made by a woman as she falls (*pesou^sa*) after being hit by Artemis.
It can therefore be inferred that it is primarily the context that specifies the meaning of *doupei^n* in every Homeric occurrence. In Il. 13.426, where the form *douph^sai* occurs unaccompanied by *pi/ptein*, the meaning "to fall in battle" is implied only because the very context of the battle provides the additional connotation of a violent death; but this does not happen to be the case with the context of our Iliad passage (23.677-680), where *dedoupo/tos* does not occur in any description of battle or fight, but in a generic reference to a hero, Oedipus, who died in distant times. Finally, the participle *dedoupo/tos* -- the only occurrence of the verb *doupei^n* in the perfect tense in Homer -- has been convincingly interpreted in recent times not as an early form, but as a more recent derivation of an original form *gegdoupa;[10] in this regard, it should also be noted that Iliad 23, where the form *dedoupo/tos* occurs, is now considered to be a late book.[11] The most sensible explanation seems therefore to be that, following the breaking of the formulaic iunctura with *pi/ptein* and the disappearance of the context of battle which had brought about the misleading interpretation of *dou/phsen de\ pesw/n* as "he fell and died (in battle)," the verb *doupei^n* was subsequently destined to lose both its etymological link with *dou^pos* (see above, note 8) and its former connotation of a violent death, and to acquire in our passage the more generic meaning of "to die."[12]
The transition from the erroneous meaning of "to die in battle" to a more generic (if still misleading) meaning is confirmed by the occurrence of the form *dedoupo/tos* in the pre-Aristarchean poet Apollonius Rhodius who, in obvious imitation of Homer, refers it to Pelias in the context of funeral games held to commemorate him (1.1304, *Peli/ao dedoupo/tos*). In the fourth book, Apollonius also uses the same word of the death of Apsyrtos, Medea's brother (4.557). It is to be stressed that, although both Pelias and Apsyrtos met a violent death, neither of them was slain in battle; a possible alternative meaning of "who died a violent death" or "who was assassinated" might then be inferred from Apollonius Rhodius for *dedoupo/tos* in the Iliad passage, but this meaning is irrelevant to Robert's hypothesis that Oedipus died in battle. Furthermore, it finds no support in any of the sources concerning the Oedipus myth.[13]
Aristarchus' interpretation of *dedoupo/tos* as "fallen in battle" in Il. 23.679, accepted by Robert and by many other scholars, seems therefore unfounded: it can be explained in the light of Aristarchus' constant effort to distinguish Homer's use of language and treatment of myths from those of the Neoteroi (Hesiod, the Cyclic poets, lyric poetry, the tragedians).[14] As a final support to the simple and sensible meaning of *dedoupo/tos* = *teqnhko/tos, a'poqano/ntos*, defended in antiquity by the glossographers, it should be noted that the Hesiodic fragments (frs. 192-193 M.-W.) which concur with the Iliad in situating the death of Oedipus at Thebes as king make no allusion to his having died in battle; neither does the passage in the Odyssey (11.271 ff.) which provides an account of the main events in Oedipus' life. Likewise Pausanias, who refers twice to the death of Oedipus, basing himself once on the Iliad passage (1.28.7), once probably on an epic tradition (9.5.12), makes no allusion to a death in battle.
As far as the Hesiod passage is concerned, if we read it uninfluenced by Robert's hypothesis, its real meaning is evident. The expression *marname/nous mh/lwn e`/nek' Oi'dipo/dao* (163), which in Robert's opinion was indicative of a local skirmish between neighbours, can in this context only indicate the wars of succession between the sons and the grandsons of Oedipus. Indeed the ancient commentary to these verses had already understood that here Hesiod "through the word `sheep' indicates the whole estate, which caused the sons of Oedipus to fight and kill each other" and it also identified the *tou\s me/n* at 162 with the Argive leaders Tydeus, Capaneus, and the rest (schol. Hes. Op. 162, 163 Pertusi); another scholion (at 163a) noted that the ancients considered their main property to lie in livestock. The Byzantine erudite Tzetzes, commenting on the similar expression *a'mfi\ mh/lwn* in Lycophron, referred back to this very passage in Hesiod, observing that there *mh^la* stood for the wealth and the throne of Oedipus (Tzetzes ad Lycophron Alex. 933, 2.302 Scheer). In fact the word *mh^la* should here be interpreted not in the restrictive sense of "sheep and goats" but in the wider one of "livestock"; this precise significance in Hesiod is confirmed by a Homeric scholiast, who observed that in Homer *mh^la* denotes sheep and goats, whereas in Hesiod the term indicates *ta/ tetra/poda*, that is all kinds of livestock.[15] That in archaic times livestock was the emblem of kingship is borne out by other myths concerning the succession to (or the division of) a king's property: for example, in ps.-Apollod. Bibliotheca 2.4.6 the sons of Pterelaus, having been refused the kingdom of Mestor by Electryon, drive away his cattle and a mutual slaughter ensues. Another good case in point, and a closer one to the feud between Eteocles and Polynices, occurs in Pindar's Pythian 4 (148 ff.), in which Jason proposes to Pelias that a division of the kingdom be made whereby Jason keeps the sceptre and leaves to Pelias the sheep, the herds of oxen, and the fields. Furthermore, as W. Burkert pointed out, the word *mh^la* also appears in Stesichorus PLille 76.241, here referring to the division of the property of Oedipus.[16]
In the light of this evidence, the expression *marname/nous mh/lwn e`/nek' Oi'dipo/dao* should therefore be understood and translated as "fighting for the possessions, i.e., the kingdom, of Oedipus," and the local skirmish aroused by cattle-raiding becomes an outright war of succession to a throne waged by a distant city state, Argos, against another, Thebes. Its conciseness perfectly parallels that of the expression which, in the following line (165), indicates in Helen the cause of the war of Troy: *.`Ele/nhs e`/nek' h'uko/moio*, "for the sake of lovely-haired Helen." It will be noted that just as Helen is the reason for the war of Troy, so Oedipus too (i.e., his kingdom) is not -- contrary to what Robert thought -- one of the contenders, but the reason for which the war of Thebes was fought. It is precisely the close correspondence between those who fought at Thebes and those who fought at Troy which also prevents us from accepting Robert's conclusions since, as M. Nilsson pointed out, "... if the war because of Oedipus' sheep was one of the many casual wars which myths attribute to Thebes, how was it possible that Hesiod puts it on the same footing as the most famous war of mythology, that against Troy, and counts it as the second in which the generation of heroes perished"?[17] Neither can Deubner's attempt to refute Nilsson's argument be accepted: Deubner observed that since Hesiod was himself a Boeotian, he would have been inclined to place greater emphasis on the local tradition concerning wars between Thebes and Orchomenus (Deubner [above, note 7] 32 f.).
But it is easy to reply with the argument that the entire Greek historical tradition dealing with Mycenean times associated on the same level the two expeditions of the Argives against Thebes and the one of the Greeks against Troy, as is reflected also in the poems of the epic cycle. In the brief and sketchy allusion to the Heroes or Half-Gods which he inserted in his description of the four metallic races, Hesiod can therefore only be referring to the devastating wars between the sons and the grandsons of Oedipus, which along with the war of Troy accounted for the annihilation of a whole age of heroes.[18]
I hope that the points which I have thus put forward are sufficient to indicate that the two passages by Homer and Hesiod do not provide the information that Robert sought to demonstrate, and also that they are not interconnected. The passage by Pherecydes (FGrHist 3 F 95) which I will now consider provided the essential mythological and historical background to the hypothesis that Oedipus died in battle against the Minyans. This fragment is of the utmost importance because it contains valuable information on a number of points concerning the myth of Oedipus:[19] 1) it is the only source to mention the otherwise unknown Phrastor and Laonytus, and their death at the hands of the Minyans led by Erginus; 2) it is the only source to list three different marriages for Oedipus, whereas the other sources mention either one or two wives;[20] 3) it also contradicts the version given by Sophocles' Antigone in which Ismene is still alive after the death of Eteocles and Polynices; in this regard Pherecydes agrees with the archaic version narrated in the seventh-century B.C. by the poet Mimnermus, a version also represented on a Corinthian vase of about 560 B.C. where Tydeus is about to kill Ismene.[21] This detail shows that Pherecydes was relying on early sources, and this in my opinion can be applied also to the information he provides regarding the death of Phrastor and Laonytus. His account is exceedingly important because, by placing a fight between Minyans and Thebans at the time of Oedipus and his first sons, Pherecydes seems either to ignore or to contradict the version agreed upon by all extant sources, according to which the war between Thebes and Orchomenus was definitively settled with the victory of Heracles over Erginus and with the latter's death in the period prior to Oedipus' reign at Thebes.[22] Since from the other sources one infers that Erginus died before Oedipus' marriage to Jocasta, Pherecydes' version also implies a different chronology for these events, whereby Erginus is neither slain nor compelled by Heracles to make peace with the Thebans, but is still alive and at war with Thebes at the time of Oedipus' reign.
Pherecydes is then the one and only source for a battle between Thebes and Orchomenus in which members of Oedipus' family were involved. The suggestion made by R. Buck that the mythographer may here perhaps reflect an Orchomenian tradition less favourable to Thebes is very tempting;[23] we know that Pherecydes dealt at great length with the founding of Thebes and with the wars between Thebans and Phlegyans (FGrHist 3 FF 22a, 41, 124), although we should not overlook that in one case (F 41e) he reports a tradition completely hostile to the Phlegyans.[24]
I have so far endeavoured to establish the extreme relevance of Pherecydes' passage to the history and myths of Mycenean Thebes. I do not think, however, that it confirms Robert's hypothesis that Oedipus died in battle, together with his sons, against the Minyans led by Erginus: on the contrary, this passage completely contradicts it. The death in battle in fact refers only to the sons of Oedipus, Phrastor and Laonytus: in Pherecydes, just as in Homer and Hesiod, there is no mention of the time of Oedipus' death, nor about the way he died. Indeed, we are informed that he considerably outlived his sons by Jocasta, since after their deaths he married again twice. With his second marriage to Euryganeia, which lasted long enough for him to have four children, we come to the time of the quarrel between Eteocles and Polynices and to the first Theban war; even if Eteocles and Polynices died after Oedipus' third marriage to Astymedousa had taken place, there seems to be no time or possibility left for Oedipus to have died in a previous battle against the Minyans.
The following works may be referred to by author's name alone: J. Paulson, "Anmerkungen zur Oidipus-Sage," Eranos 1 (1896) 11-27, 57-75; C. Robert, Oidipus, Geschichte eines poetischen Stoffs im griechischen Altertum, 2 vols. (Berlin 1915); A. Severyns, Le Cycle épique dans l'école d'Aristarque (Liège 1928, BibLiège 40); E. Valgiglio, "Edipo nella tradizione pre-attica," RivStClass 11 (1963) 18-43, 153-171; F. G. Welcker, Der epische Cyclus oder die homerischen Dichter{2} vols. 1 (Bonn 1865) and 2 (Bonn 1882).