Open AccessA.2. Apollo and his purpose in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus
Author(s) -
Stuart Lawrence
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
studia humaniora tartuensia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1406-6203
DOI - 10.12697/sht.2008.9.a.2
Subject(s) - apollo , insignificance , existentialism , destiny (iss module) , greatness , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , value (mathematics) , philosophy , zoroaster , literature , psychology , epistemology , social psychology , history , art , theology , physics , zoology , archaeology , quantum mechanics , astronomy , machine learning , computer science , biology
Apollo actively intervenes in the fulfilment of Oedipus’ destiny through oracles and immanently in the onstage action. Rather than to punish him for any offence, the god’s purpose appears to be to impress upon Oedipus his existential insignificance. In the context of an ordered but absurd universe, Sophocles emphasises the paradox of the moral greatness of a man whose ‘official’ existential value is less than zero.