As the play
opens,meets a procession of citizens coming to petition him. They speak of a deadly plague that
"consumes the buds and fruits of the earth." It also kills livestock and unborn babies
and brings death to the people of Thebes. The delegation implores Oedipus, though he is not a
god, to help them. They call him wise.
Oedipus tells them he is already aware
of the deadly plague. He says he has taken matters into his own hands. He has sentto the oracle
of Delphi to find out if he can find a solution that will end the illness.
We
learn that Creon is returning from Delphi just as the crowd makes its plea. Since Delphi is more
than 550 miles round trip, we have to imagine it would take at least 10 or 11 days at top-speed
to get there and back. Creon would also have to allot time to actually visit the oracle. If we
say as a rough estimate that Creon has been gone 2 weeks, we can back up to when the eruption of
the plague became so evident that people became worried.
The plague must have
been going on in full force for at least 3 weeks, probably longer, for Oedipus to have heard of
it, made a decision to send Creon to Delphi, and for Creon to get to Delphi and come
back.
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