Oedipus at Colonus

Oedipus at Colonus
Oedipus at Colonus by Fulchran-Jean Harriet
Written by	Sophocles
Chorus	Elders of Colonus
Characters	Oedipus Antigone Man from Colonus Ismene Theseus Creon Polynices Messenger
Date premiered	401 BC
Place premiered	Athens
Original language	Ancient Greek
Genre	Tragedy
Setting	In front of the grove of the Erinyes

Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus; Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnōi) is the second-last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC.

In the timeline of the plays, the events of Oedipus at Colonus occur after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone; however, it was the last of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be written. The play describes the end of Oedipus's tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.