A NewsDesk Editorial

War on the Horizon

The sad story of a sad family continues...

15 months ago

by Elva May Reed

Thebes NewsDesk Editorial Staff

THEBES - It started with the love of a mother.  Our old king, Oedipus, caught in the wretched wheel of fate, was abandoned as a child but was rescued by the king of Corinth.  Why?  A startling revelation from the oracle - that Oedipus would grown up to kill his father and marry his mother - was the cause of his abandonment.  From his birth, he was the pursued prey of fate.

He grew up and left his home.  By chance, he met a stranger at a crossroads (his father, unknown) and killed him for an insult.  In Thebes, he solved the Riddle of the Sphinx, thereby relieving of the city of a horrific menace.  What was his reward?  The Queen, Jocasta, his mother, unknown.  His greatest triumph became his ultimate tragedy. 

When the plague hit years after, he vowed to find the culprit of his father’s death, discovering his own dark ancestry in the process.  The truth drove him to tear out his own eyes before he was exiled.  What hope did our city have left?  Polyneices and Eteocles.

Each one to rule for one year - that was the plan.  But Polyneices, as its happens, had his own.  He refused to step down and was exiled.  And now, there are rumors circulating that he has reached Argos and is raising an army.  Surely they will flock to him and surely our seven towers will shake with the weight of their march.  War is on the horizon.

What is to become of us?  Is this sad story to continue?