The Story of Oedipus Trivia

The Story of Oedipus Trivia

Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge

Regina Spektor has a catchy little song about Oedipus, called…you guessed it… "Oedipus." 

Sigmund Freud got mad famous with his psychological theory called the Oedipus Complex, which suggests that we're all a little more like Oedipus than we might think.

Some people say that Oedipus' name shouldn't be translated as "swollen ankles" as it usually is. Instead, they say it means "swollen sea," because in some versions of the myth he was thrown into the ocean in a chest instead of abandoned on a mountain with pierced ankles. (Seems like either way his name ought to translate to "crappy childhood.") (Source.)

Oedipus was the name of a champion racehorse that won the steeplechase and most likely did not kill his father and sleep with his mother.

Oedipus at Colonus, the last of Sophocles' Oedipus plays, was written not long before the playwright died, and was put on by his son, who was also named Sophocles. (Ah, we think that's sweet.)