The Plague of Thebes, a Historical Epidemic in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex

• Main Authors: Antonis A. Kousoulis, Konstantinos P. Economopoulos, Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou, George Androutsos, Sotirios Tsiodras
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2012-01-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: bacteria; zoonoses; plague of Thebes; Sophocles; drama; Oedipus Rex
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/1/ad-1801_article

Sophocles, one of the most noted playwrights of the ancient world, wrote the tragedy Oedipus Rex in the first half of the decade 430–420 bc. A lethal plague is described in this drama. We adopted a critical approach to Oedipus Rex in analyzing the literary description of the disease, unraveling its clinical features, and defining a possible underlying cause. Our goals were to clarify whether the plague described in Oedipus Rex reflects an actual historical event; to compare it with the plague of Athens, which was described by Thucydides as occurring around the same time Sophocles wrote; and to propose a likely causative pathogen. A critical reading of Oedipus Rex and a comparison with Thucydides’ history, as well as a systematic review of historical data, strongly suggests that this epidemic was an actual event, possibly caused by Brucella abortus.