Disease in Oedipus Rex
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Transcript of Disease in Oedipus Rex
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Disease in Oedipus Rex
Sera Passerini
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Importance of Disease in Oedipus Rex
• Analytical tragedy• First third of play features plague• Background for evolution of plot• Minor tragedy of Oedipus
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Clues• “The herds are sick” (line 29)• “Children die unborn” (line 29)• “Our afflictions have no end” (line 172)• “Wasted thus by death on death all our city
perishes; corpses spread infection round” (lines 179-181 of Greek version)
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Traits of Plague• Highly contagious• Cause stillbirths/infertility• Able to cause epidemic in 5th Century
B.C.• Zoonotic ?
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Cows get infected too!
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Most Likely• Brucella abortus
• Unsterilized milk, infected meat, infected secretions
• 80% mortality rate• First described by Hippocrates (460-377
B.C.)• Other possibilities
• Mixes• Lethal variations
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Historical Connections• Setting: 430-420 B.C.• Peloponnesian War: 431-404 B.C.
• Ares → war → Thucydides → Athens (430-429 B.C.)
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Works Cited"Brucella Abortus." « CFSPH. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
"The Plague of Athens: Epidemiology and Paleopathology." - Littman. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
"The Plague of Thebes, a Historical Epidemic in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex - Vol. 18 No. 1 - January 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease Journal - CDC." The Plague of Thebes, a Historical Epidemic in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex - Vol. 18 No. 1 - January 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease Journal - CDC. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.