ephesus also boasted two such theaters. and so did verona, where the larger theater had become an amphitheater for grand scale spectacles. when rome fell and the classical world with it, the theaters fell into disuse and decay, but not forever, for with the dawn of the renaissance, interest in greek culture and learning revived. the preserved written accounts were studied, manuscripts of great greek playwrights-- aeschylus, sophocles, euripides--were read, and a rich tradition of greek drama once again entered the cultural mainstream of the west to take its place in our heritage. sitting in the theatron at the theater of dionysus, mountains all around, sunshine and blue skies above, the audience already knew the legend of oedipus, the son of laius and queen jocasta of thebes. when oedipus was born, a prophecy warned that he would murder his father and marry his mother. the horrified parents ordered a servant to destroy the child, but the man took pity on him and gave him instead to a foreigner to take to the city of corinth