the play you are about to see is oedipus tyrannus or oedipus rex by sophocles. this play was first performed in athens in the theater of dionysus about 24 centuries ago. aristotle, who might be called the first drama critic, considered it the perfect tragic drama. the rest of the world has more or less gone along with that down through the centuries. sophocles wrote some 120 plays in his lifetime, but only 7 have survived. when his first play was chosen for competition, he was in his early 20s and he won first prize. his last play was written when he was 90 years old. sophocles was an artist of the noblest genius, whose art transformed the severe truth of life into theater reality while tempering it with the beauty of poetry. standing at the very apex of the golden age of greece, he was recognized by his contemporaries as one of the glories of that epic. from aristotle's discourse on tragic drama, from the existing plays themselves and from the ruins of the many theaters scattered throughout greece, the aegean islands and asia minor, scholars have developed vari