Tradition is several shared customs passed from generation to generation. Customs can range from rituals, laws, holidays, food, and more. A specific custom in tradition is stories. Traditional stories can remind us how to carry ourselves in the present and share lessons from the past. Exodus, a story for the Jewish and Oedipus Rex, an important traditional play for the Greeks and Athenians, both serve as traditional stories for their culture and give them insight to pass on from generation to generation. While explaining an important part of the Hebrew’s history and the story of Moses, Exodus lays out certain traditions to influence how the Hebrews should behave. Exodus can be found in the Hebrew Bible, which can be passed on from generation …show more content…
For the Greeks and Athenians, Oedipus Rex displayed how both city-states should carry out their living. Oedipus Rex was a story about a king named Oedipus who discovered that his wife was his mother and he killed his father before becoming king. Traditions were highlighted in the play such as respect for the Gods. In Ancient times, the people looked towards the Gods for their way of living. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus went against the Gods and the fate that was casted on him. He tried to beat fate when he discovered that he would soon kill his father and marry his mother. He disregarded what the Gods told him and still ran into his own fate by killing his real father while fleeing his town and marrying his biological mother in a new town. Oedipus stated, “Now I must fly into exile and there, a fugitive, never see my people, never set foot in my native land again— or else I must get married to my mother and kill my father, Polybus, who raised me, the man who gave me life. If anyone claimed this came from some malevolent god, would he not is right? O you gods, you pure, blessed gods, may I not see that day! Let me rather vanish from the sight of men, before I see a fate like that engulf me.” Despite what the Gods said and Oedipus running away from his home, he still ended up killing his father and marrying his mother. Showing this, it gave the Greeks and Athenians a lesson to always believe in the Gods and to listen to the Gods. From then on, Greeks and Athenians knew to keep depending on the