With its gods reigning over Olympus, Greece had long been one of most influential pillars of civilization and its heritage lives on till our modern days. In their polytheist faith, each god had a specific task : Zeus was the father of all gods and his lightning stroke at his anger, Poseidon ruled over the seas and his blessings were a must before starting a voyage. Appolo was the Sun god and with his muses spread music and enchantment. Along these gods were nine principle Olympian gods were the semi-gods. All these immortal figures did not only influence each other’s encounters but also influenced, yet dictated the lives of the mortals in all the states of Greece, or that’s what the Greeks back in the days believed. They related all …show more content…
In the play, the entire plot centers around a god-given prophesy (or spoken fate), that Oedipus would one day kill his father and marry his mother. His parents immediately attempt to protect their child from this fate and order his death. The baby is not killed, however, and grows up to fulfil the exact details of the prophesy.
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of Thebes with a dreadful plague. Fundamentally, by utilizing fate, prophecies, the oracle of Apollo, and the plague, the gods played a significant role in the destruction of Oedipus and his