A Verbal Symbolon of Shared Exclusion-Inclusion: The Sobriety of Oedipus and the Eumenides in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus 100

Abstract

This article identifies a motif in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus that has previously gone unnoticed. It argues that wine-drinking as a socioreligious rite and symbol of participation in society provides a semantic framework for the striking collocation νήφων ἀοίνοις in line 100. The article shows that the shared sobriety of Oedipus and the Eumenides relates directly to the main theme of the play: the tension between Oedipus’ situation as a polluted outcast and his integration into the fabric of Athenian society. Sophocles creates a verbal symbolon that defines the status of Oedipus and the Eumenides as a community of outsider-insiders.