# Oedipus at Colonus — Character guide

> Key figures in Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles.

- [Oedipus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/oedipus.md): Oedipus arrives at Colonus as a beggar led by his daughter, but he is also a man carrying an oracle: this grove is where he must die, and his burial will bless whoever shelters him. He is at once pitiable and terrifying 
- [Antigone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/antigone.md): Antigone has chosen exile over comfort, guiding her blind father through strange country while her sister Ismene remains in Thebes. She is practical where he is prophetic — she identifies Athens, spots the sacred grove, 
- [Theseus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/theseus.md): Theseus rules a city that prides itself on welcoming strangers, and Oedipus arrives to put that reputation on the line. He listens, weighs the oracle's promise of blessing against the horror of Oedipus's name, and choose
- [Creon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/creon.md): Creon arrives claiming to speak for Thebes and for Oedipus's own good, but his courtesy is a mask: he has already seized Ismene and his guards soon take Antigone. He embodies the city's cynical calculus — Oedipus is valu
- [Ismene](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/ismene.md): Ismene has remained in the city while Antigone walked into exile, and her arrival at Colonus carries the weight of that difference. She brings word of the oracle and of the fratricidal struggle between Polyneices and Ete
- [Polyneices](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/polyneices.md): Polyneices has been disinherited and driven out, and now he returns — not to reconcile, but to recruit. He knows an oracle promises victory to whichever side Oedipus favors, and he wants that favor for his march on his b
- [Apollo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/apollo.md): God of prophecy whose oracle foretold Oedipus's fate.
- [Messenger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/messenger.md): Herald who reports Oedipus's mysterious death.
- [Stranger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/stranger.md): Colonus resident who first encounters Oedipus and Antigone.
- [Aegeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/aegeus.md): Legendary king of Athens, father of Theseus, mentioned in context.
- [Poseidon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters/poseidon.md): God of the sea, patron deity of Athens invoked by Theseus.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_at_colonus_se/characters