Νόμοι ὑψίποδες, Oedipus’ edict and the question of the diversity of legal norms in Oedipus Tyrannus: hierarchies, relations and normative tensions

Abstract

Oedipus Tyrannus principally has three legal lines of study: first, the problem of Oedipus’ obedience to the divine rules; second, the edict that Oedipus promulgates in order to find out who is the miasma in Thebes; finally, the question whether Oedipus is a transgressor of nomos when he killed Laius. In this paper we will focus on studying these topics. We will seek to understand the integrity of the legal phenomenon, to clarify the relationship between the divine rules and the Oedipus’ edict, and to analyze the behaviour of the hero in the face of the nomos.