Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales
- Written by Joel Christensen, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis University
A scene from a 1911 staging of the ancient Greek classic 'Oedipus Rex.'Imagno/Getty Images
In the fifth century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins “Oedipus Tyrannos” with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.)
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