The audience is aware by now that there are many situations and many reasons for which one man might call another “son.” It is not the name one gives to the relationship that matters, but the nature of the relationship itself. Properly to value any relationship, one must look beyond names and signs to find the substance. Given the possibility that the relationship between gods and mortals might also be viewed in terms of parent and child, the audience’s response to Oidipous’s question may be to look beyond the outward names and symbols of the gods’ relationship to Athens and consider its substance. [Md] [Ad]