It is strange that Oidipous does not know which prophecies motivated Iokaste to order the exposure of her infant son, for she told him about one of them. The audience might grow impatient with him for missing this obvious connection as well as the equally obvious parallels between the prophecies given Laios and Iokaste and the one he himself received and it might wonder if it could possibly be missing a similarly obvious connection. It might consequently review prophecies that might be cause for its concern, and when it does it will find that Athens too is reacting to a prophecy that it finds intolerable. [Gt-a] [Md] [Mi] Like Laios, Iokste, and Oidipous, Athens has decided to take matters into its own hands to ensure that the prophecy is not realized. It can therefore expect that, like them, Athens will be countered by the god, whose complex and subtle efforts may span decades. They will eventually express themselves in mortal words and deeds until eventually they make themselves manifest to all, even to those whose obtuseness is as severe as Oidipous’s. [Ap] [Mw]