The staffperson makes an assessment that the filthy gore is so extensive that two distant rivers (one the Danube) could not wash it away. This is surprising, because as the audience already knows, Iokaste hanged herself from a ceiling beam, and Oidipous is not expected to die. The carnage itself will require no more than a wet rag. On the other hand, the audience knows that the impiety that brought the pollution extends to the whole of Thebes, and the nature of the required purification is not physical washing but restoration of the city’s relationship to its gods through a meaningful action. In Athens, where prophecy has also been loudly and publicly denigrated, such a reconciliation might begin with a religious rite such as the Great Dionysia itself, but since the impiety was directed specifically towards prophecy and Apollo’s will and capacity to see it through, expiation would best take the form of obeisance to Apollo and his authorized seat of prophecy by submitting to Delphi for instructions, how to proceed, and then following those instructions to the letter. [Gt-a] [P] [Mip]