And indeed, Oidipous now names the god of light. Promising to shed light and then immediately mentioning Phoibos by name prompts the audience to see that he means in fact to usurp the god’s light-shedding function. Thinking to shed light upon Laios’ murder through powers reserved to a god conflates Oidipous’s fresh impiety with the long-ago deed causing the city’s present misfortunes. This suggests that Oidipous’s killing of Laios and consequent usurpation of both his civic powers and domestic privileges are bound up with his willingness to supplant the god as the source of light, vision, and intelligence. [Md] [Mw] [Ap]