Oidipous characterizes himself as “the one in all of Thebes most excellently bred,” —a strange comment in view of the facts that the god proscribed his conception and that he was raised in Corinth. Considering, however, that his Corinthian upbringing was arranged by the god as part of a larger plan to eradicate impiety from Thebes, Oidipous may indeed be said—especially if it is the god saying so—to be the one person in Thebes whose breeding and upbringing was given the greatest attention. [Gd] [Apa] Oidipous means almost the opposite of this; he means that he has through his own efforts risen to become the highest-ranking Theban. Despite the ever-mounting body of evidence to the contrary, Oidipous still thinks of himself as a self-made man, and it is precisely this kind of thinking that compels the god to intervene in his life. [Mpei] [Aj]