While Oidipous asserts that it was “fate” that pounced upon Laios’ head, the audience knows that it was literally Oidipous who fell upon and killed him. The substitution of fate for Oidipous clearly suggests to the audience that it was Oidipous’s fate to kill his father as it was his father’s fate to be killed by his son. Oidipous’s statement thus confirms the realization of two prophecies: the one given Laios and the one he himself received at Delphi. In a certain sense, then, when he struck Laios on the top of his head, fate, or rather prophecy, pounced upon them both. [Dc] [Mpea]