The priest’s reference to “your hearth” confirms that he and the townsmen have in fact all along been supplicating Oidipous, not a god. The wool-wrapped withies and placement about the altar subordinate the ritual display of religious piety to communication with their leader. He is treated, then, not as equal to a god, but as superior to any god. The audience’s initial finding that Oidipous may have been inappropriate to present himself as an adequate respondent to the people’s summons now proves erroneous, at least with respect to the intentions and expectations of the Theban suppliants. If Oidipous was suspected of impiety for his possible encroachment into the sacred space of supplication, the Theban suppliants now reveal themselves to be even more clearly impious for misusing the symbols reserved specifically for summoning a god. In its appropriation of altar, suppliant posture, wreaths, and incense for the purpose of communicating with its temporal ruler, the city of Thebes involves itself in the transgression that at first seemed to pertain alone to Oidipous. [P] [Mw]