Oidipous apostrophizes the qualities with which he finds himself abundantly endowed: wealth, power, and skill—qualities in which Athens was also richly endowed. Perhaps Athens also suspected that envy was generating enmity in other Greek cities; as Thucydides quotes Pericles, Athenian hegemony could be termed a “tyranny” (τυραννί). Where Athenian skill may be associated with Athens’ display of tactical brilliance in the Persian wars, Oidipous’s skill must be associated with his witty solution of the Sphinx’s riddle. As the audience has begun to consider the possibility that Oidipous’s victory over the semi-divine Sphinx may in fact have been arranged by Apollo as a means by which to fulfill the prophecy that Oidipous marry his mother (cf. m377.2), the juxtaposition of his clever solution of the Sphinx’s riddle with Athens’ outwitting of the Persian navy at Salamis suggests that the Greek victory may similarly have been arranged by the gods. It is thus inappropriate for Athens to take full credit for the Greek victory; it is a sign rather of impious disregard for divine support. In that case, Athens’ attributing to envy the enmity of Greek cities towards her is just as erroneous as Oidipous’s obviously erroneous supposition that envy is motivating Kreon to enlist the prophet’s aid in removing Oidipous from power. Teiresias is no more to blame for Oidipous’s troubles than Delphi is for Athens’. [Mpea] [P] [Apao] [Mi]