In terming Laios’ killing a “slaughter” Oidipous chooses a word that connotes more than simply a violent incident; κατασφαγείη can pertain to cutting the throat of a sacrificial victim. Oidipous did not, of course, sacrifice Laios to the gods, and yet since the killing occurred in fulfillment of prophecies delivered to both parties, the audience may consider that it does have qualities of ritual; certainly the god had an interest in the event. Yet if it were the case that Laios’ death had qualities of a ritual killing, the god’s present ordering Thebes’ ritual purification through expulsion of Laios’ killer would seem to contradict his earlier stance. The audience may either infer that Oidipous is a victim of the god’s irrationality or it must discover how the god can have employed Oidipous to carry out the ritual killing and at the same time seek to punish Oidipous for that act. [P] [Ad]