Oidipous now begins to offer Iokaste a narrative that begins with his identity through his parents and hometown. Surely he is not telling his wife these facts for the first time. His narrative thus takes on the cast of a deposition; it begins from the most obvious and basic of details, a strategy that suggests that the account the jury is about to hear will be thorough to a fault. Oidipous’s having just characterized these facts as τύχη (“happenstance” or “fate”), on the other hand, may encourage the audience to maintain its own independent judgment of the details he is about to present, for this word will refresh and intensify the audience’s expectation that Oidipous’s narrative is incomplete; it is missing significant events or it is seen from limited and limiting perspectives. The audience should thus hear the deposition with a critical ear. [Mpei] [Mg] [Mpea]