One need not take Oidipous’s addressing of a spontaneous prayer to Apollo as an expression of genuine piety; it may be a means simply of underscoring the expression of a personal wish. On the one hand, skepticism and impiety abound in the words he has spoken on stage, beginning with his initial complaint that Apollo had neither appeared in person nor sent an intermediary (implied at line 7); on the other hand, Oidipous has just sent Kreon on an embassy to Delphi, and this he would presumably not have done did he not possess some confidence either in the god or his Oracle. Yet that Oracle is the one who made the terrible predictions to a much younger Oidipous. It is therefore perplexing and perhaps a touch pathetic that he now calls upon Apollo as the one who he believes has the power to grant his hopeful wish, for it is clear to the audience that Apollo stands at the forefront of the gods behind the terrible facts that are about to be revealed. The question of Oidipous’s changing relationship to the gods is as problematic as the gods’ treatment of him, and so the audience’s knowledge that his prayer will not be granted could allow it either to surmise that the god could well be displeased with him or for it to join Oidipous in being displeased with the god. The audience is at one moment judging, as if looking down on Oidipous from above, for his ambivalence towards the gods, while in the next instant judging the gods, as if looking up at them from the mortal perspective. [Mpea] [Aj]