ABSTRACT
In the never-ending saga of Oedipus, the Oedipus of Sophocles, though Oedipus has largely outgrown him, I have chosen to give prominence to two critical moments. 1 Strictly speaking, that word is a fitting tag only for the first subject of my reflections, namely the performance on Sunday 3 March 1585, which inaugurated the Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza. On that day Orsatto Giustiniani’s translation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus was performed. The theatre itself had been built through the good offices of the Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza, from the plans of one member of the Academy, Andrea Palladio.
