ABSTRACT
Tragedy was a form of drama that reached its peak in Athens during the fifth century b.c.e. In short, Greek tragedy was a highly complex and multiplicitous genre, and we simply do not have enough textual data to be confident in making generalizations about it. The relationship between philosophical or critical versions of tragedy and the hundreds of actual plays that were once performed in Athens is not obvious. Oedipus is both the active instigator of his tragedy, and its unwitting victim. The “tragedy of logos” implies that logos itself has a history in which it figures as a character whose reversal is inevitable. Since “techne,” as well as its descendants, will play a critical role in the tragedy of logos, it is important now to consider its meaning at some length. The final scene of Oedipus the King directly confronts the audience with the challenge of tragedy.
