Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus's death; Sophocles set the place at Colonus, a village near Athens and also Sophocles's own birthplace, where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of Theseus, the king of Athens.

Oedipus recognizes this as a sign, for when he received the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, Apollo also revealed to him that at the end of his life he would die at a place sacred to the Furies and be a blessing for the land in which he is buried.

The chorus, consisting of old men from the village, enters and persuades Oedipus to leave the holy ground.

Furthermore, he asks to see their king, Theseus, saying, "I come as someone sacred, someone filled with piety and power, bearing a great gift for all your people.

Ismene tells her father that it is Creon's plan to come for him and bury him at the border of Thebes, without proper burial rites, so that the power which the oracle says his grave will have will not be granted to any other land.

After he relates his sorrowful story to them, Theseus enters, and in contrast to the prying chorus states, "I know all about you, son of Laius.

All else in the world almighty Time obliterates, crushes all to nothing..."[1]: 322  Theseus makes Oedipus a citizen of Athens and leaves the chorus to guard him as he departs.

"[1]: 341  Creon replies by condemning Oedipus, saying "I knew [your city] would never harbor a father-killer...worse, a creature so corrupt, exposed as the mate, the unholy husband of his own mother.

Here, Oedipus discusses his fate as related by the oracle, and claims that he is not fully guilty because his crimes of murder and incest were committed in ignorance.

Despite being blinded and exiled and facing violence from Creon and his sons, in the end Oedipus is accepted and absolved by Zeus.

Thebes is often used in Athenian dramas as a city in which proper boundaries and identities are not maintained, allowing the playwright to explore themes like incest, murder, and hubris in a safe setting.

The key line in the play is when Oedipus declares, "Let us not fight necessity," and Antigone adds, "For you will never see in all the world a man whom God has let escape his destiny!"

Oedipus at Colonus suggests that, in breaking divine law, a ruler's limited understanding may lead him to believe himself fully innocent; however, his lack of awareness does not change the objective fact of his guilt.

[3] The presented view of determination of guilt is complex, as illustrated by the dichotomy between the blessing and the curse upon Oedipus.

The major image used to show this transition from exile to hero is Oedipus's relationship with the sacred grove of the Erinyes.

At the beginning of the play, Oedipus has to be led through the grove by Antigone and is only allowed to go through it because as a holy place it is an asylum for beggars.

He has given up his habit of trying to oppose divine will (as was his wont in Oedipus Rex) and prophecies, and accepts this grove as the place of his death.

Oedipus then hints at the divine gift that is his body, which will bring success to those who accept him and suffering to those who turned him away.

Ismene assists Oedipus's transformation into a hero when she performs a ritual atonement to the Erinyes on his behalf, but his status is fully cemented when he chooses a hidden part of the sacred grove as his final resting place, which even his daughters are forbidden to know.