Oedenburg (Hung. Soprony), a town of Hungary, situated in an extensive plain, 3 miles W. of the Neusiedler See and 48 S. by E. of Vienna. It is one of the most beautiful towns in Hungary, and has manufactures of candied fruits, sugar, soap, &c., with a large trade in wine, corn, and cattle, the neighbourhood being rich and well cultivated. The Roman town of Searabantia here was one of considerable importance; and numerous Roman remains have been found. Pop. 22,322.
Edipus (Gr. Oidipous), the hero of a legend which subjects for some of the noblest tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides. (Edipus was the son of Laius, king of Thebes, by Jocasta, the sister of Creon, and was exposed after his birth, with his feet pierced through, on Mount Cithæron, because his father had learned from an oracle that he was doomed to perish by the hands of his own son. The child was discovered by a herdsman of Polybus, king of Corinth, and was named (Edipus from his swollen feet. Polybus brought him up as his own son. Being told by the oracle at Delphi that he was destined to slay his father and commit incest with his mother, he would not return to Corinth, but proceeded to Thebes to escape his fate. As he drew near he met the chariot of the king, and the charioteer ordering him out of the way, a quarrel ensued, in which (Edipus unwittingly slew Laius. In the meantime the famous Sphinx had appeared near Thebes, and propounded a riddle to every one who passed by, putting to death all who failed to solve it. In the terror of despair the Thebans offered the kingdom, together with the hand of the queen, to whoever should deliver them from the monster. (Edipus offered himself, whereupon the Sphinx asked him, 'What being has four feet, two feet, and three feet; only one voice; but whose feet vary, and when it has most, is weakest?' (Edipus replied that it was man, whereat the Sphinx threw herself headlong from the rock on which she sat. (Edipus became king, and husband of his mother, Jocasta. From their incestuous union sprung Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismene. A mysterious plague now devastated the country, and, when the oracle declared that before it could be stayed the murderer of Laius should be banished from the country, (Edipus was told by the seer Tiresias that he himself had both murdered his father and committed incest with his mother. In his horror he put out his own eyes, that he might no more look upon his fellow-creatures, while Jocasta hanged herself. He wandered towards Attica, accompanied by his daughter Antigone, and at Colonus near Athens the Eumenides charitably removed him from earth.
Ehlenschläger, ADAM GOTTLÖB, Danish poet, was born 14th November 1779 in a suburb of Copenhagen, where his father, a Sleswicker, was an organist. After an irregular and desultory course of education, he tried unsuccessfully the career of an actor, and then took to law studies, but soon devoted all his energies to the cultivation of the history and poetry of his own country. In 1803 appeared his first collection of poems; and the Vaulunders Saga (1805) and Aladdins forunderlige Lampe raised him to the rank of the first of living Danish poets. These early efforts were rewarded by a travelling pension, which enabled him to spend some years in travelling the Continent, and becoming acquainted with Goethe and other literary celebrities. During this period (Ehlenschläger wrote his Hakon Jarl, the first of his long series of northern tragedies (1807; Eng. trans. by F. C. Lascelles, 1875), and at Rome his Correggio (1809; Eng. trans. by Theodore Martin, 1854). In 1810 (Ehlenschläger returned to Denmark, where he was hailed with acclamation, and made professor of Esthetics in the university. In 1814 took place his literary feud with Baggesen (q.v.). In 1819 appeared one of his most masterly productions, Nordens Guder, which showed that the severe criticism to which his writings had been exposed during the celebrated Baggesen quarrel had corrected some of the faults, and lessened the self-conceit which had characterised his earlier works. His reputation spread with his increasing years both abroad and at home. In 1829 he went to Sweden, where he was welcomed by a public ovation; and he was honoured in his own country in 1849 by a grand public festival in the palace at Copenhagen. He died 20th January 1850. His fame rests principally on his twenty-four tragedies, most of them on northern subjects. Besides those already referred to, the best are Knud den Store, Palnatoke, Axel og Walborg, Væringerne i Miklagard. His lyrical and epic poems are of less value. His Poetiske Skrifter were edited in 1857-62 in 32 vols.; the German translations were done by himself. An Autobiography appeared in 1830-31, his Reminiscences in 1850; and there are Lives by Arentzen (1879) and Nielsen (1879). His Danish and German works amount in all to 62 volumes.