Theseus and his followers return with Antigone and Ismene. A grateful Oedipus steps forward to embrace Theseus, but suddenly restrains himself out of fear that he might defile the Athenian king.
Theseus tells Oedipus that a stranger awaits him at the altar of Poseidon. This stranger from Argos claims to be a kinsman of Oedipus. Oedipus realizes that it is Polynices and refuses to talk with him, but Theseus and Antigone persuade Oedipus to receive him.
