A Mother and Son Khilim records some of the images and myths from 22000 BCE to the present which locate the Oedipus myth in a history that makes sense of my emotional and intellectual responses to it. This chapter includes summarises of the story and its forbears which the reader will need to hold in mind through the later chapters of the thesis. A Sampler - Hypotheses, Questions, Themes introduces the main arguments as well as a summary of my conclusions from the inquiry, and some poetry and other writing which is intended to establish an atmosphere for the work. Oedipal Kings: Abandoned Boys and the Patriarchal Pattern provides an analysis of Sophocles' King Oedipus in support of my hypothesis that he is the mythic father of patriachal social structures and, therefore, that his life story might be viewed as a template for the formation of new patriachs. The chapter also includes a study of some contemporary eminent men in which I focus on the way early experiences of abandonment typically affect their adult behaviours. Silent Women presents Queen Jocasta as archetypal disempowered mother/ wife along with four contemporary women. The true self of each of the contemporary women was mute for many years as a result of negative or absent paternal experiences during adolescence. The Social Ecology of Mythic Thebes: A Study of Fate and Destiny in Patriarchal Culture extrapolates Jung's ideas about causality and teleology in individuals to the cultural setting of Oedipus's city state. The chapter concludes by contrasting the continuing disaster in Thebes with Oedipus's achievement of individuation. Resounding the silence is the title of the cycle of songs I wrote. This section includes the lyrics of all the songs. / Master of Science (Hons) (Social Ecology)