Epic Myth
The King Who Could Not Escape Fate
Before Oedipus was even born, an oracle at Delphi delivered a horrifying prophecy to his parents, King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes: their son would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Desperate to avoid this fate, Laius ordered a servant to take the newborn infant to the mountains and leave him to die, his ankles pierced and bound with a pin.
But the servant, unable to kill the child, gave the baby to a shepherd, who carried him to Corinth. There, King Polybus and Queen Merope adopted the boy as their own, raising him as a prince. They named him Oedipus — 'Swollen Foot' — for the wounds on his ankles. Oedipus grew up believing Polybus and Merope were his true parents, never suspecting the terrible destiny that awaited him.
As a young man, Oedipus heard a rumour that he was not truly the son of Polybus. Troubled, he journeyed to the Oracle at Delphi to learn the truth. The Oracle, instead of answering his question, delivered the same devastating prophecy: he would kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified, and believing that Polybus and Merope were his real parents, Oedipus resolved never to return to Corinth. He set out in the opposite direction — toward Thebes.
At a narrow crossroads, Oedipus encountered a chariot carrying an older man and his attendants. A dispute over right of way escalated into violence, and Oedipus, in a burst of rage, killed the older man and all but one of his servants. He did not know that the man he had just murdered was King Laius — his biological father. The first half of the prophecy was fulfilled.
Arriving at Thebes, Oedipus found the city terrorized by the Sphinx — a monstrous creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. The Sphinx posed a riddle to every traveller, devouring those who answered incorrectly. The riddle: 'What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?' Oedipus answered correctly: 'Man — who crawls as an infant, walks upright in his prime, and uses a cane in old age.' The Sphinx, defeated, hurled herself from the cliff and perished.
Thebes hailed Oedipus as a hero and liberator. With Laius dead and no heir apparent, the people offered Oedipus the throne — and, with it, the hand of the widowed queen Jocasta. Oedipus married his own mother and became king, fathering four children with her: Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles, and Polynices. For many years, he ruled wisely and was beloved by his people. He had no idea that the prosperity he enjoyed was built on the foundation of the very crimes he had fled Corinth to avoid.
Years later, a terrible plague struck Thebes. The Oracle declared that the city was polluted by the presence of Laius's unpunished killer. Oedipus, the brilliant solver of riddles, launched an investigation — not realizing he was hunting himself. Through a chain of testimony from the blind prophet Tiresias, a messenger from Corinth, and the surviving servant from the crossroads, the truth emerged with devastating clarity: Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta. He had killed his father at the crossroads and married his mother in Thebes.
Jocasta, unable to bear the revelation, hanged herself. Oedipus, finding her body, tore the golden brooches from her robe and drove them into his own eyes, blinding himself. He could not bear to look upon the children he had fathered with his mother, or the city he had ruled under false pretenses. He was cast out of Thebes and spent the remainder of his life as a blind wanderer, guided by his faithful daughter Antigone.
This myth is recorded in multiple ancient sources:
Cross-referenced with multiple classical sources for accuracy.