Other versions of the myth

Later versions of the Oedipus myth give more details in the story. They recount that Laius, king ofThebes, married Jocasta, daughter of Menoeceus, uniting two branches of the royal house ofThebes. Laius became anxious about the couple’s difficulty in producing a child and consulted the oracle at Delphi. The oracle warned Laius not to have a son because that son was fated to kill his father. To prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled, Laius avoided making love to women, including his wife. (In one version of the myth, Laius kidnapped Chrysippus, the son of King Pelops of Pisa, to be his companion. Since the Thebans did not reprimand Laius for this action, the gods sent the Sphinx, a winged creature with a woman’s head and a lion’s body, to punish them.) However, Laius did not tell his wife why he was avoiding her, which made Jocasta unhappy, so she plotted to seduce her husband. One night, when he was drunk, Jocasta succeeded and became pregnant. Jocasta knew nothing of the prophecy. She was therefore horrified when the fearful Laius took away their healthy baby and abandoned the boy. In an effort to ensure that the baby was not adopted, Laius pierced his ankles with brooches or spikes. Then the king instructed a herdsman to leave the baby on Mount Cithaeron, between Boeotia and Attica. There, the baby was either found by servants of King Polybus of Corinth or given to them by the herdsman. The servants took the baby to Corinth, where Polybus’s wife, Queen Periboea, healed the baby’s ankles and adopted him. She named him Oedipus, which means “swollen feet” in ancient Greek. In a variation of the myth, Oedipus was born to Laius and his first wife; Jocasta was Laius’s second wife. As a baby Oedipus was put into a chest and tossed

Above: This painting by an anonymous 17th-century artist depicts the discovery of Oedipus by servants of King Polybus after the baby had been abandoned on Mount Cithaeron.

Into the sea. The chest floated to Sicyon and was discovered by Polybus, who was king of Sicyon. In this version, Oedipus also eventually married Jocasta, his stepmother.

Oedipus grew up as prince and heir to the throne of Corinth, but his companions taunted him. They insisted that Oedipus could not be Polybus’s son because the king was so mild and Oedipus was so aggressive. Oedipus approached the queen about the rumor, but she told him nothing of his adoption. The young man went to Delphi to consult the oracle about his parentage. The oracle advised Oedipus not to return to his native land. If he did, the oracle warned him, he would murder his father and sleep with his mother. Believing that the oracle was referring to Polybus and Periboea, Oedipus did not return to Corinth.