Oedipus Comes to Thebes

King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes had a baby son. As the city rejoiced, the king sent messengers to the oracle of the god Apollo at Delphi to receive news of this baby’s future. In time the messengers returned and, the next day, delivered their news to the king and queen. They did not, however, wear the faces of men who had good news but looked grey-faced and ashen. The king’s herald summoned the messengers to present the god’s message to Laius. Stepping forward, the chief messenger’s voice faltered with emotion, but was loud so that all could hear:

“Apollo decrees a terrible fate for this child. The god foresees that he will kill his father and marry his mother!”

The king and queen recoiled, aghast at this message. The queen broke down in tears but the king, after some thought, rose and spoke his mind: “This must not be! I resolve that this child must be banished from our midst and left exposed in the wild to die!” The child’s ankles were pierced to prevent him crawling to safety, and Laius entrusted him to his head shepherd to leave at the mercy of the wild beasts and elements on the surrounding mountain slopes.

Salvator Rosa, "Infant Oedipus Rescued", 1663
(Royal Academy of Arts, London)

As the shepherd climbed the hills with the child in his arms, he felt sorrow for him and did not wish this innocent child to die. Thus it was that, when he reached the heights, he met a shepherd from the neighbouring city of Corinth, and gave the baby into this man’s care. Corinth seemed far from Thebes and any chance of fulfilling the child’s terrible fate.

The Corinthian shepherd named the baby “Oedipus”, or “Swollen-Feet”, because of the damage to his ankles. He was eventually given into the care of the childless king and queen of Corinth, who adopted the baby as their own. Oedipus grew up there, seemingly blessed by the gods with strength, beauty and wisdom, unaware that he had been a foundling, let alone his true parentage.

However, the fate decreed by the gods cannot be thwarted. In time, Apollo revealed to Oedipus his terrible destiny. Thinking that the king and queen of Corinth were his real parents, he fled the city. At a crossroads in the countryside, he encountered a man in a chariot. Oedipus resented the way that this stranger commanded him, a prince of Corinth, to stand aside. He defied the man, who descended from his chariot to teach this insolent youth a lesson. For who was this youth to stand in the way of Laius, king of Thebes? Unwittingly, Oedipus fought his father, who was killed by the son he had once banished from his city. Unknowingly, the young man had just fulfilled half of the terrible prophecy.

After some days, Oedipus decided to settle in the city of Thebes, where he would conceal his identity as the prince of Corinth. He found a city in mourning, for its king had been killed while on a journey. The city promised to offer the kingship to whomever could rid it of the monstrous sphinx that inhabited the roads above the city. Oedipus did this and was acclaimed king by a joyous city. As the new king, he married the widowed queen, Jocasta. Oedipus had attempted to flee his fate but had fled straight into its fulfilment, for he was now married to his mother.

"Oedipus Kills Laius", Roman period painting from Egypt
(Egyptian Museum, Cairo)