Jocasta

Also known as: JO. / JOCASTA · Family: Thebes · Role: queen of Thebes · First appears: Sophocles, King Oedipus — Scene 1

Jocasta, queen of Thebes of the Theban royal house, is the daughter of Menoeceus and the sister of Creon. She married Laius, who received the prophecy that a son born to them would cause his death; after Laius disappeared, Oedipus gained the throne and Jocasta’s hand. Their child was exposed on Mount Cithaeron, and Jocasta later had four children with Oedipus.

When Oedipus investigated Laius’s death and his own birth, Jocasta urged him to stop, crying, “O horrible! O lost one!” The truth was revealed: Oedipus was her son, their marriage was incestuous, and their children were born of that union. Jocasta hanged herself after realizing the truth.

In Euripides, Jocasta is mother to Eteocles, Polynices, Ismene, and Antigone. She brought the exiled Polynices into Thebes under truce to reconcile him with Eteocles, and later summoned Antigone to help prevent the brothers from killing each other. After Eteocles and Polynices died in combat, Jocasta killed herself beside their corpses.