Oedipus

Also known as: OED. / OEDIPUS / Œdipus · Family: Thebes · Role: former king · First appears: Aeschylus, The Seven Who Fought Against Thebes — Scene 1

Oedipus was exposed on Mount Cithaeron by Laius and Jocasta to evade Apollo’s prophecy, but a shepherd saved him and he became the adopted son of Polybus. After Apollo foretold that he would commit parricide and incest, Oedipus killed Laius unknowingly at a crossroads, overcame the Sphinx at Thebes, and received the throne and Jocasta’s hand. They had four children, including Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismene.

As king, Oedipus pursued the murderer of Laius to end a plague, first treating Creon as a trusted friend and later accusing him of rivalry. Tiresias identified Oedipus as the murderer and revealed his incestuous union with his nearest kin; when the shepherd confirmed that Oedipus was Laius’s son, Oedipus recognized the prophecy’s fulfilment. Jocasta died, and Oedipus blinded himself, then asked Creon to exile him, saying, “I cannot hear you. I must know this through.” Creon became regent, restored Oedipus’s meeting with his children, and confined him before later banishing him with the consent of Eteocles and Polynices. Oedipus cursed his sons to divide their inheritance by the sword, and Erinnys fulfilled the curse through their deaths.

During his wanderings, Oedipus was joined by Antigone, while Ismene later found them. At Colonus, Theseus received him under Athens’s protection and defended him against Creon, who tried to bring him back under Theban control and abducted his daughters before Theseus rescued them. Oedipus rejected Polynices’ plea for aid, renounced him as a son, and cursed both sons to die by each other’s hands. He entrusted Antigone and Ismene to Theseus, revealed a secret resting place, and then vanished from human sight; another account has him preparing to die in exile at Athens, with Antigone guiding him.