Oedipus

Oedipus

Son of Laius, (king of Thebes), and Jocasta

A normal Greek guy…except for when he found out he killed his father and married his mother and blinded himself, presumably with a stick.

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When Oedipus was born, his dad, the king of Thebes, went to the Oracle, who foretold that the kid would kill his father and marry his mother. Being a sensible king, not to mention the father, Laius thought, “Oh, these oracles have this uncanny ability to be right, no matter what, so…I’d better try to prevent this!”

So Laius gets the kid, drives a nail through his foot, and leaves him in a meadow on Mount Cithaeron, to be exposed to the elements.

[Because, you know, killing a baby is wrong.]

Laius then completely forgets about Oedipus and goes about his business running Thebes.

Oedipus, having just been stabbed with a nail, understandably made quite a bit of racket, until he was picked up by a shepherd, who then took him to the King of Corinth, because, really, where else do you take a crippled baby?

Polybus, said king, named the baby Oedipus (swollen foot) because of his wound, and raised him as his own.

Many years later, Oedipus was traveling to Thebes. As it turns out, he had consulted an oracle, who had told him, “Hey, man, if you go back to your homeland, you’ll kill your father and marry your mother. So, like, don’t.”

Old Ed thinks, Well, I’d better not kill my father and marry my mother. I’d better take action to ensure that that course of events doesn’t take place. My homeland is Corinth, so I’ll chill in Thebes for a while. That way, being not in my homeland, I won’t kill my father and marry my mother, which I would prefer not to do.

Corinth is where he grew up, and he didn’t know he was adopted. His parents didn’t have the heart to tell him, apparently.

On the way to Thebes, he comes across the King.

And totally disses him.

The king’s all, “Oh, no, scrub, no you didn’t!”

But, in Greek.
After the king starting hitting Oedipus with his whip, Ed did the only rational thing and killed the king and his entire entourage, sparing just one guy, to tell the story.

Keep in mind, the King of Thebes is Oedipus’ father, so, when Oedipus killed him, he unknowingly fulfilled the first part of the prophecy.

After the refreshing regicide, Oedipus continued on his way, only be stopped on the way by the sphinx, a creature with the body of a winged lion and the head of a woman. The sphinx would ask any traveler that happened across her a riddle, and those who couldn’t answer it, (read: everybody), got devoured.

Oedipus saw the sphinx in the middle of the road, and when she explained the whole riddle password thing, Oedipus thought, A creature with the head of a woman would come up with something ridiculous like that…

But the sphinx told her riddle, usually given as, “Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?"

Oedipus thought for a bit, and finally said, “A man. He crawls on all fours as a baby, walks upright in his prime, and uses a cane when’s he’s old and decrepit.”

He was right, so the sphinx, behaving with the rationale of something with the head of a woman, jumped off the conveniently located nearby cliff.

Now, the sphinx had been terrorizing the Thebians for quite some time, and they were so happy that someone had come up with the right answer to the riddle, which no one in Thebes could do for some reason, that they immediately gave the throne (recently vacated by Laius, what with his death and all) to Oedipus. Along with the throne, Oedipus gains the hand of the queen, who, if you weren’t paying attention, is his mom.

His mother.

He killed his father and married his mother.

Ew.

After Oedipus gains the throne…and…his mom…a terrible plague befalls Thebes. The Thebians believe that it’s because of the murder