Editing Oedipus (section)

==Basics of the myth==
Variations on the legend of Oedipus are mentioned in fragments by several ancient Greek poets including [[Homer]], [[Hesiod]], [[Pindar]], [[Aeschylus]] and [[Euripides]]. However, the most popular version of the legend comes from the [[Three Theban plays|set of Theban plays]] by [[Sophocles]]: ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'', ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', and ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]''.

Oedipus was the son of [[Laius]] and [[Jocasta]], king and queen of [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]]. Having been childless for some time, Laius consulted the [[Oracle of Apollo]] at [[Delphi]]. The Oracle prophesied that any son born to Laius would kill him. In an attempt to prevent this prophecy's fulfillment, when Jocasta indeed bore a son, Laius had his son's ankles pierced and tethered together so that he could not crawl; Jocasta then gave the boy to a servant to abandon ("expose") on the nearby mountain. However, rather than leave the child to die of exposure, as Laius intended, the servant passed the baby on to a shepherd from [[Corinth]], who then gave the child to another shepherd.

The infant Oedipus was eventually adopted by [[Polybus (King of Corinth)|Polybus]] and Merope, the king and queen of Corinth, as they were without children of their own. Little Oedipus was named after the swelling from the injuries to his feet and ankles ("swollen foot").

After many years, Oedipus was told by a drunk that he was a "bastard", meaning at that time that he was not their biological son.  Oedipus confronted his parents (the king and queen of Corinth) with the news, but they denied this. Oedipus went to the same oracle in Delphi that his birth parents had consulted. The [[oracle]] informed him that he was destined to murder his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to avoid such a fate, he decided not to return home to Corinth, but to travel to Thebes, which was closer to Delphi.

On the way, Oedipus came to [[Davlia]], where three roads crossed. There he encountered a [[chariot]] driven by his birth-father, King [[Laius]]. They fought over who had the right to go first and [[Patricide|Oedipus killed Laius when the charioteer tried to run him over.]] The only witness of the king's death was a slave who fled from a caravan of slaves also traveling on the road at the time.

Continuing his journey to [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], Oedipus encountered a [[Sphinx]], who would stop all travelers to [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and ask them a riddle. If the travelers were unable to answer her correctly, they would be killed and eaten; if they were successful, they would be free to continue on their journey. The riddle was: "What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?". Oedipus answered: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a 'walking' stick". Oedipus was the first to answer the riddle correctly; the Sphinx was so embarrassed that someone had solved her riddle that she [[Suicide by jumping from height|killed herself]] by jumping off of a cliff; in some versions, however, Oedipus kills her.

Queen Jocasta's brother, [[Creon of Thebes|Creon]], had announced that any man who could rid the city of the Sphinx would be made king of Thebes and given the recently widowed Queen Jocasta's hand in marriage. This marriage of Oedipus to [[Jocasta]] fulfilled the rest of the prophecy. Oedipus and Jocasta had four children: sons [[Eteocles]] and [[Polynices]] (see ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'') and daughters [[Antigone]] and [[Ismene]].

Many years later, a plague of [[infertility]] struck the city of Thebes, [[Famine|affecting crops, livestock, and the people]]. Oedipus asserted that he would end the pestilence. He sent Creon to the Oracle at Delphi, seeking guidance. When Creon returned, Oedipus learned that the murderer of King [[Laius]] must be brought to justice, and Oedipus himself cursed the killer of his wife's late husband, saying that he would be exiled. Creon also suggested that they try to find the blind prophet [[Tiresias]], who was widely respected. Oedipus sent for Tiresias, who warned him not to seek Laius' killer. In a heated exchange, Tiresias was provoked into exposing Oedipus himself as the killer, and the fact that Oedipus was living in shame because he did not know who his true parents were. Oedipus angrily blamed Creon for the false accusations, and the two argued. Jocasta entered and tried to calm Oedipus by telling him the story of her first-born son and his supposed death. Oedipus became nervous as he realized that he may have murdered Laius and so brought about the plague. Suddenly, a messenger arrived from [[Corinth]] with the news that King Polybus had died. Oedipus was relieved, for the prophecy could no longer be fulfilled if Polybus, whom he believed to be his birth father, was now dead.

Still, he knew that his mother was still alive and refused to attend the [[Ancient Greek funeral and burial practices|funeral]] at [[Corinth]]. To ease the tension, the messenger then said that Oedipus was, in fact, adopted. Jocasta, finally realizing that he was her son, begged him to stop his search for Laius' murderer. Oedipus misunderstood her motivation, thinking that she was ashamed of him because he might have been born of low birth. Jocasta, in great distress, went into the palace, where she [[Suicide by hanging|hanged]] herself. Oedipus sought verification of the messenger's story from the very same herdsman who was supposed to have left Oedipus to die as a baby. From the herdsman, Oedipus learned that the infant who was raised as the adopted son of Polybus and Merope, was the son of Laius and Jocasta. Thus, Oedipus finally realized that the man he had killed so many years before was his father and that [[Incest|he had married his mother.]]

Events after the revelation depend on the source. In [[Sophocles]]' plays, Oedipus went in search of Jocasta and found she had [[Suicide by hanging|killed herself]]. Using the pin from a brooch he took off Jocasta's gown, [[Autoenucleation|Oedipus blinded himself]] and was then [[Exile|exiled]]. His daughter Antigone acted as his guide as he wandered through the country, finally dying at [[Hippeios Colonus|Colonus]] where they had been welcomed by King [[Theseus]] of Athens. However, in [[Euripides]]' plays on the subject, Jocasta did not kill herself upon learning of Oedipus's birth, and Oedipus was blinded by a servant of Laius. The blinding of Oedipus does not appear in sources earlier than [[Aeschylus]].  Some older sources of the myth, including [[Homer]], state that Oedipus continued to rule Thebes after the revelations and after Jocasta's death.<ref name=Wilson>[http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/classical-studies/oedipus-the-message-the-myth Wilson, Christopher. "Oedipus: The message in the myth", The Open University]</ref>

Oedipus's two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, arranged to share the kingdom, each taking an alternating one-year reign. However, Eteocles refused to cede his throne after his year as king. Polynices brought in an army to oust Eteocles from his position and a battle ensued. At the end of the battle, the brothers killed each other, after which Jocasta's brother, Creon, took the throne. He decided that Polynices was a "traitor", and should not be given burial rites. Defying this edict, Antigone attempted to bury her brother. In Sophocles' ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'', Creon had her buried in a rock cavern for defying him, whereupon she hanged herself.  However, in Euripides' lost version of the story, it appears that Antigone survives.