Editing Oedipus Rex (section)

==Context==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2016}}

===Curse upon Laius===
The misfortunes of Thebes are believed to be the result of a curse laid upon Laius for the time he had violated the sacred laws of hospitality (Greek: [[Xenia (Greek)|''xenia'']]).

In his youth, Laius was taken in as a guest by [[Pelops]], king of [[Elis (city)|Elis]], where he would become tutor to the king's youngest son, [[Chrysippus (mythology)|Chrysippus]], in [[chariot racing]].
[[Apollo]], the protector of youth and boys, cursed him for kidnapping and raping Chrysippus.

=== Birth of Oedipus ===
When Laius's son is born, he consults an [[oracle]] as to his fortune. To his horror, the oracle reveals that Laius "is doomed to perish by the hand of his own son." Laius binds the infant's feet together with a pin and orders Jocasta to kill him. Unable to do so to her own son, Jocasta orders a servant to expose the infant on a mountaintop. The servant, moved by pity, gives the child to a shepherd, who unbinds the infant's ankles, and names him [[Oedipus]], "swollen foot". The shepherd brings the infant to [[Corinth]], and presents him to the childless king [[Polybus of Corinth|Polybus]], who raises Oedipus as his own son.

===Oedipus and the Oracle===
As he grows to manhood, Oedipus hears a rumour that he is not truly the son of Polybus and his wife, [[Merope (Oedipus)|Merope]]. He asks the [[Pythia|Delphic Oracle]] who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire." Desperate to avoid this terrible fate, Oedipus, who still believes that Polybus and Merope are his true parents, leaves Corinth for the city of Thebes.

===Fulfilling prophecy===
====The old man====
On the road to Thebes, Oedipus encounters an old man and his servants. The two begin to quarrel over whose chariot has the right of way. While the old man moves to strike the insolent youth with his scepter, Oedipus throws the man down from his chariot, killing him. Thus, the prophecy in which Oedipus slays his own father is fulfilled, as the old man—as Oedipus discovers later—was Laius, king of Thebes and true father to Oedipus.

====Riddle of the Sphinx====
{{Main|Sphinx#Riddle_of_the_Sphinx|l1 = Riddle of the Sphinx}}
[[File:Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - Oedipus and the Sphinx - Walters 379.jpg|thumb|Painting by [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]] depicting Oedipus after he solves the riddle of the Sphinx<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[The Walters Art Museum]]|url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/7916|title=Oedipus and the Sphinx|access-date=2012-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524131651/http://art.thewalters.org/detail/7916|archive-date=2013-05-24|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.|alt=|287x287px]]
Arriving at Thebes, a city in turmoil, Oedipus encounters the [[Sphinx]], a legendary beast with the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lioness, and the wings of an eagle. The Sphinx, perched on a hill, was devouring Thebans and travelers one by one if they could not solve [[riddle of the Sphinx|her riddle]].

The precise riddle asked by the Sphinx varied in early traditions, and is not explicitly stated in ''Oedipus Rex'', as the event precedes the play. However, according to the most widely related version of the riddle, the Sphinx asks, "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"  Oedipus, blessed with great intelligence, answers correctly: "man" (Greek: [[wikt:ἄνθρωπος|''anthrôpos'']]), who crawls on all fours as an infant; walks upright in maturity; and leans on a stick in old age.<ref name="Powell 2015">{{Cite book|last=Powell|first=Barry B.|title=Classical Myth|publisher=Pearson|others=with translations by Herbert M. Howe|year=2015|isbn=978-0-321-96704-6|edition=8th|location=Boston}}</ref>{{rp|463}}

Bested by the prince, the Sphinx throws herself from a cliff, thereby ending the curse.<ref>Ahl, Frederick. ''Two Faces of Oedipus: Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus and Seneca's Oedipus''. Cornell University Press, 2008. page 1. {{ISBN|9780801473975}}.</ref> Oedipus's reward for freeing Thebes from the Sphinx is kingship to the city and the hand of its [[Queen dowager|dowager queen]], Jocasta. None, at that point, realize that Jocasta is Oedipus's true mother.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/sophocles/oedipustheking.htm |title=Johnston, Ian. "Background Notes", Vancouver Island University |access-date=2016-03-31 |archive-date=2020-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106015341/http://johnstoi.web.viu.ca//sophocles/oedipustheking.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Thus, unbeknownst to either character, the remaining prophecy has been fulfilled.