in ancient Greek mythology, a king of Thebes.
In Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Tyrannus (c. 425 B.C.), Oedipus’ father, Laius, having received an oracle that he would be slain by his son, orders his wife Jocasta to abandon their new-born baby on Mount Cithaeron. The infant is saved by shepherds and is brought to Polybus, king of Corinth, who raises him as his own son. Upon reaching manhood, Oedipus is told by the Delphic oracle that he will slay his father and wed his mother. Afraid to return to Corinth, which he considers his homeland, Oedipus sets out on the road. While on the road he quarrels with and kills an unknown nobleman, who in fact is Laius. Subsequently, Oedipus solves the riddle of the Sphinx and frees Thebes; in return he is proclaimed king of Thebes and marries the widowed Jocasta. For 20 years he lives in happiness, unsuspecting that the prophecy of the Delphic oracle has come true. When a plague breaks out in Thebes and the Delphic oracle prophesizes that only the banishment of Laius’ murderer will save the city, Oedipus learns of his crimes. In despair, he puts his eyes out with a clasp from the dress of Jocasta, who has hanged herself, and goes into exile, accompanied by his loyal daughter Antigone. Oedipus dies in Colonus, a suburb of Athens.
Versions of the myth appeared in the works of classical authors, including Euripides and Seneca, and in literature and music beginning with the Renaissance, for instance, in the works of P. Corneille, J. Cocteau, T. S. Eliot, and I. F. Stravinsky.