Oedipus unknowingly married his mother Jocasta after saving Thebes from the Sphinx. They had four children — Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles, and Polynices — before the truth of their incestuous union was revealed.
⚠ Pausanias (9.5.11) cites the Oedipodia as attributing the four children to a second wife Euryganeia, not Jocasta. Sophocles and Apollodorus follow the Jocasta tradition.
Laius and Jocasta were king and queen of Thebes. Their son Oedipus was exposed at birth due to a prophecy, then unknowingly returned to marry Jocasta and father Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles, and Polynices.
Creon and Jocasta were siblings, children of Menoeceus of Thebes. After Laius's death, Creon served as regent and offered Jocasta's hand to whoever could defeat the Sphinx.
Antigone's mother Jocasta hanged herself upon discovering her incestuous marriage to Oedipus. Antigone's own death by hanging in her tomb echoed her mother's end.
Laius's abduction of Chrysippus brought Apollo's curse upon his house, dooming Jocasta and their descendants. The curse ensured Laius would be killed by his own son, setting the Oedipus tragedy in motion.
Creon accused Jocasta's husband Oedipus of conspiracy with Tiresias in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Jocasta mediated between her brother and husband, urging Oedipus to trust Creon's innocence.
After Jocasta hanged herself and the truth of Oedipus's deeds was laid bare, the Erinyes of his mother brought sorrows beyond measure upon him, as Homer recounts in the Odyssey.
In Euripides' Phoenician Women, Jocasta pleaded with Eteocles to share the throne with Polynices. Her failure to reconcile her sons led to their mutual destruction and her own suicide over their bodies.
Mount Cithaeron was where Jocasta and Laius ordered their infant son exposed to prevent the Delphic prophecy. The shepherd's failure to kill the child there ensured the prophecy's fulfillment.
Oedipus unknowingly married his mother Jocasta after saving Thebes from the Sphinx. When the truth emerged, Jocasta hanged herself and Oedipus blinded himself with pins from her robe.
In Euripides' Phoenician Women, Jocasta attempted to mediate between Polynices and Eteocles as they fought for the throne of Thebes. When both sons killed each other in single combat, she took her own life over their bodies.
Jocasta ruled Thebes as queen through two marriages — first to Laius, then to Oedipus. The city's fate was bound to hers: a plague struck Thebes as divine punishment for the pollution of Laius's unavenged murder and the incestuous royal marriage.
Tiresias revealed to Oedipus the truth that Jocasta already feared — that Oedipus was both Laius's killer and Jocasta's son. His prophecy set in motion the final catastrophe in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex.
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