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.
Polybus and Merope of Corinth adopted the infant Oedipus after a shepherd brought him from Mount Cithaeron. Oedipus believed they were his birth parents until a messenger revealed the truth.
Theseus granted the exiled Oedipus sanctuary at Colonus near Athens, defying Theban attempts to reclaim him. In return, Oedipus's mysterious death blessed Athenian soil with divine protection.
Oedipus cursed his sons Eteocles and Polynices for their neglect and mistreatment during his exile, prophesying that they would kill each other fighting over the throne of Thebes.
Oedipus unknowingly killed his father Laius at a crossroads near Delphi when the king's herald ordered him to yield. The killing fulfilled the Delphic oracle's prophecy.
Oedipus answered the Sphinx's riddle — 'What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?' — causing the monster to hurl herself from the rock to her death.
Oedipus ruled Thebes after defeating the Sphinx and marrying the widowed queen Jocasta. He governed wisely for many years before discovering he had fulfilled the Delphic prophecy.
Antigone guided her blind father Oedipus through years of wandering exile after his fall from the throne of Thebes, accompanying him until his mysterious death at Colonus.
Apollo's oracle at Delphi prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. Every step Oedipus took to escape the prophecy only ensured its fulfillment.
Oedipus accused Creon of conspiring with Tiresias to seize the throne, nearly condemning his brother-in-law before Jocasta intervened. After the truth emerged, Creon assumed the regency of Thebes and exiled Oedipus.
Oedipus consulted the Oracle at Delphi and learned the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, setting his tragic fate in motion.
Oedipus cursed his sons Eteocles and Polynices, calling upon the Erinyes to ensure they killed each other. The Furies fulfilled this curse at the siege of Thebes, as told in Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes.
Ismene traveled to Colonus to warn her exiled father Oedipus that both Eteocles and Polynices sought to control his burial site, as an oracle had promised power to the land that held his grave.
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.
The infant Oedipus was exposed on Mount Cithaeron with his ankles pinned together, giving him his name meaning 'swollen foot.' A shepherd found him there and brought him to Corinth.
A plague struck Thebes during Oedipus's reign, and the oracle declared it would not lift until Laius's murderer was found. Oedipus's investigation into the plague led to the discovery of his own identity.
Tiresias revealed to Oedipus that the king himself was the murderer of Laius and the source of Thebes' plague. Oedipus initially accused the blind prophet of conspiracy before the truth was confirmed.
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