Oedipus

Oedipus is a legendary figure in Greek mythology, best known as the king of Thebes. He is the son of Laius and Jocasta. A prophecy predicted that he would kill his father and marry his mother, so Laius and Jocasta attempted to prevent it by abandoning the infant on a hillside. A shepherd rescued him, and he was brought up in Corinth by Polybus and Merope, who were believed to be his parents.

Believing they were not his true parents, Oedipus left Corinth to avoid fulfilling the prophecy. On the road to Thebes, he kills a man at a crossroads and later solves the riddle of the Sphinx, freeing Thebes from the creature’s curse and becoming king. He marries Jocasta, thus unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy. They have children: typically named in various versions as Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles, and Polynices.

A later plague afflicts Thebes, and Oedipus seeks its cause, eventually uncovering the full truth: Jocasta is his mother and Laius his father. Jocasta commits suicide; Oedipus blinds himself with the pins from her dress and goes into voluntary exile, leaving Thebes.

In literature, the story is central to Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Rex (also known as Oedipus the King), the first in the Theban plays, with later works including Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. The tale is often cited in discussions of fate versus free will, blindness and insight, and the limits of human authority.

In modern psychology, the term Oedipus complex, introduced by Sigmund Freud, describes a child’s unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent and rivalrous feelings toward the same-sex parent. The term has influenced broader cultural usage to denote complex family dynamics.