Rejected as a baby and left to die, Oedipus survived to rule as a proud king. But he was a man marked by fate, and the tragedy of his birth followed him his whole life.
At the birth of their son, King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes received an ominous prophecy from the mysterious oracle at Delphi. Their son would kill his father and marry his mother. Anxious to avoid this fate, Laius gave his newborn son to a shepherd with orders to leave the infant on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron to die. Rather than abandon the child as instructed, the shepherd took pity on him and gave him to another shepherd, who took the baby to the city of Corinth. The childless rulers of Corinth, King Polybus and Queen Merope, decided to raise him as their own, naming him Oedipus.
Oedipus grew to be a strong young man, content to live as a prince in the Corinthian court. One day, he overheard a local shepherd say that Prince Oedipus was not the true son of Polybus and Merope. When Oedipus confronted his parents, the king and queen denied the accusation, but he decided to visit the oracle of Delphi to get a definitive answer.
Inside the darkened temple, an old priestess sat on a stool over an ancient hole in the earth. Reverently, Oedipus approached and asked his question. Vapors rose from the opening, clouding the old woman's face as she fell into a trance. Then she spoke the oracle's words. Instead of telling Oedipus who his real parents were, however, the oracle responded with a terrifying prophecy: Oedipus was destined to murder his father and take his mother as his wife. The prince was shocked by the horrible prediction. There was only one way to avoid this terrible destiny, he decided. He must never return home to Corinth. From Delphi, Oedipus set out across the mountains to Thebes.
In a narrow mountain pass, Oedipus met an older man hurriedly driving a chariot toward Delphi. Neither Oedipus nor the man was willing to cede the right-of-way, and their argument soon turned violent. The older man struck at Oedipus, and Oedipus, in turn, knocked him out of his chariot and into the road. Immediately, the old man was trampled by his horses and died. The man's attendants fell upon Oedipus, and he fought and killed them all except one—a young man who ran away in fear. Oedipus continued on his journey.
At the gates of Thebes, a new challenge awaited. The city had long been troubled by the sphinx, a terrible monster with the body of a winged lion and the head of a woman. Lying in wait at the city gates, the sphinx demanded that all travelers answer the following riddle: "What goes on four feet in the morning, on two in the afternoon, and on three in the evening?" When the hapless travelers could not answer the cryptic question, the sphinx strangled and devoured them.
The sphinx confronted Oedipus with her enigma. Determined to outwit her, he retreated to a safe place to think. After days of contemplation, he returned to the gates with his answer. When the sphinx posed her question, Oedipus spoke: "Man is the answer. It is man that goes on all fours in the early part of his life, then on two feet in his maturity, and finally leans on a staff in old age." Her riddle solved, the sphinx threw herself off a nearby cliff and perished on the rocks below.
When Oedipus entered the city, news of his victory preceded him. The city rejoiced and welcomed the young prince as a hero. A crowd led him to the house of the queen's brother, Creon. There, Oedipus learned that King Laius had been killed on the road to the Delphic oracle when he had gone to ask how to free his city from the sphinx. The citizens of Thebes, Creon explained, would be happy if Oedipus became their new king. Oedipus accepted and was married to the widow Jocasta.
In the years that followed, Oedipus ruled Thebes in comfort, and Jocasta bore him four children. But one summer, plagues beset the city. New deaths were reported every day, and wails of grief sounded in the streets. Creon undertook the journey to consult the Delphic oracle, and on his return, he revealed the oracle's message. The man who had murdered King Laius was living in Thebes unpunished, and the city was tainted by this man's sin. The people of Thebes had to bring King Laius' murderer to justice.
On the steps of the palace, with Queen Jocasta at his side, Oedipus pronounced a dreadful curse upon the person who had caused so much misery and vowed to find him. He sent soldiers to scour the city and questioned everyone they brought before him, but none of them was the murderer. At last, Oedipus sent for the blind seer Tiresias and asked him to reveal the man's identity. Tiresias answered that he knew who the criminal was, but that the truth would only cause more suffering. Oedipus demanded an answer, but Tiresias, trembling before him, refused. In a rage, Oedipus ordered the old seer dragged from the palace.
In desperation, Oedipus called for one of Laius' former servants, the only witness to survive the attack on the king so many years ago. Oedipus listened intently to the servant's story. King Laius had encountered a young man along a narrow mountain pass, and the two had engaged in a bloody battle. The old man had been knocked from his chariot and trampled by his horses. Suddenly, Oedipus realized the awful truth: he was the man who had killed the king! He had cursed himself!
Oedipus dismissed the servant as an old shepherd approached; he had been sent with news from Corinth that King Polybus was dead. Relief washed over Oedipus. He may have been responsible for King Laius' death, but the oracle's terrible prophecy had been defeated: Oedipus had not killed his father. The shepherd turned to Oedipus and gently put his hand on his shoulder. "You are not the child of Polybus," he explained. "You are the son of Laius. You were rescued from a terrible fate as a baby, and I brought you to the Corinthian court."
The oracle's prediction had come true after all: Oedipus realized that he had unwittingly murdered his father and married his own mother. It was his guilt that was polluting the city of Thebes.
With a heavy heart, Oedipus went to Jocasta's room to share the hateful news, but she had already heard. Unable to bear the knowledge, she had hanged herself. Grief-stricken, Oedipus took two brooches from the queen's dress and gouged out his own eyes.
Oedipus knew he must leave Thebes, and in the care of his eldest daughter, he left the palace. Cursed by fate and now as blind as the old seer Tiresias, he passed through the same city gates he had so triumphantly entered in his youth, never to return.