Pelopidi e Labdacidi

Speranza Laio, re di Tebe, and Queen Jocasta of Thebes were guests at the court of Pelops. While there, Laio fancied Pelope's son, Crisippo, and took sexual advantage of him. Enraged by this act of violation, Pelope laid a curse upon the royal house of King Laius that any son borne by Jocasta would kill him. Years passed, and King Laius and his wife abstained from the marriage bed in fear of the curse, until one night while intoxicated they abandoned caution. When the infant son was born, King Laius pierced his tiny, tender feet with a spear and left him exposed on a distant mountainside to die. But fate soon stepped in for a shepherd found the poor abandoned infant and immediately brought him to King Polybus of Corinth. Polybus, having no children of his own, adopted the little babe and named him for his damaged feet – Oedipus (swell foot). Oedipus Fulfils His Cursed Destiny As he grew up, Oedipus was often taunted that he was not Polybus’ real son, so he set out to the famous Delphic Oracle to discover his true parentage. There he was horrified to hear that he was destined to kill his true father and to marry his own mother. In disgust and despair he fled north. On his journey, Oedipus encountered the royal company of King Laius. When Oedipus refused to step aside to let them pass, the king’s charioteer deliberately ran over Oedipus’ foot. In a fit of rage, Oedipus killed everyone in sight except one servant who escaped. Unbeknownst to Oedipus, he had killed his own father, thus fulfilling part of his horrid destiny. Oedipus continued his journey until he arrived at Thebes. There he found the people mourning the loss of their king, but also terrorized by the fearsome monster Sphinx. Creon, regent of Thebes in Laius’ place, announced that whoever would rid Thebes of this terrible monster could take the throne of Thebes as well as Jocasta’s hand in marriage. Oedipus decided that he would try his hand at destroying the monster. Positioned at the pass into Thebes, the Sphinx demanded that travellers answer a riddle correctly or be eaten alive. She would ask, "What walks on all four legs in the morning, on three legs in the evening, and is weakest when it walks on all four?" Oedipus took his turn with the Sphinx, and when he answered correctly, "man", the Sphinx threw herself off a cliff to her doom. Thus Oedipus won the throne of Thebes and took Jocasta as his wife, fulfilling the second part of his fate in unwittingly marrying his own mother. Oedipus as King of Thebes Oedipus and Jocasta lived quite happily for many years together and even had four children: two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. But one day a dreadful plague fell on Thebes so Jocasta’s brother Creon was sent to the Oracle to seek a remedy. He was told that Thebes would be cured if the people drove out the murderer of King Laius. The famous seer Tiresias announced that indeed King Oedipus was the terrible murderer of King Laius, but no one wanted to believe it, least of all Oedipus himself. However, as Tiresias traced the events of the king's life and the time he was exposed to die as a baby, Oedipus finally realized that he had killed his father and married his mother. Devastated, Oedipus put out his eyes and fled Thebes, while Jocasta, overwhelmed and distraught, killed herself. With his faithful daughter Antigone by his side, the blind Oedipus eventually found peace in a sacred grove at Colonus, near Athens.