Character Archive
Explore myths where Oedipus appears across cultures, conflicts, sacred places, and recurring themes.
4 myths currently featured for Oedipus.
While traveling from Delphi to escape a terrifying prophecy, Oedipus encounters an arrogant party at a narrow triple-crossroads in Phocis. A violent dispute over right-of-way leads Oedipus to kill an older man who is, unbeknownst to him, his biological father, King Laius of Thebes. This fateful moment serves as the cornerstone of the Sophoclean tragedy and the fulfillment of the first half of...
Following the exile of King Oedipus, his sons Eteocles and Polynices agreed to share the throne of Thebes by alternating power each year. However, Eteocles refused to step down after his term, prompting Polynices to raise an army of seven champions from Argos to reclaim his birthright. The resulting siege ended in a tragic duel at the seventh gate where the brothers killed one another,...
King Oedipus of Thebes discovers that he has unwittingly fulfilled a horrific prophecy by killing his father, Laius, and marrying his mother, Jocasta. Upon the devastating revelation of his true identity and the source of a plague ravaging his city, Oedipus blinds himself in a fit of grief and shame. The story concludes with his fall from power and his request to be exiled from the land he...
Seeking to save the city of Thebes from a murderous monster, the traveler Oedipus confronts the Sphinx on Mount Phikion. The Sphinx, a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman, poses a deadly riddle to all who pass: 'What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?' Oedipus correctly identifies the answer as 'Man,' causing the Sphinx to...