Cadmus was succeeded as king by his grandson Pentheus, son of Agave, whose misfortunes have been dealt with earlier. A new dynasty was then founded by Labdacus; his origin is obscure, although some authorities make him a grandson of Cadmus. He is said to have perished while pursuing the same policy as Pentheus, leaving as his successor an infant son, Laius. Lycus, a great-greatuncle of Laius, assumed the regency and then made himself king, reigning for twenty years; Lycus was son of Chthonius, one of the five Spartoi, and the story of his family now concerns us, although it is a digression from the story of the House of Labdacus. His brother's daughter, Antiope, was loved by Zeus; while she was pregnant she fled to Sicyon (a city in the northern Peloponnese) to escape from the anger of her father, Nycteus. In despair Nycteus killed himself, and his brother (Lycus) then attacked Sicyon and recovered Antiope. Somewhere in Boeotia, Antiope gave birth to twin sons, who were exposed and found by a shepherd; he named them Amphion and Zethus. Zethus became a skilled herdsman, Amphion a musician, playing on a lyre given him by the god Hermes. Many years later Amphion and Zethus met and recognized their mother, who had escaped from the imprisonment in which she had been kept by Lycus and his wife, Dirce. They avenged Antiope by killing Lycus and tying Dirce to the horns of a bull that dragged her to her death. From her blood sprang the fountain at Thebes that is called by her name. Amphion and Zethus now became rulers of Cadmeia and built walls for the city, whose stones were moved into place by the music of Amphion's lyre.

Laius (who would now have been about twentyone years old) was banished, while the two rulers married; Amphion's wife was Niobe and Zethus' was the nymph, Thebe, in whose honor the newly walled city was renamed Thebes. After many years Amphion and Zethus died, and Laius returned from exile to resume the kingship of which he had been deprived as an infant. The story of Lycus and his family is confused, although important; the walling of Cadmeia and its renaming is a doublet of the founding of the city by Cadmus, and just as Cadmus and Harmonia had civilized their people, so Amphion7s music demonstrated the power of harmony and beauty over the disunited and inanimate stones. In exile Laius had been hospitably received by Pelops, king of Elis. The ties of guest and host were among the most sacred of human relationships, and Laius brought upon himself and his descendants a curse by abducting Chrysippus, the son of Pelops, with whom he had fallen in love. Apollo foretold the working out of the curse in the first generation when Laius consulted the Delphic oracle about the children who should be born to him and his wife Jocasta". I will give you a son," said the oracle, "but you are destined to die at his hands. This is the decision of Zeus, in answer to the bitter curses of Pelops, whose son you abducted; all this did Pelops call down upon you" (Argument to Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus). When, therefore, a son was born, Laius attempted to cheat fate by ordering the infant to be exposed upon Mt. Cithaeron, with a spike driven through his ankles. The servant entrusted with the task pitied the baby, and instead gave him to a Corinthian shepherd (for the Theban and Corinthian summer pastures were adjacent on Cithaeron); the shepherd in turn brought the infant to his master, Polybus, king of Corinth. The child was brought up as the son of Polybus and his queen, Merope, and was called Oedipus (which means Swellfoot) from the injury to his ankles. Years later Oedipus was jeered at during a feast at Corinth by a drunken companion as not being Polybus' natural son. In alarm and shame at the taunt (which soon spread through the city) he left Corinth and asked the oracle at Delphi who his parents were.

For a reply he received a warning-to avoid his homeland, since he must murder his father and marry his mother. So he determined not to return to Corinth and took the road from Delphi that led to Thebes. What happened then, Oedipus himself relates (Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 800-8 13): As I came on my journey to this junction of three roads a herald and a man (like him whom you described, Jocasta) riding in a horse-drawn chariot blocked my way; they violently drove me off the road. In anger I struck the driver, who was pushing me aside; and when the old man saw me passing by him, he took aim at the middle of my head and struck me with the two-pronged goad. But he paid for this with interest; struck promptly by the staff in this hand of mine, he quickly tumbled out of the chariot. I killed them all. The old man, whom Oedipus did not recognize, was Laius. The curse of Pelops was being fulfilled. So Oedipus came to Thebes where the city was in distress; not only was the king dead, but also the city was plagued by a monster sent by Hera, called Sphinx (which means strangler). This creature had the face of a woman, the body of a lion and a bird's wings. It had (says Apollodorus) learned a riddle from the Muses, which it asked the Thebans. Those who could not answer the riddle, it ate; and it was prophesied that Thebes would only be free of the Sphinx when the riddle had been answered. The riddle was: "What is it that has one name that is four-footed, two-footed, and three footed? No Theban had been able to find the answer, and in despair the regent Creon, son of Menoeceus and brother of Jocasta, offered the throne and his sister as wife to anyone who could do so. Oedipus succeeded. "Man," said he, "is the answer: for as an infant he goes upon four feet; in his prime upon two; and in old age he takes a stick as a third foot." And so the Sphinx threw itself off the Theban acropolis; Oedipus became king of Thebes and husband of the widowed queen, his mother.

Thus the prophecy of Apollo was fulfilled; what remained was for the truth to be discovered. There are two versions of Oedipus' fate. According to Homer, Epicasta married her own son "and the gods speedily made it known to men. Unhappily he reigned on at Thebes, but she went down to the house of Hades, fastening a noose to the roof of the lofty hall" (Odyssey 11. 271). In the Iliad Oedipus is spoken of as having fallen in battle. In this version another wife is the mother of the children of Oedipus. The most widely accepted story, however, is the later version, that of Sophocles. Oedipus and Jocasta lived happily together, and she bore him two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. After many years a pestilence afflicted Thebes, and the oracle of Apollo advised the Thebans that it was the result of a pollution on their state, for the murderer of Laius was in their midst. At this stage Polybus died, and the messenger who brought the news also brought the invitation to Oedipus from the people of Corinth to become their king. Oedipus, thinking that Merope was his mother, refused to return to Corinth, but the messenger- who was the same shepherd to whom the infant exposed on Cithaeron had been given-tried to reassure him by telling him that he was not in fact the son of Merope and Polybus. Oedipus then sent for the servant who had exposed him-who also was the survivor at the death of Laius-and the truth came out. This is how Sophocles (Oedipus Tyrannus 1164-85) describes the moment of Oedipus' discovery. He is questioning the servant (who already knows the truth) in the presence of the messenger: OEDIPUS: Which of these citizens [gave you the baby] and from what house [did it come]? SERVANT: DO not, I beg you by the gods, master, do not question me any more. OEDIPUS: YOU will be killed if I have to ask you this question again. SERVANT: Well, it was one of the children of Laius. OEDIPUS: A slave? Or one of his own children? SERVANT: Alas! I am on the point of revealing a terrible secret! OEDIPUS: And I of hearing it. Yet hear it I must. SERVANT: Well, it was called the son of Laius.

The woman inside the palace best would tell-your wife-the facts. OEDIPUS: SO she it was who gave you the baby? SERVANT: Yes, my lord. OEDIPUS: For what purpose? SERVANT: That I might kill him. OEDIPUS: Was she his mother, unhappy woman? SERVANT: Yes, and she was afraid of the harm that had been foretold by the oracle. OEDIPUS: And what was that? SERVANT: The prophecy was that he would kill his parents. OEDIPUS: HOW then did you give him up to this old man, how did you? SERVANT: I was sorry for him, master, and I thought this man would carry him to another country, from which he came himself. But he saved him for evils much worse. For if you are the person this man says you are, then, I tell you, you were born to a wretched destiny. OEDIPUS: Alas! Alas! All is revealed! 0 light, may this be the last time I look upon you, I who have been shown to be born from those from whom I should not have been born, to be living with those with whom I should not live, and to have killed those whom I should not have killed! The horror of Oedipus' predicament is powerfully expressed in the stark dialogue, and it is no wonder that Sophocles' version of the myth has swept aside all other versions. It appeals to our imaginations more than the interpretations of anthropologists and other scholars. Meanwhile, in horror and despair Jocasta hanged herself, and Oedipus, seeing her corpse, blinded himself with the brooches from her robe. Creon became regent again, and Oedipus was banished, in accordance with a curse that he had earlier pronounced on the as yet unknown killer of Laius and in obedience to an oracle of Apollo. He wandered for years accompanied by Antigone, until he finally came to Colonus in Attica. There he was kindly received by the king of Athens, Theseus, who did not allow the Thebans to force him to return (for it had been prophesied that the land in which he was buried would prosper); shortly afterward he disappeared from the earth. Sophocles describes the end of Oedipus' life at Colonus.

We give the passage in full here, since it clearly tells us how Sophocles viewed the relationship of Oedipus the man to Oedipus the hero. The poet carefully describes the place, for a hero is associated with a particular locality. He connects Oedipus' passing with the powers beneath the earth (Zeus is called by his title Chthonius, that is, "Zeus of the Earth"); yet Theseus rightly worships the powers of earth and heaven after the miracle, for the hero is part of the array of Greek divinities, those of heaven as well as the chthonic powers. And Oedipus' passing is miraculous and without grief, in this symbolizing his benign influence upon the place where he passed from mortal sight and his power as a hero to perform miracles for those who worship him. Here then is Sophocles' description (Oedipus Coloneus 1587-1665): You know how he left this place without any of his friends to guide him, himself the leader of us all. When he came to the edge of the ravine which is rooted in the earth by the brazen stairs, he stood in one of the paths which meet there-the place is by the hollow basin where the pact of Theseus and Pirithous was forever made. Around him were the rock of Thoricus, the hollow wild pear tree, and the stone tomb. Here he sat and loosened his duststained garments. Then he called his daughters and bade them bring him water from the running stream to wash with and make libations. So they went to the hill of Demeter, bringer of green freshness, which overlooks the place, and soon returned bringing what their father had asked for.

Thus they washed and clothed him as custom demands. When he was satisfied with all that they were doing and none of his commands had gone unfulfilled, then Zeus of the Earth thundered, and the girls shuddered as they heard. They clasped their father's knees and wept; continuously they beat their breasts and wailed. But he immediately answered their unhappy cry, clasped his arms around them, and said: "My children, today your father ceases to be. All that is mine has come to an end; no more need you labor to support me. Hard was that task, I know, my daughters; yet one word alone relieves all that toilfor of Love you never will-have more from any man then me. And now you will pass your lives bereft of me. In this way they all sobbed and wept, embracing each other. When they came to an end of weeping and were silent, a sudden voice called him and all were afraid and their hair stood on end. It was God who called him repeatedly. "Oedipus, Oedipus," he called, "why wait we to go? Too long have you delayed." Then Oedipus, knowing that God was calling him, called King Theseus to him, and when he drew near said: "Dear friend, give your hand to my children as a solemn pledge, and you, my children, give yours to him. And do you, Theseus, swear never knowingly to betray these girls and always to act for their good." And Theseus, without complaint, swore on his oath that he would do as his friend asked, for he was a man of generous nature. When this was done, Oedipus straightway felt his children with unseeing hands and said: "My daughters, you must resolutely leave this place; you may not ask to see what is not right for you to see, nor hear words that you should not hear. Go then; let only King Theseus stay and behold what will be done." All of us heard his words, and with groans and tears went with the girls.

As we began to leave we turned and saw Oedipus no longer there; the king we saw, shielding his eyes with his hand, as if some dread sight had appeared which he could not bear to look upon. Yet soon after we saw him worship Earth and Olympus, the gods' home above, with the same words. How Oedipus died no man can tell except Theseus. No fiery thunderbolt from God consumed him, no whirlwind from the sea. Some divine messenger came for him, or the deep foundations of the earth parted to receive him, kindly and without pain. Without grief he passed from us, without the agony of sickness; his going was more than mortal, a miracle. So Oedipus became a hero, bringing good to the country in which he lay. But, as .the ancient commentators pointed out (Argument to Sophocles, Oedipus Coloneus), Sophocles adopted this version of the story to do honor to Attica and to his own deme (i.e., district) of Colonus. Outside Athens, the story was different; Oedipus shut himself up in the palace and lived there while Creon was regent. One day his sons put before him a less honorable portion of meat than was his due; he cursed them, praying that they might fight to divide their kingdom, and after his death the curse was fulfilled. The story of Oedipus is among the best-known classical legends, largely because of the use made of it by psychologists since Freud's naming of the "Oedipus complex'' in 1910. This is a legitimate use of a legend, but it must not be taken as an explanation of it. Sophocles was aware of the Oedipus complex, in part, at any < < rate: Many men," says Jocasta (Oedipus Tyrannus 981), "have in dreams lain with their mothers," and we have already noted how Greek myths of creation are permeated with the concepts of the mother-son relationship and of conflict between father and son. We should be skeptical of attempts to interpret the legend in purely psychological terms; Sophocles and his predecessors were concerned with other aspects-for example, historical and theological- and we must accept the story as the Greeks have transmitted it, whatever use we may make of it.