Oedipus

[ ed-uh-puhs, ee-duh- ]

noun

, Greek Legend.

1. a king of Thebes, the son of Laius and Jocasta, and the father by Jocasta of Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismeme: as was prophesied at his birth, he unwittingly killed his father and married his mother and, in penance, blinded himself and went into exile.

Oedipus

/ ˈiːdɪpəs /

noun

1. Greek myth the son of Laius and Jocasta, the king and queen of Thebes, who killed his father, being unaware of his identity, and unwittingly married his mother, by whom he had four children. When the truth was revealed, he put out his eyes and Jocasta killed herself

Oedipus

1. In classical mythology , a tragic king who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. The Delphic oracle predicted that King Laius of Thebes, a city in Greece , would be killed by his own son. To save himself, Laius ordered his newborn son placed on a mountaintop and left to starve. The infant was rescued by a shepherd and raised in a distant city, where he was given the name Oedipus. Years later, King Laius was killed while on a journey by a stranger with whom he quarreled. Oedipus arrived at Thebes shortly thereafter and saved the city from the ravages of the Sphinx . He was proclaimed king in Laius' stead, and he took the dead king's widow, Jocasta, as his own wife. After several years a terrible plague struck Thebes. The Delphic oracle told Oedipus that to end the plague, he must find and punish the murderer of King Laius. In the course of his investigation, Oedipus discovered that he himself was the killer and that Laius had been his real father. He had therefore murdered his father and married his mother, Jocasta. In his despair at this discovery, Oedipus blinded himself.

Notes

The Oedipus complex , identified by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud , takes its name from the story of Oedipus.

The story of Oedipus is the subject of the play Oedipus Rexby Sophocles .

Example Sentences

At the start of the play, a delegation of citizens begs King Oedipus of Thebes to do something about the awful disease that’s raging through the city.

From Time

Big questions remain unanswered, but we’ve come a long way from Sigmund Freud and the Oedipus complex.

From Science News

She played my mom on the show and we had a sort of strange Oedipus Rex relationship.

From The Daily Beast

Probably John Gielgud's during the dress rehearsal of Peter Brook's production of Seneca's Oedipus at the Vic.

From The Daily Beast

The notion of intra-family sex has inspired—and revolted—onlookers from Oedipus to Deliverance.

From The Daily Beast

He lived to be ninety years old, and produced the most beautiful of his tragedies in his eightieth year, the "Oedipus at Colonus."

From Project Gutenberg

They are speaking, truly, but only Oedipus can solve the riddle and comprehend their mute speech.

From Project Gutenberg

Taxonomic and geographic comments on Guatemalan salamanders of the genus Oedipus.

From Project Gutenberg

It is thus that we see spring up, grow, and come to maturity under our eyes, the curiosity of Oedipus and the jealousy of Iago.

From Project Gutenberg

Exner holds that the ancients conceived Oedipus not as we do; they found his misfortune horrible; we find it unpleasant.

From Project Gutenberg