Jocasta
Queen of Thebes who unknowingly married her own son Oedipus after his return
The Legend of Jocasta
Jocasta was the wife of King Laius of Thebes. When an oracle declared that their son would kill his father, Laius ordered the infant exposed on Mount Cithaeron with his ankles pinned. The child survived and grew up as Oedipus in Corinth. Years later, Oedipus unknowingly killed Laius on the road and arrived in Thebes, where he solved the riddle of the Sphinx and was rewarded with the throne and Jocasta's hand in marriage. They had four children together: Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, and Ismene. When the truth was finally revealed by the seer Tiresias and a Corinthian messenger, Jocasta hanged herself in despair, unable to bear the horror of what had occurred.
Parents
Menoeceus
Symbols
Fun Fact
Sophocles has her dismiss oracles just moments before the most devastating oracle in literature comes true
Explore Further
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Laius
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Thebes whose attempt to cheat fate led directly to the Oedipus tragedy
Oedipus
🗡 heroKing who fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother
The tragic king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy he had spent his life trying to avoid.
Danae
🗡 heroNone recorded
Princess of Argos imprisoned in a bronze tower, mother of Perseus by Zeus
Anticlea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Mother of Odysseus who died of grief during his absence and appeared to him in the Underworld
Creon
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Thebes who ruled after Oedipus and decreed death for Antigone
Haemon
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Creon and fiancé of Antigone who died beside her in defiance of his father
Phaedra
🗡 heroQueen consumed by forbidden love
Phaedra was the wife of Theseus who was cursed by Aphrodite to fall hopelessly in love with her stepson Hippolytus — her suicide and false accusation destroyed him.
Anticleia
🗡 heroNone recorded
The mother of Odysseus who died of grief during her son's long absence at Troy, appearing to him as a shade when he visited the underworld
Chrysippus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A son of Pelops whose abduction by Laius of Thebes brought a curse upon the house of Laius and introduced the theme of transgression that haunted the Oedipus cycle
Anteia
🗡 heroDesire, false accusation
Queen of Tiryns who falsely accused Bellerophon of assault, setting in motion his legendary trials
Icarius
🗡 heroNone recorded
A legendary king of Sparta and father of Penelope who tried to prevent his daughter from leaving with Odysseus after her marriage