Laius
King of Thebes whose attempt to cheat fate led directly to the Oedipus tragedy
The Legend of Laius
Laius was king of Thebes and husband of Jocasta. An oracle from Delphi warned him that his own son would kill him and marry his wife. Determined to escape this fate, Laius ordered the newborn infant's ankles to be pinned and the child abandoned on Mount Cithaeron to die. A shepherd took pity and passed the baby to a Corinthian herdsman, and the child was raised as Oedipus in the court of King Polybus. Years later, Laius travelled to Delphi and encountered a young man at a narrow crossroads near Daulis. A dispute over right of way escalated, and the stranger — his unrecognised son Oedipus — killed him, fulfilling the very prophecy he had tried to prevent.
Parents
Labdacus
Children
Oedipus
Symbols
Fun Fact
A road-rage incident at a crossroads fulfilled the most famous prophecy in Greek literature
Explore Further
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.
Jocasta
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Thebes who unknowingly married her own son Oedipus after his return
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
Creon
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Thebes who ruled after Oedipus and decreed death for Antigone
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
Oenomaus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A king of Pisa who killed the suitors of his daughter Hippodamia in rigged chariot races until Pelops defeated him through trickery and divine favour
Aleus
🗡 heroKingship, Arcadia
King of Tegea in Arcadia and founder of the great temple of Athena Alea
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Althaemenes
🗡 heroFate, exile
Cretan prince who fled to Rhodes to avoid a prophecy that he would kill his father, only to fulfil it
Tenes
🗡 heroPurity, Betrayal, Apollo
Prince of Colonae and first ruler of Tenedos, killed by Achilles despite his divine protection by Apollo.
Eurystheus
🗡 herofate
King of Mycenae who assigned Heracles his twelve labours, born prematurely through Hera's manipulation to gain power over the demigod.
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.