Laios

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Laios ( Greek  Λάιος ), the son of Labdakos , is king of Thebes in Greek mythology , the husband of Iocaste , the daughter of Menoikeus , and the father of Oedipus . He is also mentioned as the father of the illegitimate daughter Sphinx .

Escape to Elis

When Laios was one year old, his father died. Therefore Lykos took over the rule of Thebes as guardian. However, Thebes was conquered by Amphion and Zethos , Lycus killed and Laius was brought to safety at Pelops .

Laius was raised by Pelops; later he taught Chrysippus , the beautiful young son of Pelops, in chariot racing. He was seized with love for him and kidnapped him to Thebes. Thereupon Chrysippus's father, Pelops, cursed him that he should never have a son, but if he did, that son should kill him. According to Herodotus , he received this prophecy from the oracle in Eleon near Tanagra . According to another version, Hera is also said to have cursed him for this act .

Rule over Thebes

When Amphion and Zethos died, the rule of Thebes was given to the rightful successor, Laios. Laios married Iokaste. When she was pregnant with her first child, he consulted the oracle in Delphi . The oracle confirmed the curse of the Pelops and said that the son was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. According to another tradition, Laios and his descendants were cursed by Apollo after he had fathered a son with Iokaste. Laius had been prophesied that he should not father any offspring with Iokaste, often with the addition that if he remained childless, Thebes would be preserved. But either intoxicated with wine or succumbed to the charms of Iokastes, one day he acted against this oracle. Shortly after the birth of the boy, Laios had him abandoned - according to a classic version - by a shepherd in the nearby Kithairon Mountains with pierced ankles. But it was passed on to another shepherd who looked after the flocks of the king of Corinth, Polybos . The childless royal couple, Polybos and Queen Merope (or Periboia ) of Sikyon , according to other versions of Corinth , adopted the child and named it Oedipus ("swellus foot").

Death of the Laios

Oedipus received the prophecy from an oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Since he thought Polybos and Merope / Periboia to be his birth parents, he left Corinth or Sikyon in the direction of Phocis . When he reached a fork in the road in the Kithairon (this is probably where Erythrai in Boeotia is today ), Laios came towards him. Polyphontes, the herald of Laios, asked Oedipus to make way. As the latter hesitated, he killed one of Oedipus' horses, whereupon Oedipus, unsuspecting, slew his father and his herald and continued on his way. Damasistratos, king of nearby Plataiai , found the dead, buried them and built a cairn over the tombs. After Laius' death, Creon , the son of Menoikeus and brother of the Iocaste, took control of Thebes. According to another version, Chrysippus is the reason for the dispute between Laios and his son Oedipus , because they both fell in love with the beautiful young man.

Oedipus later freed Thebes from the Sphinx ( called Phix in older, Boeotian versions ), became king and, without knowing it, married his own mother, Iokaste. The fate of Laius and Oedipus and their descendants became proverbial. It was said that the wrath of the Erinyes (goddesses of vengeance) of Laios and Oedipus would have struck someone if he lost all of his offspring. The Spartan Aigeus built a sanctuary for the Erinyes of Laios and Oedipus when all his children died.

literature

References and comments

  1. ^ Pausanias , Journeys in Greece 9, 26, 3--4.
  2. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 3, 40.
  3. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 3, 44.
  4. ^ Hyginus , Fabulae 85
  5. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 5, 43.
  6. ↑ Scholion zu Euripides , Phoinissen 66, 1760.
  7. ^ First comprehensible in Pindar , Olympia 2,39.
  8. ↑ In detail (with a list of sources): Otto Höfer : Oidipus . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.1, Leipzig 1902, Col. 704 f. ( Digitized version ).
  9. ↑ Library of Apollodor 3, 5, 7, 1
  10. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 3, 48.
  11. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 66
  12. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 3, 51-54.
  13. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 3, 209.
  14. ^ Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Chrysippos 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 902-905 ( digitized version ).
  15. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 4, 149.
predecessor Office successor
Amphion and Zethus King of Thebes
14th century BC Chr.
(Fictional chronology) 		Creon