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In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Jocasta, also known as Jocaste , Epikastê, or Iokastê was a daughter of Menoeceus
Menoeceus

In Greek mythology, Menoeceus was the father of Creon, and both grandfather and father-in-law of Oedipus. According to Hyginus, during the reign of Oedipus when the Seven Against Thebes laid siege to the city, he committed suicide by throwing himself from walls after Tiresias foretold that if anyone of the Sparti should perish, Thebes would...
 and Queen consort of Thebes, Greece
Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
. She was the wife of Laius
Laius

In Greek mythology, King Laius, or Laios of Thebes was a divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death of his father....
. Mother and wife of Oedipus
Oedipus

Oedipus was a Greek mythology monarch of Thebes, Greece. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family....
 by Laius
Laius

In Greek mythology, King Laius, or Laios of Thebes was a divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death of his father....
, and mother of Antigone
Antigone

Antigone is the name of two different women in Greek mythology. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood" or "in place of a mother" based from the root gone, "that which generates" ....
, Eteocles
Eteocles

In Greek mythology, Eteocles was a king of Thebes , the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. The name is from earlier *Etewoklewes , meaning "truly glorious"....
, Polynices
Polynices

In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes , leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule....
 and Ismene
Ismene

Ismene is the name of two women of Greek mythology. The more famous is a daughter and sister of Oedipus, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices....
 by Oedipus
Oedipus

Oedipus was a Greek mythology monarch of Thebes, Greece. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family....
. She was also sister of Creon
Creon

Creon is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes,_Greece in the legend of Oedipus. He was the father of Menoeceus and Megara by his wife, Eurydice of Thebes....
.

The tale goes that one day her husband, King Laius of Thebes, consulted an oracle
Oracle

An oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophecy opinion; an infallible authority, usually Spirituality in nature....
 while she was pregnant with Oedipus.






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How did it end up that Jocasta married her own sun?
What made Jocasta?s husband give away Opedius?
If Opedius didn?t become king, could he have not ended up marrying his own mother Jocasta?
What did mother and son do when they came to know of the truth?
Did Opedius die? Is there any record of that?








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Ingresodipusandsphinx
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Jocasta, also known as Jocaste , Epikastê, or Iokastê was a daughter of Menoeceus
Menoeceus

In Greek mythology, Menoeceus was the father of Creon, and both grandfather and father-in-law of Oedipus. According to Hyginus, during the reign of Oedipus when the Seven Against Thebes laid siege to the city, he committed suicide by throwing himself from walls after Tiresias foretold that if anyone of the Sparti should perish, Thebes would...
 and Queen consort of Thebes, Greece
Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
. She was the wife of Laius
Laius

In Greek mythology, King Laius, or Laios of Thebes was a divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death of his father....
. Mother and wife of Oedipus
Oedipus

Oedipus was a Greek mythology monarch of Thebes, Greece. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family....
 by Laius
Laius

In Greek mythology, King Laius, or Laios of Thebes was a divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death of his father....
, and mother of Antigone
Antigone

Antigone is the name of two different women in Greek mythology. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood" or "in place of a mother" based from the root gone, "that which generates" ....
, Eteocles
Eteocles

In Greek mythology, Eteocles was a king of Thebes , the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. The name is from earlier *Etewoklewes , meaning "truly glorious"....
, Polynices
Polynices

In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes , leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule....
 and Ismene
Ismene

Ismene is the name of two women of Greek mythology. The more famous is a daughter and sister of Oedipus, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices....
 by Oedipus
Oedipus

Oedipus was a Greek mythology monarch of Thebes, Greece. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family....
. She was also sister of Creon
Creon

Creon is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes,_Greece in the legend of Oedipus. He was the father of Menoeceus and Megara by his wife, Eurydice of Thebes....
.

The tale goes that one day her husband, King Laius of Thebes, consulted an oracle
Oracle

An oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophecy opinion; an infallible authority, usually Spirituality in nature....
 while she was pregnant with Oedipus. The oracle told Laius that the child was destined to kill his father and marry his own mother, i.e., Jocasta. So King Laius decided the child must be brought up to the mountain separating the city of Thebes from Corinth
Corinth

Corinth, or Korinth Corinth is now the capital of the Prefectures of Greece of Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site....
. He got a servant to travel to the top of the mountain and leave it there, but the servant saw nothing wrong with the baby and saw no reason to leave it to die. A shepherd was walking by and said that he and his wife would take the baby and raise it as if it were their own and they did for 19 years. Alternatively, Oedipus gets adopted by the king of Corinth and raised as a prince of that city. Jocasta allowed Laius to go through with the abandonment of the child in fear of the prophecy.

Oedipus grew up in Corinth and one day crossed paths with the oracle, Teiresias, who told him that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Not knowing that his parents were actually Jocasta and Laius, he ran away from home to escape the evil fate. Oedipus subsequently crosses paths with Laius and in course of an argument over right-of-way for their respective chariots, unwittingly kills the King, his father. He then goes to Thebes and sees that it was in disorder, in part due to being in thrall to the Sphinx
Sphinx

A sphinx is a zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head. It has its origins in sculpted figures of Old Kingdom Ancient Egypt, to which the ancient Greeks applied their own name for a female monster, the "strangler", an archaic figure of Greek mythology....
. When he solves the famous riddle of the sphinx, Oedipus becomes king and marries the widowed queen, Jocasta, unaware she was actually his own mother. Jocasta and Oedipus then have four children together: two girls, Antigone and Ismene and the brothers (eventually mutual fratricides) Eteocles and Polyneices. Oedipus eventually discovers the truth of his origin and thus his patricide and incest. Upon hearing the news, Jocasta hangs herself. Oedipus in turn gouges his eyes out and wanders exiled in the wilderness along with his daughter, Antigone, until his death 10 years later.

See also

  • Oedipus the King
    Oedipus the King

    Oedipus the King is an Classical Athens tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed c. 429 B.C.E. It was the second of Sophocles' three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone ....
     by Sophocles
    Sophocles

    Sophocles was the second of the three classical Greece tragedy whose work has survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus and earlier than those of Euripides....
     is an ancient Greek retelling of this legend as a play.


Jocasta in Popular Culture

  • Jocasta is a song by Noah and the Whale
    Noah and the Whale

    Noah and the Whale are a folk rock band from Twickenham, London, England formed in 2006....
    . It is about the leaving of Oedipus in the mountains and the way one grows up as a consequence of one's upbringing.


Sources

  • Seneca, Oedipus 1024-41.
  • Statius, Thebais XI.634-644.