Laius
Laius or Laios was a king of Thebes in Greek mythology, a descendant of Cadmus, and the father of Oedipus. An oracle warned him that a son of his would kill him; he nevertheless had a child, exposed him, and was later killed by that son at a crossroads near Delphi without either man knowing the other.
Laius was the son of Labdacus and the great-grandson of Cadmus through Polydorus (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5). When Labdacus died Laius was still a baby, and the government was taken over by Lycus, a brother of Nycteus, for as long as Laius was a child (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5; Pausanias 9.5.5).
Lycus was killed by Antiope’s twin sons Zethus and Amphion, who took over Thebes and fortified it. They expelled Laius, according to Apollodorus (Library 3.5.5). Pausanias says instead that some Thebans who wanted the line of Cadmus to survive secretly removed Laius when the brothers returned (Pausanias 9.5.6). Laius lived in the Peloponnese as a guest of Pelops. There, according to Apollodorus, he taught Pelops’ son Chrysippus to drive a chariot, fell in love with the boy, and carried him off.
When Zethus and Amphion had died, Laius was brought back by the Thebans and became king (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.7; Pausanias 9.5.9). He married a daughter of Menoeceus, called Jocasta in the tragedians and Epicasta in Homer (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.7; Homer, Odyssey 11.271).
The oracle and the birth of Oedipus
The marriage was childless for a long time. In Euripides, Laius went to Apollo to ask for sons, and the god answered: “Do not sow a furrow of children against the will of the gods; if you beget a child, your son will kill you, and your whole house will be wading in blood” (Euripides, Phoenician Women 12–20). In Sophocles, Jocasta says an oracle came to Laius that he was fated to die at the hands of a son born of herself and him (Oedipus the King 711–714). Apollodorus gives the same warning and says Laius had intercourse with his wife when he was flushed with wine (Library 3.5.7).
When the child was born, Laius pierced his ankles and gave him to a herdsman to expose on Mount Cithaeron (Euripides, Phoenician Women 24–26; Sophocles, Oedipus the King 717–719). Herdsmen of Polybus, king of Corinth, found the baby and brought him to Polybus’ wife, who raised him as her own and named him Oedipus, “swollen foot” (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.7; Euripides, Phoenician Women 28–31). Apollodorus calls the queen Periboea; in Sophocles she is Merope (Oedipus the King 775).
Family of Laius
The death of Laius
Oedipus grew up in Corinth, heard from Delphi that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, and left Corinth to avoid it (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.7). On the road Laius was travelling in a chariot with a herald. In Sophocles, Laius had gone abroad as a sacred envoy and never came home, and Oedipus later remembers killing an old man and his attendants where three roads meet (Oedipus the King 114–115, 800–813). In Euripides, Laius was going to Apollo’s shrine to learn whether the exposed child was dead, and was killed when the driver ordered Oedipus out of the way (Phoenician Women 35–45). Apollodorus names the herald Polyphontes and says Oedipus killed both men; Laius was buried by Damasistratus, king of Plataea (Library 3.5.7–8). Pausanias identifies the place as the Cleft Road in Phocis (Pausanias 10.5.3).
Creon, brother of Jocasta, then ruled Thebes. The Sphinx plagued the city until Oedipus solved her riddle and was given the kingdom and the wife of Laius (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8). Oedipus and Jocasta had two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Ismene and Antigone; when the truth came out Jocasta hanged herself (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.8–9; Homer, Odyssey 11.277–278). Pausanias, citing Homer’s words that the gods soon made the marriage known, doubted that Oedipus had children by her (Pausanias 9.5.10–11), and Apollodorus records that some called their mother Eurygania, daughter of Hyperphas (Library 3.5.8).
Laius Sources
Homer, Odyssey 11.271–280; Sophocles, Oedipus the King 114–115, 711–722, 775, 800–813; Euripides, Phoenician Women 12–45; Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5–9; Pausanias 9.5.4–10, 10.5.3.
See Also: Amphion, Zethus, Chrysippus, Pelops, Jocasta, Menoeceus, Oedipus, Polybus, Cadmus, Sphinx
What the ancient sources say
Passages that name Laius, in the original with English translation. The line gives the work and reference as scholars cite it.
- Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 698–770Third episode: Iocasta and the death of LaiusIocasta asks Oedipus the reason for his anger, and he tells her that Creon, through the seer, accuses him of the blood of Laius. She tells him not to…
- Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.5.1–9Dionysus, Pentheus, Niobe and OedipusDionysus roams Egypt, Syria and Thrace, where Lycurgus is punished, and returns to Thebes, where Agave tears her son Pentheus apart; he also turns the…
- Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 78–150Prologue (cont.): Creon brings the oracle of ApolloCreon returns with the answer of Apollo that the land is polluted and that the killers of the former king Laius must be banished or killed for their blood.…
- Hyginus, Fabulae 66–73Oedipus and the Theban warsLaius, Oedipus and the Sphinx lead to the war of the Seven against Thebes, told in two versions. The group continues with Antigone, the lists of the seven…
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.64.1–4.66.6Oedipus, the Seven against Thebes and the EpigoniLaïus is killed by his unknown son Oedipus, who solves the riddle of the Sphinx and, unknowingly marrying his mother, has two sons and two daughters; the…
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.5.1–16Thebes: Cadmus, Amphion and Zethus, Oedipus and the early kingsPausanias gives the early history of Thebes: the Ectenians under Ogygus, then Hyantians and Aonians, then Cadmus, who founded the Cadmea, and the Sparti. He…
- Euripides, Phoenician Women 1–87Prologue: Jocasta tells the story of the house of OedipusJocasta tells how Laius ignored the oracle and begot Oedipus, who killed his father at the crossroads and married her after solving the Sphinx's riddle. She…
- Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 771–862Third episode (cont.): Oedipus tells of Corinth and the crossroadsOedipus tells of his upbringing in Corinth as the son of Polybus and Merope, of the taunt that he was not their son, and of the oracle at Delphi which said…
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