Laius

Laius was a king of Thebes, and he plays a key part in the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.



=Early On=

His father King Labdacus and his people the Thebans happened to wage war against the Athenians over territory. Because their foes received unexpected military support from another king, his forces lost the war. He dies in the end, but only because he was ripped apart by women who were servants of Dionysius for having disrespected him.

Laius was the heir to Labdacus, but he was only a mere child at that time. An usurper named Lycus successfully usurped the throne and ruled Thebes for two decades. Lycus, in turn, was overthrown by Amphion and Zethus, twin sons of Zeus, and after having successfully taken over the city of Thebes for real, they fortified it with walls and banished Laius.

In exile, he was hosted by King Pelops. During the period of the Nemean games, Laius fell in love with Chrysippus, a bastard son of Pelops. So, while teaching Chrysippus to ride the chariot, Laius spirited him away and raped him. Laius was captured by Pelops's legitimate sons, but he was spared, for King Pelops refused to punish love.

=Ruin of the House of Amphion=

Amphion's wife Niobe, who had many children, provoked the wrath of the god Leto and her only two children Apollo and Artemis. As a result, her children were shot with Artemis's arrows. Amphion, out of grief, commited suicide.

Zethus's son was accidentally killed by his wife Thebe, and he dies out of sadness.

When Laius returns to Thebes, he was restored by the Thebans as king. Upon his return, he marries Jocasta, daughter of Menoeceus. He receives a message from an oracle from Delphi stating him to not have a child with his wife, for that child will kill him and marry her. One night, however, he was inebriated with wine and fathers a boy named Oedipus.

Laius, out of fear, has his son's feet bound with a spike and also has him exposed on Mount Cithaeron to die.

=Doom at the Hands of the Prophecy= The child was somehow rescued from its plight, and King Polybus and Queen Merope/Periboea of Corinth adopted him and raised him to adulthood. As Oedipus came to manhood in the court of King Polybus's, they doubted his true parentage, as King Polybus was a mild-mannered man while Oedipus was courageous and hot-blooded. Wanting to know more, he went to Delphi to inquire the oracle about his true parents. He was warned not to return to his native land since he would kill his father and lie with his mother. He didn't heed the warning, however, still believing himself to be the son of Polybus and Merope, so instead of going back to Corinth, he went to Thebes instead. While riding on his chariot on a road called the "Cleft Road", he met Laius, who was going to Delphi to consult the oracle out of fear that his son would kill him. The king's herald ordered Oedipus to make way for the king, but he didn't. In the end, an enraged Oedipus kills the herald and King Laius out of anger.

=Sources:= http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Laius1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laius http://www.pantheon.org/articles/l/laius.html http://www.in2greece.com/english/historymyth/mythology/names/laius.htm

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