![name of the blind prophet in oedipus name of the blind prophet in oedipus](https://image1.slideserve.com/2469390/tiresias-the-blind-prophet-or-seer-sees-with-the-eyes-of-apollo-174-n.jpg)
To thwart the prophecy, Laius told his servants to pierce the baby's ankles, so that it would not be able to even crawl, let alone cause him some harm afterward, so as to be even safer, he gave his son to one of Thebes’ shepherds, telling him to leave the baby in the mountains to die.
![name of the blind prophet in oedipus name of the blind prophet in oedipus](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/G3AXEA/oedipus-realises-that-he-has-fulfilled-the-prophecy-that-he-will-murder-G3AXEA.jpg)
Jocasta got pregnant and, in due time, gave birth to a baby boy. Laius tried staying away from his wife’s bed as much as he could, but all his effort was undone by a night of revels and sweet-tasting wine. To his utter dismay, he was told that it would be better for him that they don’t: any son born out of their union was destined to kill him. Laius, the childless King of Thebes, decided to consult the Oracle at Delphi to learn if he and his wife would ever have any children. Oedipus, the Abandoned Prince Oedipus' Biological Parents: Laius and JocastaĪs it often happens in Greek mythology – and, who knows, maybe in life as well – the story of Oedipus starts sometime before his own birth. Upon realization, Jocasta hanged herself, and Oedipus gouged his eyes with two pins snatched from her regal dress. Jocasta bore her son four children – Polynices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene – before a belated investigation into the death of Laius led Oedipus into discovering the dreadful truth of his marriage. As a reward for rescuing the city from this vicious beast, Oedipus was afterward offered the vacant throne of Thebes and the hand in marriage of the ex-king’s widow, his very own mother. Wandering aimlessly, he subsequently reached the city of Thebes where he encountered the monstrous gate-guarding Sphinx after he answered her riddle, the Sphinx went mad and hurled herself to her death. After accidentally finding about the gruesome prophecy himself, in fear and disgust the young Oedipus fled Corinth and – guided by cruel destiny – wound up crossing paths with his real father at a narrow crossroad after a brief argument with Laius’ charioteer over who had the right to go first, Oedipus killed both of them. Left, while still a baby, to die in the mountains by his father – who had been warned that his son would kill him and marry his wife – Oedipus was eventually adopted by the childless King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth.
![name of the blind prophet in oedipus name of the blind prophet in oedipus](http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Greece/LX/ImagesGR/OedipusKing001.jpg)
The son of Laius and Jocasta, King and Queen of Thebes, Oedipus is the unfortunate main protagonist of “one of the best-known of all legends” in Ancient Greek – or any other – mythology.