Editing Laius (section)

=== Later misfortunes ===

After the rape of [[Chrysippus of Elis|Chrysippus]], Laius married [[Jocasta]], the daughter of [[Menoeceus]], a descendant of the [[Spartoi]]. Laius received an [[oracle]] from [[Delphi]] which told him that he must not have a child, or the child would kill him and marry his wife; in another version, recorded by Aeschylus, Laius is warned that he can save the city only if he dies childless. One night, however, Laius was drunk and fathered [[Oedipus]] with Jocasta. On Laius' orders, the baby, Oedipus, was exposed on [[Mount Cithaeron]] with his feet bound (or perhaps staked to the ground), but he was taken by a shepherd, who did not have the resources to look after him, so he was given to King [[Polybus of Corinth|Polybus]] and Queen [[Merope (Oedipus)|Merope]] (or [[Periboea]]) of [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], who raised him to adulthood.<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7">Apollodorus. ''Library'', 3.5.7.</ref>

[[File:"The Divided Way," where Oepdipus murdered King Laius - DPLA - a948c92fca67a28310e8608224fe2ef3.jpg|right|thumb|"The Divided Way," where Oepdipus murdered King Laius, ca. 1889. Nicholas Catsimpoolas Collection, Boston Public Library]]

When Oedipus desired to know more about his parentage, he consulted the Delphic Oracle, only to be told that he must not go to his home or he would kill his father and marry his mother. Thinking that he was from Corinth, he set out toward Thebes to avoid this fate.<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7"/>  At the road called 'Cleft Way,' he met Laius, who was going to Delphi to consult the oracle because he had received omens indicating that his son might return to kill him.<ref name="Tripp, p. 337">Tripp, p. 337.</ref> Oedipus refused to defer to the king, although Laius' attendants ordered him to. Being angered, Laius either rolled a chariot wheel over his foot or hit him with his whip, and Oedipus killed Laius and all but one of his attendants, who claimed it was a gang of men.{{cn|date=October 2022}} Laius was buried where he died by [[Damasistratus]], the king of [[Plataea]].<ref name="Tripp, p. 337"/> Later, Thebes was cursed with a disease because Laius' murderer had not been punished.

Many of Laius' descendants met with ill fortune, but whether this was because he violated the laws of hospitality and marriage by carrying off his host's son and raping him, or because he ignored the Oracle's warning not to have children, or some combination of these, is not clear. Another theory is that the entire line of Cadmus was cursed, either by [[Ares]] when Cadmus killed his serpent, or else by [[Hephaestus]] who resented the fact that Cadmus married [[Harmonia (mythology)|Harmonia]], the daughter of Ares and [[Aphrodite]], Hephaestus' straying wife. Certainly, many of Cadmus' descendants had tragic ends.

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| before = [[Amphion and Zethus]]
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| title = [[Theban kings in Greek mythology|Mythical King of]] [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]]|years
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| after = [[Oedipus]]
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