Editing Jocasta

{{short description|Greek mythological Queen of Thebes}}
{{this|the mother and wife of Oedipus|other uses}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Jocasta
| god_of = Queen of Thebes
| image = Cabanel Oedipus Separating from Jocasta.jpg
| caption = Oedipus separating from Jocasta. Painting by [[Alexandre Cabanel]]
| abode = [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]]
| spouse = [[Laius]], [[Oedipus]]
| children = Oedipus, [[Antigone]], [[Eteocles]], [[Polynices]], and [[Ismene]]
| father = [[Menoeceus]]
| siblings = [[Creon (king of Thebes)|Creon]] and [[Hipponome]]
}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Jocasta''' ({{IPAc-en|dʒ|oʊ|ˈ|k|æ|s|t|ə|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Jocasta.wav}}), also rendered as '''Iocaste'''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DI%3Aentry+group%3D7%3Aentry%3Diocaste-bio-1 |title=Iocaste |work=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology |editor-first=William |editor-last=Smith |via=perseus.tufst.edu |access-date=2022-02-25}}</ref> ({{langx|grc|Ἰοκάστη}} {{lang|grc-Latn|Iokástē}} {{IPA|el|i.okástɛː|}}) and '''Epicaste'''<ref name=":0">[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'', Vol. XI, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:book=11:card=271&highlight=epicaste 11.271]</ref> ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɛ|p|ɪ|ˈ|k|æ|s|t|iː}}; {{lang|grc|Ἐπικάστη}} {{lang|grc-Latn|Epikástē}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Homer |title=Odyssey |volume=XI |pages=271–290}}</ref>), was Queen of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] through her marriages to [[Laius]] and her son, [[Oedipus]]. She is best known for her role in the myths surrounding Oedipus and her eventual [[suicide]] upon the discovery of his identity.

== Family ==
Jocasta was the daughter of an unknown woman and [[Menoeceus]],<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7" /> a descendant of [[Cadmus]], the legendary founder of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], and the [[Spartoi]] [[Echion]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Jocasta in Greek Mythology |url=https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/jocasta.html |access-date=2021-10-30 |website=Greek Legends and Myths}}</ref> She had two siblings: [[Creon (king of Thebes)|Creon]] and [[Hipponome]].<ref>Apollodorus, ''The Library'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D5 2.4.5]</ref> She was a member of the ruling class of Thebes, but her exact role before her marriage to [[Laius]], the king of Thebes, is unknown.

With Laius, she became Queen of Thebes and gave birth to a son, [[Oedipus]]. Later, not knowing of Oedipus's identity, she married him and gave birth to [[Antigone]], [[Eteocles]], [[Polynices]] and [[Ismene]]. She was therefore both the mother and the grandmother of her children.

==Mythology==
After [[Laius]] married Jocasta, he received an [[oracle]] from the [[Pythia]] at [[Delphi]] which told him that the gods did not wish him to have a child. If he disobeyed, the oracle prophesized that the child would one day kill him and marry Jocasta, and their descendants would be forever cursed with misfortune.<ref name=":2">Pindar, Olympian, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0162:book=O.:poem=2&highlight=laius 2]</ref><ref>Euripides, ''Phoenissae'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0118:card=1&highlight=jocasta 1]</ref> However, one night, Laius became drunk and impregnated Jocasta. She gave birth to a son, but Laius still feared the prophecy and demanded that the child be killed.<ref name=":3">Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/206#66 66]</ref>

Laius took the child, pierced its ankles with iron spikes and bound them together before instructing his shepherd Menoetes to [[Child exposure|expose]] the infant on [[Cithaeron|Mount Cithaeron]] to succumb to the elements. However, the young child was found, either by [[Polybus of Corinth|Polybus]], king of [[Corinth]],<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7" /> or his wife, Periboea.<ref name=":3" /> The [[Dorians|Dorian]] [[Merope (wife of Polybus)|Merope]] has also been named as Polybus's wife who raised the child.<ref name=":4">[[Sophocles]], ''[[Oedipus Tyrannus]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0192:card=771&highlight=merope 771]</ref> The couple had no children, so they raised the child as their own and named him [[Oedipus]] (Οἰδίπους) after his swollen feet.<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7">Apollodorus. ''The Library'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%203.5.7&lang=original 3.5.7].</ref>

Oedipus was raised in Corinth under the assumption that he was the biological son of Polybus and his wife. After many years, Oedipus was either taunted by a drunk and told that he was a "bastard,"<ref name=":4" /> or he was maliciously told by other young, jealous men that he could not possibly be Polybus's son.<ref name=":3" /> When Oedipus confronted his parents with these rumors, he did not receive an assuring response, and so journeyed to the oracle at Delphi for assistance. The Pythia informed Oedipus that he was fated to kill his father and to marry his mother. Fearing for the safety of the only parents known to him, Oedipus fled from Corinth towards Thebes before he could commit these sins.<ref name=":4" /> 

During his travels, Oedipus encountered Laius riding in a [[chariot]] along a narrow pass at [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocis]]. When Laius's herald Polyphontes demanded Oedipus move out of the way, the young man refused. Laius then either commanded that the chariot proceed, and the wheel crushed Oedipus's foot;<ref name=":5">Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/206#67 67]</ref> or, Oedipus began to move but did not do so fast enough, and a servant of Laius killed one of his horses.<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7" /> Enraged, Oedipus killed Laius, and unknowingly fulfilled the first half of the prophecy.<ref name=":2" />

Oedipus continued his journey to Thebes and discovered that the city was being terrorized by the [[sphinx]]. [[Creon (king of Thebes)|Creon]], Jocasta's brother and the acting [[regent]], put out a notice that whoever solved the sphinx's riddle would be rewarded with the throne and Jocasta's hand in marriage.<ref>Euripides, ''Phoenissae'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0118%3Acard%3D32 32]</ref> Oedipus solved the sphinx's riddle, accepted the throne, and unknowingly married his mother Jocasta, thereby fulfilling the second half of the prophecy. With Oedipus, Jocasta bore four children: [[Antigone]], [[Ismene]], [[Eteocles]], and [[Polynices]].<ref name=":1">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=66}}</ref>

Differing stories exist concerning the latter part of Jocasta's life. In a retelling by [[Sophocles]], Oedipus learned, when his city was struck by a plague, that it was divine punishment for his patricide and incest. Hearing this news, Jocasta hanged herself.<ref>Sophocles. ''Oedipus Rex'', 1191–1312.</ref><ref>Homer. ''Odyssey'', Book XI.</ref> However, in the version told by [[Euripides]], Jocasta endured the burden of disgrace upon the discovery and continued to live in Thebes, only committing suicide (by hanging or stabbing) after she failed to reconcile Eteocles and Polynices and they killed each other in a fight for their father's crown.<ref name="Statius">Statius. ''Thebaid'', Book XI.</ref> In both traditions, Oedipus blinds himself by gouging out his eyes, sometimes with Jocasta's [[Brooch|brooches]].<ref name=":5" /> Sophocles has Oedipus go into exile with his daughter Antigone, but [[Euripides]] and [[Statius]] have him residing within Thebes' walls during the war between Eteocles and Polynices.<ref name="Statius" />

After her death, Jocasta was seen by Odysseus during his journey through [[Hades]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Middle Age tradition ===
Jocasta is remembered in ''[[De Mulieribus Claris]]'', a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the [[Florence|Florentine]] author [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], composed in 1361{{endash}}62. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in [[Western literature]].<ref name="Brown_xi">{{cite book |last=Boccaccio |first=Giovanni |author-link=Giovanni Boccaccio |year=2003 |translator=Virginia Brown |title=Famous Women |publisher= Harvard University Press |location= Cambridge, Massachusetts |series=I Tatti Renaissance Library |volume=1 |isbn=0-674-01130-9 |page=xi}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' by [[Sophocles]], an ancient Greek retelling of this legend as a play
*[[Oedipus]], describing the life and cultural impact of the child in this legend
* [[Jocasta complex]], describing the usually latent sexual desire that a mother has for a son. Or, alternatively, the domineering and intense but non-incestuous love that a mother has for an intelligent son; an often absent or weak father figure may be an element of this complex.
* [[Oedipus complex]], a Freudian theory referring to a child's unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent and hatred for the same-sex parent
* [[Family romance]], a Freudian theory whereby the young child or adolescent fantasizes that they are really the children of parents of higher social standing than their actual parents

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book |author=[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] |title=The Library |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 |translator=Sir James George Frazer |publisher=Harvard University Press / William Heinemann Ltd |location=Cambridge, MA / London |year=1921 |isbn=0-674-99135-4 |via=Perseus Digital Library |access-date= }} [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text] at same website
* {{cite book |author=[[Homer]] |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136 |title=Odyssey |translator=A. T. Murray |location=Cambridge, MA / London |publisher=Harvard University Press / William Heinemann Ltd |year=1921 |isbn=978-0674995611 |via=Perseus Digital Library |access-date= }} [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0135 Greek text] at same website
* {{cite book |author=[[Statius|Publius Papinius Statius]] |title=The Thebaid |translator=John Henry Mozley |location=Cambridge, MA / London |publisher=Harvard University Press / William Heinemann Ltd |year=1928 |url=https://topostext.org/work/149 |via=Topos Text Project |access-date= }} [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0498 Latin text] at the Perseus Digital Library
* {{cite book |author=Statius |title=Thebais |volume=XI |pages=634–644}}
* {{cite book |author=Seneca |title=Oedipus |pages=1024–1041}}
* [[Sophocles]], ''The Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles e''dited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1893. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0192 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Sophocles, ''Sophocles. Vol 1: Oedipus the king. Oedipus at Colonus. Antigone''. With an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 20. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1912. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0191 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

{{Oedipus}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek queens consort]]
[[Category:Mythological Thebans]]
[[Category:Suicides in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological people involved in incest]]