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Laius

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Greek mythological king of Thebes

For other uses, seeLaius (beetle) andLaius (Crete).

*The Murder of Laius byOedipus*, byJoseph Blanc

InGreek mythology, KingLaius (/ˈleɪəs,ˈlaɪəs/L(A)Y-əs) orLaios (Ancient Greek:Λάϊος,romanized: Láïos) ofThebes was a key personage in the Thebanfounding myth.

Family

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Laius was the son ofLabdacus. He was the father, byJocasta, ofOedipus, who killed him.

Royal house of Thebes family tree

Solid lines indicate descendants.
Dashed lines indicate marriages.
Dotted lines indicate extra-marital relationships or adoptions.
Kings of Thebes are numbered withbold names and a light purple background.
- Joint rules are indicated by a number and lowercase letter, for example, 5a. Amphion shared the throne with 5b. Zethus.
Regents of Thebes are alphanumbered (format AN) withbold names and a light red background.
- The number N refers to the regency preceding the reign of the N^th king. Generally this means the regent served the N^th king but not always, asCreon (A9) was serving as regent toLaodamas (the 10th King) when he was slain byLycus II (the usurping 9th king).
- The letter A refers to the regency sequence. "A" is the first regent, "B" is the second, etc.
Deities have a yellow background color.

Harmonia

1.
Cadmus

Polyxo

A4.
Nycteus (Regent)

Dirce

B4 & A6.
Lycus (Regent)

3.
Polydorus

Nycteis

2.
Pentheus

4.
Labdacus

5a.
Amphion

5b.
Zethus

Menoeceus

Eurydice

A7, A8 & A9.
Creon (Regent)

6.
Laius

Hipponome

7.
Oedipus

8b.
Eteocles

8a.
Polynices

Pyrrha

Lycomedes

Ismene

9.
Lycus II

A12.
Peneleos (Regent)

10.
Laodamas

Demonassa

11.
Thersander

Opheltes

12.
Tisamenus

14.
Damasichthon

13.
Autesion

15.
Ptolemy

16.
Xanthos

Mythology

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Abduction of Chrysippus

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After the death of his father Labdacus, Laius was raised by the regent Lycus butAmphion and Zethus usurped the throne of Thebes. Some Thebans, wishing to see the line ofCadmus continue, smuggled the young Laius out of the city before their attack, in which they killed Lycus and took the throne.^[1] Laius was welcomed byPelops, king ofPisa in thePeloponnesus.^[2] According to some sources, Laius abducted and raped the king's son,Chrysippus, and carried him off to Thebes while teaching him how to drive a chariot, or asHyginus records it, during theNemean Games.^[3] Because of this, Laius is considered by many to be the originator ofpederastic love, and the first pederastic rapist.^[4]

This abduction is thought to be the subject of one of the lost tragedies ofEuripides. With both Amphion and Zethus having died in his absence, Laius became king of Thebes upon his return.

Later misfortunes

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After the rape of Chrysippus, Laius marriedJocasta, the daughter ofMenoeceus, a descendant of theSpartoi. Laius received anoracle fromDelphi 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 fatheredOedipus with Jocasta. On Laius' orders, the baby, Oedipus, was exposed onMount 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 KingPolybus and QueenMerope (orPeriboea) ofCorinth, who raised him to adulthood.^[5]

"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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^{[citation needed]} Laius was buried where he died byDamasistratus, the king ofPlataea.^[6] 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 byAres when Cadmus killed his serpent, or else byHephaestus who resented the fact that Cadmus marriedHarmonia, the daughter of Ares andAphrodite, Hephaestus' straying wife. Certainly, many of Cadmus' descendants had tragic ends.

Regnal titles
Preceded by Amphion and Zethus	Mythical King of Thebes	Succeeded by Oedipus

Notes

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^Pausanias.Description of Greece, 9.5.6.
^Apollodorus.Library, 3.5.5.
^Apollodorus,3.5.5;Hyginus,Fabulae85
^Rist, John M. (December 2001). "Plutarch's Amatorius: A Commentary on Plato's Theories of Love?".The Classical Quarterly.51 (2):557–575.doi:10.1093/cq/51.2.557.ISSN 1471-6844.
^^a ^bApollodorus.Library, 3.5.7.
^^a ^bTripp, p. 337.

References

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Apollodorus,The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
Kerenyi, Karl (1959).The Heroes of the Greeks. New York/London: Thames and Hudson.
Pausanias,Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.ISBN 0-674-99328-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pausanias,Graeciae Descriptio.3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Tripp, Edward (1970)."Pelops at Olympia".Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology. New York: Thomas Crowell Company. pp. 93–103.ISBN 9780690226089.
Pequigney, Joseph (2002)."Classical Mythology".glbtq.com. p. 4. Archived fromthe original on December 1, 2014. RetrievedFebruary 5, 2015.

v t e Kings of Thebes
Kings	Calydnus Ogyges Cadmus Pentheus Polydorus Nycteus (regent for Labdacus) andLycus I (regent for Labdacus) Labdacus Lycus I (regent for Laius) Laius Amphion and Zethus Laius (second rule) Creon Oedipus Creon (second rule) (regent for Eteocles and Polynices) Polynices andEteocles Creon (third rule) (regent for Laodamas) Lycus II (usurper) Laodamas Thersander Peneleos (regent for Tisamenus) Tisamenus Autesion Damasichthon Ptolemy Xanthos
In literature	Antigone (Sophocles) Antigone (Euripides play) The Bacchae Herakles Iliad Oedipus Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus Rex The Phoenician Women Seven Against Thebes La Thébaïde
Related articles	Thebes Necklace of Harmonia
Category:Theban kings Portal:Ancient Greece

Oedipus

Titles and lineage

Theban kings in Greek mythology
Laius (biological father)
Polybus of Corinth (adoptive father)
Merope (adoptive mother)
Jocasta/Epicaste (biological mother/wife)
Creon (Jocasta's brother/Laius' successor)
Antigone (half sister/daughter)
Eteocles (half brother/son)
Polynices (half brother/son)
Ismene (half sister/daughter)
Euryganeia (2nd wife)
Astymedusa (later wife)

Theban plays

Antiquity	Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes Sophocles: Antigone Oedipus Rex Oedipus at Colonus Euripides: Antigone Oedipus The Phoenician Women Seneca: Oedipus
Other (Oedipus)	Oedipus (Dryden & Lee) Oedipus (Voltaire) The Infernal Machine Greek The Gospel at Colonus
Other (Antigone)	Antigone (Cocteau) Antigone (Anouilh) The Burial at Thebes