The Tragedy of Oedipus (1)
In the mortal world, Thebes stood alone as the sole city-state with a temple dedicated to Hades. Yet even in this seemingly peaceful land, a heavy shadow of doom had fallen. It began with a prophecy delivered to King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes.
Your son will kill his father and sleep with his mother.
King Laius turned pale with terror. The idea that his own child would murder him and then take his wife to bed was too monstrous to bear. He summoned a shepherd in secret.
"Take this newborn and carry him to a place where no one will ever find him. Kill him quietly."
"Your Majesty...? But this is your own son..."
"Son or not, I cannot allow a child who will kill me and lie with my wife to live."
The shepherd accepted the infant and left Thebes. He traveled far to a secluded place, but guilt gnawed at him. Killing a helpless newborn felt like an unforgivable sin. As he wavered, a passing couple noticed his distress.
"Excuse me, good man. What do you plan to do with that child?"
"Ah... well..."
"If you cannot raise him, give the boy to us. His feet are swollen, so we shall name him Oedipus—swollen foot."
The couple were the king and queen of Corinth, who had long yearned for a child. And so Oedipus became the son of King Polybus.
When he grew into a man, Oedipus attended a royal feast where Polybus's brother, deep in his cups, let slip a drunken revelation.
"Hic... You are not my brother's true son, Oedipus."
"What are you saying, Uncle...?"
"You were the baby my brother and his wife took from a shepherd... hic!"
The words struck like a thunderbolt. Oedipus traveled at once to Delphi, seeking Apollo's oracle. If anyone could reveal the truth of his birth, it would be the god of prophecy.
You will kill your father and sleep with your mother.
The prophecy offered no clarity about his true parents. It spoke only of tragedy. Certain that the warning referred to his adoptive parents, Oedipus slipped away from Corinth under cover of darkness. If he left the kingdom of the man and woman who had raised him, perhaps fate could be cheated.
Yet on a narrow mountain path, he crossed paths with a chariot and its entourage. The driver, seeing a man in humble clothes, arrogantly demanded he step aside.
"How do you expect anyone to make way on such a narrow path!"
"Ha! Do you have any idea who rides within this chariot?"
"Some noble, no doubt. But relying solely on status to throw your weight around is hardly admirable."
"You insolent dog! The passenger is a king of a great nation!"
Oedipus scoffed. What sort of mad king would abandon his palace to wander beyond the city walls? In the age of myths, the wild lands outside any city's protection were lawless frontiers teeming with centaurs, nymphs, monsters, bandits, and thieves.
"If the man inside is a king, then I am the prince of Corinth!"
"What?!"
At that moment, an arm lashed out from within the chariot, cracking a long whip across Oedipus's head. He crumpled to the ground.
"Ugh!"
"A mere commoner dares speak so arrogantly. Yield or die."
"Fine. Let's see you try!"
Fury blazing, Oedipus drew his sword and cut down the guards, the chariot's owner, and everyone else. Only the driver escaped with his life, fleeing in terror.
The man inside the chariot had been King Laius of Thebes, racing to Delphi for an oracle that might save his kingdom from the Sphinx. Without knowing it, Oedipus had fulfilled the prophecy and slain his own father.
Continuing his wanderings, Oedipus reached Thebes and heard the locals speaking in fearful tones.
"They say the Sphinx still blocks the roads and rampages at will."
"The beast that devours anyone who fails to solve its four riddles?"
"Queen Jocasta, now a widow, has sworn to marry whoever rids us of the monster."
"If I solve the Sphinx's riddles, could I become king of Thebes?"
"Dozens have already been sent to Pluto's embrace..."
Oedipus asked for directions and set out for the place where the creature was said to appear. Sure enough, a colossal monster with a lion's body and a human head awaited him.
"Oh? A challenger? Fail to solve my four riddles and I will devour you."
"Stop talking and give me your riddles, monster."
"Two sisters, each giving birth to the other. What are they?"
"Day and night."
"It grows large in the morning, shrinks at noon, grows again in the afternoon, and vanishes at night. What is it?"
"A shadow."
"What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?"
"A human."
Oedipus answered the first three riddles in the blink of an eye. The Sphinx—a grotesque fusion of lion and man—growled and bared its fangs. But the final riddle, it was certain, could not be solved.
"Of all the gods, which one do all mortals fear most while simultaneously longing for his blessing?"
Oedipus fell silent for a moment. Many deities inspired both fear and yearning. Zeus's lightning was terrifying, yet every mortal craved the blessings of the sky. Hera guarded marriage and family but flew into rage at infidelity. Artemis ruled the hunt yet also wielded the power of plague...
Countless gods possessed contradictory natures. But this monster had appeared near Thebes, where the most prominent deities were Dionysus, god of wine and madness, and...
"The god of the underworld and mercy—Pluto."
"GRRRRR!!!"
The final answer was the lord of the dead, feared by all mortals, yet a merciful god who showed gentleness to the living. One needed only to look at the mint that grew everywhere throughout Thebes, the very symbol of Pluto, to know the truth.
"Grrr! To be defeated by a mere mortal like this!"
Unable to endure the shame, the Sphinx hurled itself from a cliff and died.
In this way, Oedipus married Queen Jocasta—his own mother—and became King of Thebes. The prophecy had been fulfilled completely.
As king, Oedipus governed with wisdom and brought prosperity to Thebes. Thanks to the royal treasure passed down through the house of Thebes—the Necklace of Harmonia—Jocasta retained her youthful beauty, and the couple had children together.
Then, without warning, a plague descended upon the city.
"King Oedipus! Dozens more have died from the plague today!"
"Collect the dead and cremate them together with mint leaves. Separate the sick from the healthy..."
"The plague grows more virulent by the day. Would it not be wise to consult the oracle at Delphi?"
Oedipus sighed heavily. The wise king had taken every measure he could devise, yet the epidemic only worsened. In the end, he sent Creon, Jocasta's brother, to receive the god's word.
The priest at Delphi declared that the plague would never end until the abominable sinner who had murdered his father and taken his own mother as wife was punished.
King Oedipus flew into a towering rage. "Such a wretch exists?! When we find him, I will gouge out his eyes!"
To hunt down the criminal, he summoned the blind prophet Teiresias. Long ago, Teiresias had killed a pair of mating snakes and been cursed to live as a woman. After seven years as a female, he killed another pair and regained his male form. Having twice received the gender-changing curse, he was once called before Zeus and Hera during one of their quarrels.
"Teiresias, you have lived as both man and woman. You alone can settle our dispute."
"What would you ask of me, great gods?"
"Between men and women, who experiences greater pleasure during lovemaking?"
After a moment's thought, Teiresias answered, "If a man's orgasm is one, a woman's is nine."
"Kahaha! You see, Hera? I was right!"
"You...!"
In her fury, Hera blinded Teiresias, but Zeus, taking pity, granted him the power of prophecy and a long life.
When the blind prophet stood alone with Oedipus, he understood everything at a glance. After a long, heavy sigh, he spoke with visible pain.
"The sinner... is none other than Your Majesty—the son of the late King Laius, who married his own mother."
"Wh-what did you say?!"
Had Oedipus been a lesser man, he would have flown into a rage and driven the prophet away. But this was the king who had defeated the Sphinx in a battle of wits. He realized at once that Teiresias would never have spoken such words—knowing full well that Oedipus might kill him for them—unless they were true.
His face twisted in growing horror as the realization sank in. These were words spoken before the King of Thebes by a man who had accepted death as the price. How could they possibly be false?
"U... UAAAAAAGH!!!"
A crash echoed through the palace.
"Your Majesty?! Weren't you meeting with the prophet...?"
"His Majesty has...!"
In his mind, the Delphic oracle's words burned like fire once more.
You will kill your father and sleep with your mother.
Madness, self-loathing, rage, and bitter resentment swallowed Oedipus whole. The wife he had loved was his mother. He himself was the monster who had slain his own father. Because of his sins, a plague now ravaged Thebes, killing countless innocent citizens.
"UAAAAAAGH!! Damn it! DAMN IT ALL!!"
He rode until he reached a desolate mountain where no sign of human life remained, then beat his fists against the ground. After raging until his breath came in ragged gasps, he raised both hands toward his own eyes, determined to keep the vow he had made to blind the sinner.
The sudden voice of an old woman stopped Oedipus cold as he prepared to gouge out his own eyes.