In Sophocles' tale of Oedipus Rex,
Oedipus is abandoned as a baby because his parents, Jocasta and Laius, have been told by
an oracle (fortuneteller) that their son will kill is father and marry his mother. To
avoid this fate, the parents order a shepherd they employ to leave the baby exposed on
the side of a mountain, where he will die.
The shepherd
takes pity on the baby and delivers him to another shepherd, and eventually Oedipus ends
up in the court of Polybus, the King of Corinth. The King has no children, and so he and
his wife adopt Oedipus as their own. He has no knowledge that Polybus is not his real
father.
After Oedipus has unknowingly killed his father, he
solves the riddle of the Sphinx (a terrible creature that prevents people from passing
in and out of Thebes) and becomes a hero. Since their king is dead (Laius), the people
offer the throne to Oedipus, and Jocasta, to be his wife. (In this way the oracle's
prediction comes true.)
When Polybus dies, a Corinthian
messenger arrives in Thebes who delivers the news of Oedipus' adopted father's death,
asks if Oedipus with rule the throne of Corinth, and explains that Polybus was his
adopted father, not his natural father.
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