Everything about Epikaste totally explained
In
Greek mythology,
Jocasta, also known as
Jocaste (
Greek: Iοκαστη) or
Epikastê was a daughter of
Menoeceus and Queen consort of
Thebes, Greece. She was the wife of
Laius. Mother of
Oedipus by
Laius, and mother of
Antigone,
Eteocles,
Polynices and
Ismene by
Oedipus. She was also sister of
Creon.
The tale goes that one day her husband, King Laius of Thebes, consulted an
oracle when she was pregnant with Oedipus. The oracle told Laius that the child was destined to kill his father and marry his own mother. Laius left the child on a mountain to die after mounting his ankle to the cliff. He was found by a shepherd and sent to King
Polybus and Queen
Merope of
Corinth, via a messenger.
Oedipus grew up and in a battle at
Phocis had killed King Laius, not knowing he was his true father. Oedipus believed King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth were his father and mother. The widowed Queen Jocasta then marries Oedipus, not recognizing Oedipus as her own son. According to some versions, Jocasta had a necklace that she inherited that allowed her to retain her youth, so she was able to remain beautiful and marry her own son. When Jocasta discovered she'd married her own son and gave birth to their incestuous children Jocasta committed suicide by hanging herself. In response, Oedipus pierced his eyeballs with Jocasta's brooches (the Sophocles version). However, in the
Phoenician Women by
Euripides, Jocasta doesn't commit suicide until she witnesses the death of her sons
Eteocles and
Polynices (being both their mother and grandmother) who have slain each other in a battle for Thebes. In this version she dies by stabbing herself in the throat with a sword.
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