<P> In the most well - known version of the myth , Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta . Laius wished to thwart a prophecy , so he left Oedipus to die on a mountainside . However , the baby was found by shepherds and raised by King Polybus and Queen Merope as their own . Oedipus learned from the oracle at Delphi of the prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother but , unaware of his true parentage , believed he was fated to murder Polybus and marry Merope , so left for Thebes . On his way he met an older man and quarrelled , and Oedipus killed the stranger . Continuing on to Thebes , he found that the king of the city ( Laius ) had been recently killed , and that the city was at the mercy of the Sphinx . Oedipus answered the monster 's riddle correctly , defeating it and winning the throne of the dead king -- and the hand in marriage of the king 's widow , and ( unbeknownst to him ) his mother Jocasta . </P>
<P> In the most well - known version of the myth , Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta . Laius wished to thwart a prophecy , so he left Oedipus to die on a mountainside . However , the baby was found by shepherds and raised by King Polybus and Queen Merope as their own . Oedipus learned from the oracle at Delphi of the prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother but , unaware of his true parentage , believed he was fated to murder Polybus and marry Merope , so left for Thebes . On his way he met an older man and quarrelled , and Oedipus killed the stranger . Continuing on to Thebes , he found that the king of the city ( Laius ) had been recently killed , and that the city was at the mercy of the Sphinx . Oedipus answered the monster 's riddle correctly , defeating it and winning the throne of the dead king -- and the hand in marriage of the king 's widow , and ( unbeknownst to him ) his mother Jocasta . </P>
what did laius do to his infant son
what did laius do to his infant son
he left Oedipus to die on a mountainside
he left Oedipus to die on a mountainside