View source for Laius

{{Short description|Greek mythological king of Thebes}}
{{other uses|Laius (beetle){{!}}''Laius'' (beetle)|Laius (Crete)}}
[[File:Joseph Blanc Le meurtre de Laïus.JPG|right|thumb|300px|''The Murder of Laius by [[Oedipus]]'', by [[Joseph Blanc]]]]
{{Lead too short|date=May 2026}}
In [[Greek mythology]], King '''Laius''' ({{IPAc-en|'|l|eɪ|ə|s|,_|'|l|aɪ|ə|s}} {{respell|L(A)Y|əs}}) or '''Laios''' ({{langx|grc|Λάϊος|Láïos}}) of [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]] was a key personage in the Theban [[founding myth]].

== Mythology ==
===Abduction of Chrysippus===
[[File:Baltimore Painter - RVAp 27-55 - abduction of Chrysippos - woman in naiskos - Fiesole MCA Costantini 153 - 07.jpg|thumb|280px|The abduction of Chrysippus by Laius on an Apulian red-figure hydria, {{circa}} 320-310 BC, Archaeological Museum of Fiesole.]]

After the death of his father [[Labdacus]], Laius was raised by the regent [[Lycus (brother of Nycteus)|Lycus]] but [[Amphion and Zethus]] usurped the throne of Thebes. Some Thebans, wishing to see the line of [[Cadmus]] continue, smuggled the young Laius out of the city before their attack, in which they killed Lycus and took the throne.<ref>Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', 9.5.6.</ref>  Laius was welcomed by [[Pelops]], king of [[Pisa (Greece)|Pisa]] in the [[Peloponnesus]].<ref>Apollodorus. ''Library'', 3.5.5.</ref> According to some sources, Laius abducted and raped the king's son, [[Chrysippus of Elis|Chrysippus]], and carried him off to Thebes while teaching him how to drive a chariot, or as [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] records it, during the [[Nemean Games]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.5.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Chrysippus 3.5.5]; [[Hyginus (Fabulae)|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#85 85]</ref> Because of this, Laius is considered by many to be the originator of [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|pederastic love]], and the first pederastic rapist.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rist|first=John M.|date=December 2001|title=Plutarch's Amatorius: A Commentary on Plato's Theories of Love?|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=51|issue=2|pages=557–575|doi=10.1093/cq/51.2.557|issn=1471-6844}}</ref>

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

=== Later misfortunes ===
After the rape of Chrysippus, Laius married [[Jocasta]], the daughter of [[Menoeceus]], a descendant of the [[Spartoi]]. Laius received an [[oracle]] from [[Delphi]] 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 fathered [[Oedipus]] with Jocasta. On Laius' orders, the baby, Oedipus, was exposed on [[Mount 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 King [[Polybus of Corinth|Polybus]] and Queen [[Merope (Oedipus)|Merope]] (or [[Periboea]]) of [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], who raised him to adulthood.<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7">Apollodorus. ''Library'', 3.5.7.</ref>

[[File:"The Divided Way," where Oepdipus murdered King Laius - DPLA - a948c92fca67a28310e8608224fe2ef3.jpg|right|thumb|"The Divided Way," where Oedipus 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.<ref name="Apollodorus. Library, 3.5.7"/>  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.<ref name="Tripp, p. 337">Tripp, p. 337.</ref> 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.{{cn|date=October 2022}} Laius was buried where he died by [[Damasistratus]], the king of [[Plataea]].<ref name="Tripp, p. 337"/> 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 by [[Ares]] when Cadmus killed his serpent, or else by [[Hephaestus]] who resented the fact that Cadmus married [[Harmonia (mythology)|Harmonia]], the daughter of Ares and [[Aphrodite]], Hephaestus' straying wife. Certainly, many of Cadmus' descendants had tragic ends.

== Family ==
Laius was the son of [[Labdacus]]. He was the father, by  [[Jocasta]], of [[Oedipus]], who killed him.

{{Family tree of the Theban royal house}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Amphion and Zethus]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Theban kings in Greek mythology|Mythical King of]] [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]]|years
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Oedipus]]
}}
{{s-end}}

==See also==
*[[Laius complex]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
*[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|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. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
*{{cite book | last=Kerenyi | first=Karl | author-link=Károly Kerényi | title=The Heroes of the Greeks | publisher=Thames and Hudson | location=New York/London | year=1959 }}
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|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}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*{{ cite book | last=Tripp | first=Edward | author-link=Edward Tripp | title=Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/crowellshandbook00trip | chapter-url-access=registration | publisher=Thomas Crowell Company | location=New York | year=1970 | chapter=Pelops at Olympia | pages=[https://archive.org/details/crowellshandbook00trip/page/93 93–103] | isbn=9780690226089 }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/literature/classical_myth,4.html |title=Classical Mythology |page=4 |date=2002 |publisher=[[glbtq.com]] |access-date=February 5, 2015 |last=Pequigney |first=Joseph |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141201215758/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/classical_myth,4.html |archive-date=December 1, 2014 }}

{{Theban Kings}}
{{Oedipus}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Theban kings]]
[[Category:Mythological rapists]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]