Jocasta

In Greek mythology, Jocasta, also Iocaste (Iοκάστη) or Epikastê, was a daughter of Menocenes. She was the wife of Laius and by him, mother (and later wife) of Oedipus and mother (by Oedipus) of Antigone, Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene.

Her husband, King Laius of Thebes, consulted an oracle when she was pregnant with her first child, Oedipus. The oracle told Laius that the child was destined to kill his father and marry his own mother. Laius had the baby left out in the woods to die. He was found by a shepherd and given to King Polybus and Queen Merope (or Periboea) of Corinth.

Later, Oedipus killed Laius, not knowing who he was, and married Jocasta, not knowing who she was. When this was discovered, Oedipus tore out his own eyes with Jocasta's brooch, and then Jocasta committed suicide by hanging. However, in the Phoenician Women by Euripides, Jocasta doesn't commit suicide until she witnesses the death of her sons Eteocles and Polynices who have slain each other in a battle for Thebes. In this version she dies by stabbing herself in the throat with a sword.

See also: Oedipus the King by Sophocles.

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