ABSTRACT
Oedipus is one of the few figures of Greek mythology whose name is still a household word. In Sophocles Oedipus Rex the oracle proclaims that the newborn son will kill his father, but in Euripides Phoenissae the oracle takes place before Oedipus birth. In order to forestall the outcome of the oracle, King Laios had Oedipus exposed. The myth indicates two locations of the exposure which are not as different as they might appear at first sight. The thesis has rightly been combated by Vernant who pointed out that his foster mother would have had to be the focus of Oedipus feelings, not Jocaste. It is nevertheless striking that we do find a kind of Oedipus complex in classical Greece. In the Oedipus Rex, Jocaste says to Oedipus: Many mortals have slept with their mother in their dreams. In a way, the Oedipus myth can be read as a warning to the younger generation.
