Why do Oedipus' parents abandon him?

Answer 1

A dreadful prophecy motivates Theban sovereigns, King Laius and Queen Jocasta, to abandon their three day old infant, Oedipus. Laius is warned that he will be killed by his own son. His wife becomes pregnant, and delivers an infant son. Laius tells Jocasta to kill little Oedipus.

The order to kill one's own son sounds brutal. But in ancient Greece, the killing of one's father and of one's sovereign are heinous crimes. A much lesser crime is the killing of a child who's destined to grow up to be a law breaker.

Jocasta doesn't want to lose her husband. But neither does she want to kill her son. She gives the baby to her most trusted servant, a shepherd. The shepherd is supposed to kill Oedipus by leaving him alone on the mountain, and therefore exposed to the weather and the wildlife.

But the shepherd can't bring himself to carry out the deed either. He ends up giving Oedipus to a fellow shepherd, whose home is in Corinth. Upon his return to Corinth, the second shepherd gives Oedipus to the city's childless sovereigns, Corinthian King Polybus and Corinthian Queen Merope.