OEDENBURG, A royal free city of Hungary. See ODENBURG.
CEDrIPUS (Lat.. from Gk. olcli7rovc, Oidi pous, OidipodPs: according to the pop ular etymology from owezc oid,in, to swell + pouts, foot). The hero of one of the most famous Theban legends. The story was certainly told in the early epics, one of which bore the title Wilipodea, and it is hriellv indicated in the Odyssey. but for us it is known through the plays of the Athenian tragedians, especially Sophocles. The earlier versions, which seem to have varied in many and not unim portant details, are all lost, and though many hints can be obtained by careful analysis of later chroniclers and commentators, any complete re construction of the lust poems is in the highest degree conjectural. After passing through the Bands of the dramatists, it assumed the following form: Laius, son of Labdacus, King of Thebes, was warned by Apollo's oracle at Delphi that lie was to die at the hands of his son. In spite of this warning, Laius became by his wife .Jocasta the father of a boy. No sooner was the child born than Ise fastened its ankles with a pin (whence the name 'swell-foot') and gave it to a faithful herdsman to expose on Noma Citlne l'OD. Ignorant of the oracle, the man in pity gave the child to the shepherd of I'olybus, King of Corinth, and that ruler, who was childless, reared him as his own son. The young man, (Edipus, never doubted his Corinthian origin till the taunt of a drunken companion roused his sus picions, and, unable to obtain satisfaction from his supposed parents, he sought the oracle at Delphi, which did not answer his question, but warned him that he was doomed to slay his father and wed his mother. IIo•rified, (Edipus fled away from Corinth, and shortly after met Laius with his servants. They endeavored to force him from the road, and in the quarrel he slew them all, as he supposed. Pursuing his
journey, he found Thebes harassed by the Sphinx, who propounded a riddle to every passer by and devoured all who failed to solve it. Crean, the brother of Jocasta, who had become King on the death of Lillis, had offered the hand of his sister and the kingdom to him who, by solving the riddle, should free the city from the monster. (Edipus answered the riddle and thus slew the Sphinx. He then married Jocasta, his mother, and became King of Thebes. Al first he prospered greatly, and four children were born to him, two sons. Eteocles and Polynices (q.v.). and two daughters, Antigone (q.v.) and bsinene. At length a terrible pestilence visited Thebes, and the oracle declared that the murderer of Laius must be exeplled from the country. (Edipus be gan the search, and by degrees the truth became known. Jocasta hanged herself and (Ethpus put out his eyes. The later fate of the King was told in varied form. His sons by their deeds brought upon themselves his curse, and ulti mately fell by each other's hand. (Edipus him self was driven from Thebes, and, attended by his faithful daughter, Antigone, wandered over the earth, till he reached the grove of the Eumenides (q.v.), at Colonus, near Athens. Chastened by his sufferings, he was received by these dread goddesses, and conducted, some said, without death to the other world.
For the legend in its varied forms, consult the Introductions in Jehb's editions of the (Edipus Tyrannus and (Edipus Poloneus of Sophoeles (Cambridge, 1S93-99) ; also LT. von Wilamowitz Griechische Tragoilien, vol. i. (Ber lin, Fo• the epic forms, see Bethe. Thebanisehe Heldcnlieder (Leipzig. 18911. The other extant Greek plays which touch upon the general subject are zEschylus, Seven Against Thebes: Sophoeles, Antigone: Euripides,