Oedipus - Oidipūs

A hero in Greek mythology. He was the great-great-grandson of Cadmus, who brought the alphabet and other cultural artifacts from Phoenicia to Greece. His father, Laius, the king of Thebes, had a son with his wife Jocasta, despite an oracle warning him that the child would be killed when it was born. Fearing that this would come true, he pierced the baby's heel with a pin and abandoned it deep in the mountains. However, the baby was picked up by Polybos, King of Corinth, and adopted. He was named Oedipus because his foot (poos) was swollen (oidine). One day, a quarrelling opponent insulted him, saying that he was not King Polybos's real son, and he went to the oracle at Delphi to find out the truth. He was told a strange oracle that he would kill his father and share his mother's bed. For this reason, Oedipus is afraid to return to Corinth, where his parents live, and heads to Thebes, but on the way there he gets into an argument with a chariot driver at a narrow pass over who will give way, and ends up killing them. In Thebes, a sphinx with the body of a lion and the face of a woman with wings would ask travelers a riddle - "What creature has one voice, and can be four, two, or three legs?" - and would kill and eat those who could not answer.

Oedipus answers that the answer is a human (when young they crawl on all fours, when older they walk on two feet, and when older they use a cane), and he kills the monster with a splendid death, thus obtaining the throne and queen of Thebes. However, it soon becomes clear that the person he killed in a passing encounter was his father, Laius, and that the woman he is marrying is his real mother, Jocasta. Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus gouges out his own eyes and sets off on a journey of wandering.

This is the general history of Oedipus, but there are many other theories. It is thought that the legend of Oedipus was formed by incorporating various motifs from folklore, such as the motif of a foundling, which is also seen in Cyrus, the first great king of Persia, and Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, the legend of Oedipus slaying vermin such as the fox of Teumessus, solving riddles as a condition for becoming a husband, and the incest that is common in origin myths and founding myths. At the same time, there is a striking overall similarity to the legend of King Ajatashatru of India.

Freud coined the term "Oedipus complex" after this legend to describe the tendency of young boys to view their fathers, who are of the same sex, as an enemy, and to subconsciously desire to win the love of their mothers, who are of the opposite sex. Plays about him include the ancient plays "Oedipus Rex" and "Oedipus at Colonus" by Sophocles, and "Phoenician Women" by Euripides. In addition, many later writers, including Seneca, Corneille, Lee, Dryden, and Voltaire, have adapted the story.

[Tetsuro Nakatsuka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ギリシア神話の英雄。フェニキアからギリシアに、アルファベット文字やその他の文物(ぶんぶつ)をもたらしたカドモスの玄孫(やしゃご)にあたる。テバイ（テーベ）の王である父ライオスは、生まれてくる子供に殺されるであろうという神託のいさめにもかかわらず、妻イオカステとの間に男児をもうけたが、その実現を恐れて赤子の踵(かかと)をピンで貫いたうえ山奥に捨てた。しかし、赤子はコリントス王ポリボスに拾われてその養子となり、足（プース）が腫(は)れている（オイデイン）ことから、オイディプスと名づけられた。あるときけんかの相手から、ポリボス王の実の子ではないとののしられ、真相を知るためにデルフォイの神託所へ赴く。そして、父を殺し母と臥所(ふしど)をともにするであろうという奇妙な神託を告げられた。このためオイディプスは、父母の住むコリントスへ帰ることを恐れてテバイへ向かうが、その途中の隘路(あいろ)で、向こうからくる馬車の一行と道を譲る譲らないの争いとなり、相手を打ち殺してしまう。テバイでは、獅子(しし)の体に翼を生やした女の顔のスフィンクスが、旅人に「一つの声をもち、四つ足、二つ足、三つ足となる生物は何か」という謎(なぞ)をかけては、答えられない者を食い殺していた。

　オイディプスはその答えは人間（幼時は四つ足で這(は)い、長じては両足で歩き、老いては杖(つえ)をひく）と解いて、みごとこの怪物を慙死(ざんし)せしめ、その功によってテバイの王座と王妃を手に入れた。しかし、やがて彼が行きずりに殺したのは父ライオスであり、妻としているのは実の母イオカステであることが明らかになり、イオカステは縊死(いし)し、オイディプスも自らの両眼をえぐり出して放浪の途につく。

　これが一般的なオイディプスの経歴であるが、異説も多い。ペルシア草創の英主キロスや、ローマ建国の祖ロムルスとレムスなどにもみられる捨て子のモチーフ、テウメッソスの狐(きつね)をはじめとするオイディプスの害獣退治の伝説、婿となる条件としての謎解き、始原神話、建国神話に付き物の近親相姦(そうかん)など、さまざまな民間伝承のモチーフが組み込まれてオイディプス伝説が形成されたと考えられるが、同時にまた、インドの阿闍世王(あじゃせおう)伝説との全体的な類似も著しい。

　フロイトは、幼い男児が同性である父親を敵視し、異性である母親の愛を勝ち得ようと意識下で願望する傾向を、この伝説にちなんで「オイディプス（エディプス）・コンプレックス」と名づけた。彼を扱った劇には、古代のソフォクレスの『オイディプス王』『コロノスのオイディプス』、エウリピデスの『フェニキアの女たち』などがある。このほか、セネカ、コルネイユ、リー、ドライデン、ボルテールをはじめとする後代の多くの作家による翻案が残されている。

［中務哲郎］

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