Theban kings in Greek mythology predictions brought him closer to his fate - Oedipus killed King Laius and married Jocasta. Oedipus then became king of Thebes, as husband of the widowed Jocasta. The couple had four children, including two sons, Polyneices and Eteocles. When the seer Teiresias revealed Oedipus' horrible crimes - patricide, regicide and incest, no less - Oedipus was forced to abdicate. Jocasta killed herself, and Oedipus was shunned by his own children. Oedipus responded by cursing his sons Polyneices and Eteocles. "Polyneices" and "Eteocles" made a pact that each should rule alternately for one year at a time. But Eteocles reneged on
Oedipus and the Sphinx and evil, but also between the sexes, and that the opening poem of "Buch der Leider" by Heinrich Heine was the source for the idea of the painting. In that poem the Sphinx triumphs over Oedipus. In a Freudian interpretation, it has been argued that the Sphinx represents the castrating effect of Moreau's mother that he has seeking to escape. At the time the painting was created, Moreau's father had recently died. By contrast, Henri Dorra has suggested that the poses of the sphinx and Oedipus are derived from the Greek etymological meaning of the word sphinx, which is to