Miraculous births semidivine status in Sophocles' "Oedipus the King," where he was said to be the son of either Pan, Loxias, "or the Bacchants' god, dweller on the hilltops ..." and one of the nymphs of Helicon. But in Euripides' "Phoenissae," his mother, Jocasta, says Oedupus is the son of Laius, a mortal, who was warned by the god Phoebus not to have children. "King of Thebes for horses famed! seek not to beget children against the will of heaven; for if thou beget a son, that child will slay thee, and all thy house shall wade in blood." Laius ignored the
Œdipe (opera) It is generally considered to be Enescu's masterpiece. "Act I" In the royal palace of Thebes, the people celebrate the birth of the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. Just as Laius and Jocasta, at the High Priest's request, are to name the child, the old and blind prophet Tiresias interrupts the festivities. He reproaches Laius for having disobeyed Apollo's injunction to bear no descendants, and tells of the gods' punishment for this transgression: one day, the child will murder his father and marry his mother. The appalled Laius summons a shepherd and commands him to abandon the infant