The son of LAIUS , king of Thebes, andjOCASTA (Epicasta in Homer), and the hero of one of the best-known of all legends. From Greek tragedy we know him as the man who unwittingly killed his father, then married his mother and had four children by her; when the incest was discovered she committed suicide; he blinded himself, then wandered through the world as a polluted exile until his death. But originally Oedipus’ story was very different. In Homer and the Epic Cycle he killed his father and married his mother – these are the immutable basics of his story – and his mother, when the truth was discovered soon after their marriage, committed suicide. But as far as we can tell from scattered epic references to the myth, Oedipus ruled on at Thebes, married again and had his four children by a second wife, EURYGANEIA . He died in battle while still active and in power, and was given splendid funeral games as the mark of respect due to a great hero. So originally there were no children born…