In Greek mythology, King Laius, or Laios of Thebes was a
divine hero and key personage in the Theban founding myth. Son
of Labdacus, he was raised by the regent Lycus after the death
of his father. While Laius was still young, Amphion and Zethus
usurped the throne of Thebes. Some Thebans, wishing to see the
line of Cadmus continue, smuggled Laius out of the city before
their attack, in which they killed Lycus and took the
throne.[1] Laius was welcomed by Pelops, king of Pisa in the
Peloponnesus.[2] Laius abducted and raped the king's son,
Chrysippus, and carried him off to Thebes while teaching him
how to drive a chariot, or as Hyginus records it, during the
Nemean games. This abduction was the subject of one of the
lost tragedies of Euripides. With both Amphion and Zethus
having died in his absence, Laius became king of Thebes upon
his return...
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（*La/i+os).
1. A son of Labdacus, and father of Oedipus. After his
father's death he was placed under the guardianship of
Lycus, and on the death of the latter, Laius was obliged to
take refuge with Pelops in Peloponnesus. But when Amphion
and Zethus, the murderers of Lycus, who had usurped his
throne, had lost their lives, Laius returned to Thebes, and
ascended the throne of his father. He married Jocaste (Homer
calls her Epicaste), and became by her the father of
Oedipus, by whom he was slain without being known to him.
His body was buried by Damasistratus, king of Plataeae.
(Hdt. 5.59; Paus. 9.5.2; Apollod. 3.5.5, &c.; Diod. 5.64;
comp. OEDIPUS.） 2. A Cretan, who, together with Aegolius,
Celeus, and Cerberus, entered the sacred cave of bees in
Crete, in order to steal honey. They succeeded in their
crime, but perceived the cradle of the infant Zeus, and that
instant their brazen armour broke to pieces. Zeus thundered,
and wanted to kill them by a flash of lightning; but the
Moerae and Themis prevented him, as no one was allowed to be
killed on that sacred spot, whereupon the thieves were
metamorphosed into birds. (Ant. Lib. 19; Plin. Nat. 10.60,
79.) - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and
mythology, William Smith, Ed.
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