Word: laius
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Erich Fromm argued the point in a new anthology (The Family: Its Function and Destiny, edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen; Harper; $6). According to Fromm, there is no real evidence in the ancient myth that Oedipus was in love with his mother. He murdered his father, King Laius of Thebes, and was later made king; then he married his mother (without knowing their relationship) merely because she went along with the throne...
Slowly, inexorably, the evidence as it piles up points to Oedipus himself-to Oedipus who, foredoomed to commit atrocious crimes, has despite all precautions unknowingly murdered his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta. When the last nail of proof is driven solidly home, Oedipus, in an agony of guilt and horror, blinds himself and goes forth, a beggar, to roam the world...