Oedipus

Oedipus is a character from Greek mythology. Because the oracle of Delphi had foretold that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother he was abandoned. Oedipus was however raised by a shepherd and thus survived his infancy. When he was an adult he consulted the Oracle of Delphi who told him that he would one day kill his father and marry his mother. Not knowing the shepherd and his wife weren't his real parents Oedipus left his hometown. Eventually he has a quarrel with a man he meets while travelling through the country and kills him, not realizing this man is his real father. Oedipus arrives at Thebes where he solves the riddle of the Sphinx and thus marries the local queen, who just became a widow. Several years later Oedipus discovers that the woman he married is his own mother and that the man he killed several years earlier was his father. In shame and disgust he gouged his own eyes out.

References

Oedipus is referenced on the back cover of One Size Fits All. Also note that Igor Stravinsky once composed an opera called "Oedipus Rex".