Yocasta Thebarum regina · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Yocasta Thebarum regina
Subject: Oedipus; Incest; Important Women; Famous Women; Important Queens; Greek Legend; Jocasta
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Ancient Greece; Thebes
Description: Queen Jocasta of Thebes is depicted on the right side of the engraving rubbing the tears away from her eyes with her dress. She is crying because her husband exposed their child into the wilderness. This was due to a prophecy that foretold the baby would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Her child, Oedipus, is depicted lying on the ground after being exposed. There is a person approaching the baby as he takes him in and raises him as his own. Oedipus ends up fulfilling the prophecy by killing his father later in life, and marrying his mother, Jocasta. When Jocasta and Oedipus find out they are mother and son, Oedipus gouges out his eyes and Jocasta kills herself. This scene is depicted on the left side of the engraving. Jocasta kills herself by piercing her chest with a sword and Oedipus’s hands are illustrated in front of his eyes as he gouges them out.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18144
Language: lat
Source Name: Iohannis Bocacij in librum de claris mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1487 Leuven; 1487 Leuven
Image: mta_18144_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Oedipus; Incest; Important Women; Famous Women; Important Queens; Greek Legend; Jocasta