 In the best known version of the myth, Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta.Laius wished to thwart the prophecy, so he sent a shepherd-servant to leave Oedipus to die on a mountainside.However, the shepherd took pity on the baby and passed him to another shepherd who gave Oedipus to King Polybus and Queen Merope to raise as their own.