When Laios, king of Thebes, married Iocaste, Delphi gave an oracle to him, that if Iocaste bore a son, he would kill his father. And so, when Oedipus was born, he was exposed on the mount Kithairon, where he was found by herdsmen of king Polybos of Sikyon, who brought him up, as his own child.
Oedipus, on a trip to Delphi in order to ask the name of his real father, was given the answer that he was destined to kill his father and it would be better not to return to his country.
He left Delphi and followed the road towards Boeotia and Phokis and at the spot where the road forked leading to these two countries he met his father Laios and after a quarrel, he killed him.
Oedipus later solved the riddle of the Sphinx, a monster with the face of a woman, and wings and a tail. She was terrorizing the country, eating anyone who would not answer correctly. After the correct answer of Oedipus, the Sphinx killed herself.
For reward, Oedipus was made king of Thebes and without knowing, he married his mother, queen Iokaste, who later hanged herself when the gods made it known that she married her son.
Oedipus married again, with Euryganeia, and had four children with her: Eteokles, Polyneikes, Antigone and Ismene. He later blinded himself and went into exile, accompanied by Antigone and Ismene. He died in Athens, at Kolonos.