Detail the events that happen in Oedipus Rex?

is a play set in the
ancient Greek city of Thebes. As with many Greek tragedies, the events actually portrayed on
stage are caused by things that happened in the past, some of which would have been known to the
audience from mythology and some of which are gradually revealed over the course of the
play.

's parents were King Laius and Queen . Laius, during a period of civil
strife in Thebes was raised in the court of Pelops (part of another of the cursed dynasties who
are the subject of many tragedies), but ended up raping and abducting Pelops' son. The gods
cursed Laius to bearing a son who would kill him and marry Jocasta.

At the
beginning of the play, Oedipus is king of Thebes, and married to Jocasta. A great plague has
befallen Thebes, brought about by a divine curse. , who is the brother of Jocasta, goes to the
oracle of Apollo to find out the cause of the curse and returns to tell Oedipus that to lift the
curse, Oedipus must find the murderer of Laius. The blind seerfirst urges Oedipus not to delve
into the issue and then, in an argument, states that Oedipus himself is to blame for the
plague.

The audience then finds out that Laius was murdered by robbers at a
place where three roads met in Phocis. Oedipus then reveals that although he was raised as the
son of Polybus of Corinth and Merope, he later heard rumors that he was adopted. He also
remembers the incident at the crossroads where he did kill an old man. As Oedipus delves more
deeply into his own past, he finds out that in fact he was a foundling, adopted by the childless
rulers of Corinth. Next, the audience discovers that when Jocasta bore a son, Laius, to avoid
the prophecy of his being killed by his own son, asked a servant to take the baby and expose it
on a hillside. Instead, the servant gave the baby to a shepherd who in turn gave it to the
Corinthian royal family. That baby was Oedipus.

Jocasta, horrified by this
information, hangs herself. Oedipus blinds himself by stabbing his eyes with pins from Jocasta's
dress and abdicates. Creon takes over as king, agrees to look after Oedipus's daughters, and
leads Oedipus offstage.