What is the summary of the story "Oedipus Rex"? Are the events of the play in chronological order?

In brief:
thestory
existed before ' play. The
events of the
story are not all dramatised by the

play.

Here's the story:

Laius
is King of Thebes, and an oracle predicts, before
the birth of his son, Oedipus, that Oedipus
would one day be his fathers
murderer. When born, Laius andgive Oedipus to a , ordering him to
take him
out beyond the city and kill him. Out of pity for the child, the herdsman gave the
baby
to another herdsman. This herdsman took Oedipus to Polybus, who adopted
him.

Oedipus, now adult, is told that he is not the son of
Polybus, and seeks help
from an oracle, who tells him he is destined to kill
his father and sleep with his mother.
Oedipus flees from Corinth to Thebes in
an attempt to escape the fate the oracle has predicted
for him. As he is
travelling, he gets involved in a dispute at a crossroads with a man in a

chariot (Laius, his birth father) €“ and kills him.

As he approaches
Thebes,
Oedipus is approached by the Sphinx, who has been plaguing Thebes,
and solves her riddle. In
gratitude, the Thebans appoint Oedipus the king of
Thebes, and reward him with the dead kings
wife, Jocasta (mum).

It is at this point that

Sophocles' play begins: and all that happens in it is that Oedipus, through various
witnesses,
works out exactly what has happened to him and who he is. Jocasta,
realising too, kills herself,
and then Oedipus blinds himself. The
events of the story have
happened
BEFORE the play begins.