Oedipus, in 

Greek mythology, the king of Thebes who unwittingly killed his father and
married his mother. Homer related that Oedipus’s wife and mother hanged herself when
the truth of their relationship became known, though Oedipus apparently continued to
rule at Thebes until his death. In the post-Homeric tradition, most familiar
from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (or Oedipus the King) and Oedipus at Colonus, there are
notable differences in emphasis and detail.

According to one version of the story, Laius, king of Thebes, was warned by blind
soothsayer of Thebes ( Tiresias) that his son would slay him. Accordingly, when his
wife, Jocasta (wife of Laius), bore a son, he had the baby exposed (a form of infanticide)
on Cithaeron. (Tradition has it that his name, which means “Swollen-Foot,” was a result
of his feet having been pinned together, but modern scholars are skeptical of that
etymology.) A shepherd took pity on the infant, who was adopted by King Polybus
of Corinth and his wife and was brought up as their son. In early manhood Oedipus
visited Delphi and upon learning that he was fated to kill his father and marry his
mother, he resolved never to return to Corinth.

Traveling toward Thebes, he encountered Laius( father of Oedipus), who provoked a

quarrel in which Oedipus killed him. Continuing on his way, Oedipus found Thebes
plagued by the Sphinx(a female form with the wings of a bird, the body of an
animal, and the breast, neck, and face of a woman., who put a riddle to all
passersby and destroyed those who could not answer. Oedipus solved the riddle, and the
Sphinx killed herself. In reward, he received the throne of Thebes and the hand of the
widowed queen, his mother, Jocasta. They had four children: Eteocles,
Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene.the years went by and a drought settled over the land
of thebes. Oedipus sent his brother in law creon to the temple of Apollo to investigate
and creon return he said the drought would not be lifted until the murderer of a former
king if thebes was found Oedipus decide to investigate, everyone he ask all had the same
answer he needed to speak to the blind prophet for he knew all about, when the truth
became known, Jocasta committed suicide, and Oedipus (according to another version),
after blinding himself, went into exile, accompanied by Antigone and Ismene, leaving
his brother-in-law Creon(brother of queen Jocasta,)as regent. Oedipus died
at Colonus near Athens, where he was swallowed into the earth and became a guardian
hero of the land.

Other version while he is travelling he struck by a lightning bolt however, ancient greek
tradition by struck by lightning means to be called up to mount olympus to be with zues
in the god themselves.