What does "tyrannos" mean in the play Oedipus Rex?

The
original Greek title of Rex was
, or "Oedipus the Tyrant." As a previous educator has already
pointed out, the Greek understanding of the term "tyrant" is different than the
modern-day understandingnowadays, it has an entirely negative . The Greeks had a much more
complicated understanding of the term.

The most important fact to be aware
of is that the Greek understanding of tyranny was based in historical realitythere was a period
in Greek history where tyrannies were very common (Athens, for example, fell under the control
of several tyrants before it transitioned into Democracy), and we should not underestimate the
degree to which brutality and arbitrary power underlines tyranny as a political structure.
Emerging out of the oligarchical structures that were common in early Greek political culture,
tyrannies were ultimately political systems founded upon domination: tyrants were those
individuals who accrued enough personal and political power...