Yes and no. According to the original meaning of the word, Theban King Oedipus was a tyrant. Originally, a tyrant seized power illegally. That's what Oedipus did by killing his father and his sovereign, Theban King Laius. He didn't know whom he was killing when he responded with violence to violent behavior by a stranger who was old enough to be his father and whom he resembled. But the fact remained that he committed murder and didn't go through the necessary cleansing of required purification ceremonies. So his rise to power was illegal in Thebes.
But according to the modern definition, Oedipus may not have been a tyrant. He didn't appear to be viewed as arbitrary, cruel or selfish by his subjects. Instead, he appeared to have gained the love and respect of the Theban people. In the play, for example, his fellow Thebans referred to his bravery against the frightening Sphinx whom he alone outwitted and defeated.
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Yes, Oedipus is a tyrannical ruler in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, a ruler is tyrannical if he seizes power illegally in ancient Greece. That description fits Theban King Oedipus. He ends up as King of Thebes because the job is open and because he marries Thebes' widowed queen. But King Laius dies because he is killed, and that killer turns out to be Oedipus. Oedipus therefore ascends the throne by illegal means.
That it is better for him not to be born is the way in which the chorus leader responds to Oedipus' despair in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the leader of the chorus of Theban elders is there for the king. But things may change when gods become angry and kings fall. The leader observes that he wishes that he never had known Oedipus and that Oedipus never had been born.
the Chorus leader
the Chorus leader
It is Jocasta that the chorus leader claims can settle the dispute between Oedipus and Creon in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Creon cannot stop the argument that his brother-in-law Theban King Oedipus starts. The chorus leader cannot stop it either. But he is confident that Queen Jocasta, Creon's sister and Oedipus' conciliatory wife, can end it all.