 It is thought to have been renamed "Oedipus Tyrannus" to distinguish it from another of Sophocles's plays, "Oedipus at Colonus".In antiquity, the term "tyrant" referred to a ruler with no legitimate claim to rule, but it did not necessarily have a negative connotation.Of Sophocles's three Theban plays that have survived, and that deal with the story of Oedipus, "Oedipus Rex" was the second to be written.