The Tyrants Of Corinth

The development of Corinth tyranny is very clear. The founder was Cypelus who overthrew aristocracy of Bacchiadae. His revolution can be successful attributing to Cypelus’s efforts. In addition to, Bacchiadae seemed to have suffered from a crisis that had various causes. At last,with the help of people and other elites, he became the tyrant of Corinth. Nevertheless, compared with mildness before, he changed his soft face to be a real tyrant and became brutal,especially to the Bacchiadae. Cypselus died after a thirty-year reign and succeeded by his son Perianderos.At the beginning of his rule, Perianderos was milder than his father. However, after a period of time, he changed faced as his father. On the one hand, he captured his father-in-law’s city Epidamus. On the other hand, he sent three hundred Corcyrean boys as a present to Alyattes to be made eunuchs because Corcyreans killed his son. In a short, his rule was brutal, which caused many risks for tyranny. After Perianderos’s death, his nephew Psammetichus assumed power. He was eliminated by coup after only three years. Psammetichus was killed. Tyranny was replaced by aristocracy again.Through making a research of the tyranny of Corinth, we can find easily that they ruled mildly during their early reign and leaved a gentle impression on people, no matter Cypselus or Perianderos. However, once they stabilized their rule, they made evil changes unanimously. They acted brutally, not only to enemies, but also to the masses. Unfortunately, such a double-edged characteristic was not unique of the tyrants of Corinth. Contrarily, it was shared by all early tyrants of Greek cities, which leaded to be overturned of their rules at last.