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Cypselos

Corinthian dictator who is considered to have been one of the very first tyrants that started appearing in the middle of the 7th century BC.



According to Herodotus his mother, but not his father, was a member of the aristocratic Bacciad clan. It had been prophesied that her child would destroy the clan and so it was decided the baby would be killed. Cypselos mother then hid him in a wooden chest, which gave him his name (kypselos=wooden chest).

In 657 BC Cypselos seized power from the Bacciads. As a ruler, he was very mild and did not even have a body guard. Both he and his son Periander were to increase Corinths power through its industry and trade.