Cypselus

Cypselus (Greek: Κύψελος) was a 7th-century BCE ruler of Corinth and the founder of the Cypselid dynasty. He is traditionally regarded as the first tyrant of Corinth, overthrowing the aristocratic Bacchiadae who had governed the city for generations. Most scholars place his accession around 657 BCE and describe his rule as establishing a hereditary form of leadership that passed to his son, Periander, rather than returning to oligarchic rule. The surviving sources on Cypselus are fragmentary and sometimes legendary, but they consistently portray a shift from aristocratic governance to centralized authority and the beginning of a dynastic line in Corinth.

Specific policies and achievements attributed to Cypselus are poorly documented, and later accounts occasionally blend myth with history. In general, the tale emphasizes the suppression of rival factions within Corinth and the creation of a stable framework for the Cypselid dynasty to develop the city’s commercial and political power. His reign is often interpreted as marking a turning point in Corinthian political structure, moving away from the Bacchiadae’s rigid oligarchy toward a system in which a ruling family exercised long-term control.

Legacy centers on the establishment of the Cypselid dynasty, which continued for roughly a century and produced Periander, one of the more prominent early Greek tyrants. Cypselus thus occupies a pivotal role in the narrative of early tyrannies in mainland Greece and in the rise of Corinth as a major commercial power. See also: Cypselid dynasty, Bacchiadae, Corinth.