Periander was the second tyrant of Corinth, Greece in the 7th century BC. He was the son of the first tyrant, Cypselus.
Periander succeeded his father in 627 BC. He upgraded Corinth's port, and built a ramp across the Isthmus of Corinth so that ships could be dragged across (the diolkos), avoiding the sea route around the Peloponnese. The money gained from the diolkos allowed Periander to abolish taxes in Corinth.
However, Periander was later considered the typical evil tyrant (for example, by Aristotle). Herodotus says he learned his "savagery" from Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, who instructed Periander to get rid of anyone who could conceivably take power from him. Among his acts were sending young boys from Corcyra to be castrated in Lydia, and the murder of his own wife, Melissa. Their son Lycophron discovered that his father was the murderer, so Periander exiled him from Corinth and forbade any of his subjects to shelter him. Periander later tried to reconcile with Lycophron, but Lycophron refused to return unless Periander abdicated. However, the inhabitants of Corcyra killed Lycophron to prevent Periander from arriving.
Periander, on being consulted by the tyrantThrasybulus of Miletus as to the best device for maintaining himself in power, by way of reply led the messenger through a cornfield, and as he walked struck off the tallest and best-grown ears (a legend applied to Roman circumstances in Livy I 54).
Periander further appears as a patron of literature, for it was by his invitation that the poet Arion came to Corinth to organize the dithyramb.
Periander was reckoned one of the seven sages of Greece, and was the reputed author of a collection of maxims in 2000 verses.
Feeds |
Contact