Title: Cruel and Oppressive: 7 Noteworthy Ancient Greek Tyrants
Headings: Cruel and Oppressive: 7 Noteworthy Ancient Greek Tyrants
Cruel and Oppressive: 7 Noteworthy Ancient Greek Tyrants
1 – Cypselus: Corinth (657 – 627 BC?)
2 – Cylon: Athens (632 BC)
3 – The Peisistratids: Athens (546 – 510 BC)
4 – Aristagoras: Miletus (513- 499 BC)
5 – The Thirty Tyrants: Athens (404 – 403 BC)
6- Dionysius I: Syracuse (405 – 367 BC)
7 – Nabis: Sparta (207 – 192 BC)

Content: While Greek tyrants were like the modern day version insofar as they were ambitious and possessed a yearning for power, not all of them were butchers or psychopaths. The term â€˜tyrant’ was first used in Greek in around the 7th century BC, but it didn’t have negative connotations for at least half a century. In this piece, I will look at 7 notable Greek tyrants; they ruled different city states including Athens, Corinth, and Megara. 1 – Cypselus: Corinth (657 – 627 BC?) As social structures and trade relations became more complex, Greek city-states became more likely to overthrow their priest-kings and Corinth, one of the wealthiest states, was among the first to have a tyrant in ancient Greece. In the 8 th and 7 th centuries BC, the Bacchiadae ruled Corinth, but the people of the state ultimately grew tired of their ineffectual leadership. Telestes was the last Bacchiadae king, and when he was murdered, executives from the former royal house took turns to rule the state; each man was in power for one year.