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Periander Biography

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PERIANDER (Lat., from Gk. Periandros). A tyrant of Corinth from about 625 to 585 B.C. He was a son and successor of the tyrant Cypselus. He was energetic as a warrior and distinguished as a patron of poetry and music and is by some reckoned as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece; many wise maxims were ascribed to him. He was, however, cruel and despotic. He is said to have put to death his wife, Melissa, while his son Lycophron was sent to reside at Corcyra, which was then under Periander's rule. Later, when Periander, wishing to see his son, undertook to visit Corcyra, the Corcyreans, terrified at the prospect and hoping to avert the visit, put Lycophron to death. Periander, as tyrant, had under his sway, besides Corinth, also Corcyra, Ambracia, Leucas, and Anactorium. Among other forms of literature he is said to have cultivated elegiac poetry especially. Psammetichus, son of Gordius, the last of the Cypselid dynasty, succeeded him.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVIII. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 336.