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CYPSELTJS , See also:tyrant of See also:Corinth (c. 657–627 B.C.), was the son. of Aeetion and Labda, daughter of See also:Amphion, a member of the ruling See also:family, the Bacchiadae. He is said to have derived his name from the fact that when the Bacchiadae, warned that he would prove their ruin, sent emissaries to kill him in his See also:cradle, his See also:mother saved him by concealing hirh in a See also:chest (Gr.evi/Ekrl). The See also:story was, of course, a subsequent invention. When he was grown up, Cypselus, encouraged by an See also:oracle, drove out the Bacchiadae, and made himself See also:master of Corinth. It is stated that he first ingratiated himself with the See also:people by his liberal conduct when Polemarch, in which capacity he had to exact the fines imposed by the See also:law. In the words of See also:Aristotle he made his way through demagogy to tyranny. See also:Herodotus, in the spirit of 5th-See also:century Greeks, which conventionally regarded the tyrants as selfish despots, says he ruled harshly, but he is generally represented as mild, beneficent and so popular as to be able to dispense with a bodyguard, the usual attribute of a tyrannis. He pursued an energetic commercial and colonial policy (see CORINTH), and thus laid the See also:foundations of Corinthian prosperity. He may well be compared with the Athenian See also:Peisistratus in these respects. He laid out the large sums thus derived on the construction of buildings and See also:works of See also:art. At the same See also:time he wisely strove to gain the See also:goodwill of the powerful See also:priest hoods of the See also:great sanctuaries of See also:Delphi and See also:Olympia. At Delphi he built a treasure-See also:house for Corinthian votive offerings; at Olympia he dedicated a See also:colossal statue of See also:Zeus and the famous " chest of Cypselus," supposed to be identical with the chest of the See also:legend, of which See also:Pausanias (v. 17- 19) has given an elaborate description. It was of See also:cedar-See also:wood, See also:gold and See also:ivory, and on it were represented the See also:chief incidents in See also:Greek (especially Corinthian) See also:mythology and legend. Cypselus was succeeded by his son See also:Periander.
See CORINTH: See also:History; histories of See also:Greece; Herodotus v. 92; Aristotle, Politics, 1310 b, 1315 b; P. Knapp, See also:Die Kypseliden and die Kypseloslade (See also:Tubingen, 1888) ; L. See also:Preller, Ausgewahlte Aufsdtze (1864) ; H. See also:Stuart See also: He received his first See also:education from a See also:country priest, and had for a See also:fellow See also:pupil his friend and future biographer, See also:Henri Lebret. He then proceeded to Paris to the See also:college de See also:Beauvais, where he had for master See also:Jean Grangier, whom he afterwards ridiculed in his See also:comedy Le See also:Pedant See also:joist' (1654). At the See also:age of nineteen he entered a See also:corps of the See also:guards, serving in the See also:campaigns of 1639 and 1640, and began the See also:series of exploits that were to make of him a veritable See also:hero of romance. The story of his See also:adventure single-handed against a See also:hundred enemies is vouched for by Lebret as the See also:simple truth. After two years of this See also:life Cyrano See also:left the service and returned to Paris to pursue literature, producing tragedies See also:cast in the orthodox classical mode. He was, however, as a pupil of Gassendi; suspected of thinking too freely, and in the Mort d'Agrippine (1654) his enemies even found See also:blasphemy. The most interesting See also:section of his See also:work is that which embraces the two romances L'Histoire comique See also:des etats du soleil (1662) and L'Histoire comique des etats de la See also:lime (1656?). Cyrano's ingenious mixture of See also:science and romance has furnished a See also:model for many subsequent writers, among them See also:Swift and E. A. See also:Poe. It is impossible to determine whether he adopted his fanciful See also:style in the See also:hope of safely conveying ideas that might be regarded as unorthodox, or whether he simply found in romance See also:writing a relaxation from the serious study of physics. Cyrano spent a stormy existence in Paris and was involved in many duels, and in quarrels with the comedian See also:Montfleury, with See also:Scarron and others. He entered the See also:household of the duc d'Arpajon as secretary in 1653. In the next See also:year he was injured by the fall of a piece of See also:timber, as he entered his See also:patron's house. Arpajon, perhaps alarmed by his reputation as a See also:free-thinker, desired him to leave, and he found See also:refuge with See also:friends in Paris. During the illness which followed his See also:accident, he is said to have been reconciled with the See also: Brun, Savinien de Cyrano Bergerac (1894). Other studies of Cyrano are those of See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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