1 - Tyrants and Lawgivers

Summary

Lawgivers and tyrants seem at first an odd couple: of the latter we have a negative view, whereas the former make a more positive impression. Certainly, so wise a sage as Solon, the sixth-century BCE lawgiver of Athens, has found many admirers throughout history, whereas few have confessed to liking his near contemporary, Periander the tyrant of Corinth - certainly not after reading this impassioned denunciation of him: “Now while Periander was in the beginning milder than his father [Cypselus, also tyrant of Corinth], he later, owing to a correspondence with Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, became far more murderous than Cypselus . . . Periander . . . understood that Thrasybulus was advising him to murder those among the townsmen who were in any way pre-eminent. So Periander then unleashed every savagery upon the citizens, for he finished off whatever Cypselus had omitted to do in the way of killing people or sending them into exile.” (Herodotus 5.92) / Now I have started off with this passage on Periander for several reasons: first, because it shows us what sort of a reputation the tyrants in the end had, but, second, because another fact about Periander helps make a link between tyrants and lawgivers.