The first thing to note now is that no “tyrant” is known ever to have referred to himself by that term or to have been called that to his face by one of his subjects. Herodotus records another “oracle” from the early period of the tyranny in Corinth. The priestess at Delphi allegedly spoke the following words to Cypselus as he entered the shrine there:
Blessed is he that enters into my temple,
Cypselus, Eetion’s son, King (basileus) of famous Corinth!
(Hdt. V 92 e2; a third line was added after the fall of the tyranny)
The positive presentation of Cypselus, once again, shows that the verses date from the early period of the tyranny. The person who had the most interest in having them circulate was, of course, none other than Cypselus himself who refers to himself as “King of Corinth.”
Herodotus, in fact, cannot imagine anyone referring to a tyrant to his face as anything other than “King”: In the famous story of the Ring of Polycrates (Hdt. III 42), when the poor fisherman comes into the tyrant’s presence, he opens his address to the latter with the words “O King!” Likewise the Athenian ambassador who speaks before Gelon of Syracuse on the eve of the Persian Wars: “O King of the Syracusans!” (Hdt. VII 161).
Moreover, some of the (admittedly late) stories about the tyrants present them in ways which make them seem like kings institutionally as well. The tyrants of Sicyon, according to a story recounted in Nicolaus of Damascus (who incidentally refers to them as basileis, “kings”) were obligated by their position to carry out certain sacrifices on behalf of the community (BNJ 90, fr. 61). This was apparently true of the archaic kings as well (see chap. 4).
World History
