Cypselus
Family: Arcadians · Role: king · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 23
At his birth, Cypselus was hidden by his mother to protect him from the Bacchidæ. Later, he drove them out of Corinth and made himself king; his descendants, the Cypselidæ, dedicated the chest in which he had been concealed as a votive offering at Olympia. Cypselus was the son of Eetion and a descendant of Melas, and he had a son, Periander, and a daughter, Merope.
During his reign, the Dorians returned to the Peloponnese in ships. Cypselus married his daughter to Cresphontes, winning him over to his interests, and founded Basilis. He brought up Æpytus, who was still a boy; his son and successor was Olæas.
Relationship record
Life events
- Cypselus drove out the Bacchidæ and made himself king.(Book 2 · Chapter 4 · 📍 Corinth)
- “till Cypselus the son of Eetion drove out the Bacchidæ, and made himself king.”
- Cypselus was hidden by his mother to protect him from the Bacchidæ.(Book 5 · Chapter 17)
- “In this chest Cypselus, the tyrant of Corinth, was hid by his mother at his birth, as the Bacchidæ were eager to find him.”
- Cypselus’s descendants made the chest a votive offering to commemorate his safety.(Book 5 · Chapter 17 · 📍 Olympia)
- With: Cypselidæ
- “On account of his safety his descendants, called the Cypselidæ, made the chest a votive offering at Olympia”
- Cypselus married his daughter to Cresphontes, winning him over to Arcadian interests.(Book 8 · Chapter 5)
- With: Cresphontes
- “And Cypselus, hearing of their return, gave his daughter in marriage to Cresphontes, the only unmarried son of Aristomachus, and thus won him over to his interests”
- Cypselus founded Basilis.(Book 8 · Chapter 29 · 📍 Basilis)
- “Basilis, whose founder was Cypselus”
- Cypselus married his daughter to Cresphontes, son of Aristomachus.(Book 8 · Chapter 29 · 📍 Basilis)
- With: Cresphontes
- “who married his daughter to Cresphontes the son of Aristomachus.”
Book 1 · Chapter 23
- child: Periander “Periander the son of Cypselus”
Book 2 · Chapter 4
- parent: Eetion “till Cypselus the son of Eetion drove out the Bacchidæ”
- with Melas (son of Antasus) (Cypselus is stated to be descended from Melas.) “He was the descendant of Melas the son of Antasus.”
- with Melas (son of Antasus) (Cypselus is identified as a descendant of Melas.) “He was the descendant of Melas the son of Antasus.”
Book 2 · Chapter 28
- child: Periander “And not far from the city is the sepulchre of Melissa, who was the wife of Periander the son of Cypselus, and the sepulchre of Proclees the father of Melissa.”
Book 4 · Chapter 3
- child: Merope “Merope the daughter of Cypselus”
- ward: Æpytus (son of Cresphontes) “Æpytus, who being quite a boy was brought up by Cypselus”
Book 5 · Chapter 18
- with Melas (son of Antasus) (Melas is described as an ancestor of Cypselus.) “Cypselus and his ancestors came originally from Gonussa beyond Sicyon, and were descended from Melas the son of Antasus.”
Book 8 · Chapter 5
- parent: Æpytus (son of Hippothous) “And during the reign of Cypselus, his son and successor, the Dorians returned to the Peloponnese in ships”
- child: Olæas “And the son and successor of Cypselus was Olæas”
- with Cresphontes (Cypselus became Cresphontes's father-in-law through his unnamed daughter.) “Cypselus, hearing of their return, gave his daughter in marriage to Cresphontes, the only unmarried son of Aristomachus, and thus won him over to his interests.”
- with Olæas (Olæas succeeded Cypselus as king.) “the son and successor of Cypselus was Olæas”
Book 8 · Chapter 29
- with Cresphontes (Cypselus is Cresphontes' father-in-law through his daughter.) “whose founder was Cypselus, who married his daughter to Cresphontes the son of Aristomachus.”
Book 10 · Chapter 24
- child: Periander “the seventh Plato (the son of Aristo) makes Myson of Chenæ, a village on Mount Œta, instead of Periander the son of Cypselus.”
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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.