Atyrant (pronounce:tie-rant) is a person who rules with absolute power. In itsGreek origin the word has no negative meaning: we translateOedipus Tyrannus as 'Oedipus the King'. A tyrant usually rules a country, and he often got his position as powerful ruler by force, although some of theminherited their power.
Later, the word came to mean someone who ruled with cruelty and injustice. The rule of a tyrant is calledtyranny. Theadjective istyrannical.
Adictator ordespot is someone who rules with absolute authority, usually cruelly. It now has the same meaning as 'tyrant', whereas before, 'tyrant' meant something like 'ruler' or 'king'.
In the 10th and 9th centuriesBC,Ancient Greece was ruled bymonarchs. By the 7th century BC, they were ruled by groups ofaristocrats. These aristocrats started to become unpopular. This gave cruel people the chance to get power for themselves, telling the people that they would be good rulers, but turning bad once they got power.
Around 650 BC the tyrant Cypselus became powerful inCorinth. There were other tyrants in theAsiatic countries that were ruled by Greece. Cypselus’s sonPeriander was also a cruel tyrant who ruled for 40 years. The tyranny in Corinth came to an end after he died.
