Proper noun
A male given name of historical usage. Cylon of Athens, an Athenian noble who attempted a coup in either 636 BCE or 632 BCE.
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Now the cittie of Athens had a long time bene vexed and troubled through Cylons heynous offence, euer ſence the yere that Megacles (gouernour of the cittie of Athens) dyd with fayer words handle ſo the confederates of the rebellion of Cylon, which had taken ſanctuarie within the liberties of the temple of Minerua: […]
Now the Cylonian villany had a long while diſtur’d the Commonwealth, even from that time when Megacles the Archon perſwaded the conſpiratours with Cylon that took ſanctuary in Minerva’s Temple, to ſtand to a fair trial; […]
Cylon, the son-in-law of Theagenes, the tyrant of Megara, is said to have failed in an attempt to establish a tyranny of his own at Athens, probably in the 630s.
The coup failed to garner the local support Cylon had hoped for, and he abandoned the Acropolis once he and his supporters had been promised fair treatment.
A male given name of historical usage. Cylon of Croton, a leading citizen of Croton who led a revolt against the Pythagoreans, probably around 509 BCE.
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It is related of Pythagoras that, after having lived in Crotona nearly twenty years, and soon after the victory gained in 510 b. c. by the Crotoniates, on the river Traeis, over the Sybarites, who were living under the monarchical rule of Telys, he was banished by an opposition party under Cylon, and that he removed to Metapontum and soon afterward died there.
“Cylonians” were the followers of the mighty Cylon of Croton who, in 490 B.C., chased Pythagoras out of Croton to Metapontum where he later died.
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We also read in Porphyry that for a long time Pythagoras himself and the friends living with him were so greatly admired in Italy that the cities even handed over political responsibility to his pupils. But eventually envy and plotting arose, and in the sources, the beginning of this is associated with a name: Cylon, around whom a catching story grew up.
Starting from Aristotle and Aristoxenus, the tradition is unanimous that the conflict between Pythagoras and Cylon was personal and political; […]