Pisistratus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient Greek ruler who seized power in Athens during the sixth century BC and presided over major public building projects
2. A sixth-century BC tyrant of Athens who held power several times and promoted the arts, festivals and early written texts of Homer
3. The Athenian statesman who became tyrant of Athens in the sixth century BC and strengthened the city's economy and culture

Etymology: Peisistratos was a real sixth-century BC Athenian who seized power three separate times, and his name passed into English as a label for any unelected ruler who takes control of a state. The name itself is built from two Greek elements: "peisis", meaning persuasion, and "stratos", meaning army. Read literally, it means something like "persuader of the army" or "he who persuades the host," a fitting name for a man who gained power by winning over the people and their soldiers rather than simply overthrowing them. The English form "pisistratus" is an alternative spelling of the Greek name, keeping the Latinized ending "-us" rather than the Greek "-os." Because the ancient Athenian was known mainly through the histories of Herodotus and later writers, the name reached English through classical scholarship and school texts rather than everyday speech, which is why it still sounds distinctly learned.