Word.ws English Dictionary

Cylon

Cylon proper noun: cylon of Athens, an Athenian noble who attempted a coup in either 636 BCE or 632 BCE.

Proper noun

Cylon

  1. Cylon of Athens, an Athenian noble who attempted a coup in either 636 BCE or 632 BCE.
    • 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...1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “The Life of Solon”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, […], London: […] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 92
    • 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; […]1683, Plutarch, “The Life of Solon”, in Thomas Creech, transl., Plutarchs Lives. Translated from the Greek […], volume I, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 289
  2. Cylon of Croton, a leading citizen of Croton who led a revolt against the Pythagoreans, probably around 509 BCE.
    • 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...1872, Friedrich Ueberweg, translated by Geo[rge] S[ylvester] Morris, “Pythagoras of Samos and the Pythagoreans”, in History of Philosophy, from Thales to the Present Time. […] (Theological and...
    • “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.1997, Clifford A[lan] Pickover, “Notes”, in The Loom of God: Mathematical Tapestries at the Edge of Time, New York, N.Y.: Plenum Trade, →ISBN, page 271

Examples of Cylon in a sentence

  • 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.1987, Ian Morris, “Introduction: the argument”, in Burial and Ancient Society: The Rise of the Greek City-State (New Studies in...
  • 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.2009, Robin Waterfield, “The Rise and Fall of Alcibiades”, in Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, “The...
  • 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.2005, Christoph Riedweg, translated by Steven Rendall, Christoph Riedweg, and Andreas Schatzmann, “Biographical Information”, in...
  • Starting from Aristotle and Aristoxenus, the tradition is unanimous that the conflict between Pythagoras and Cylon was personal and political; […]2016, Leonid Zhmud, “The Papyrological Tradition on Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans”, in Christian Vassallo, editor, Presocratics and...

Forms of Cylon

alternative formKylon

Origin of Cylon

Learned borrowing from Latin Cylōn or its etymon Ancient Greek Κῠ́λων (Kŭ́lōn).

Words formed from Cylon

Questions about Cylon

What does Cylon mean?
Cylon means cylon of Athens, an Athenian noble who attempted a coup in either 636 BCE or 632 BCE.
How do you use Cylon in a sentence?
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.
What part of speech is Cylon?
Cylon is a proper noun.

Words near Cylon in the dictionary

  1. cylix
  2. cylixes
  3. Cyllene
  4. Cyllenean
  5. Cyllenian
  6. Cylon
  7. Cylonian
  8. Cylonians
  9. CYLOR
  10. cyma
  11. cyma inversa

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Cylon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-Cylon.ogg.

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