Editing Coryphaeus

{{Short description|Leader for a chorus or group}}
In [[Classical Athens|Attic]] [[Theatre of ancient Greece | drama]], the '''coryphaeus''', '''corypheus''', or '''koryphaios''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] κορυφαῖος ''koryphaîos'', from κορυφή ''koryphḗ́'', the top of the head) was the [[leader]] of the [[Greek chorus|chorus]]. Hence the term (sometimes in an Anglicized form "'''coryphe'''") is used for the chief or leader of any company or movement.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The original Greek coryphaeus spoke for all the chorus, whenever the chorus took part in the action, in quality of a person of the drama, during the course of the acts.

The term is sometimes used for the chief or principal of any company, corporation, sect, opinion, etc. Thus, [[Eustathius of Antioch]] is called the coryphaeus of the [[First Council of Nicaea]] of 325 CE, and [[Cicero]] calls [[Zeno of Citium|Zeno]] ({{circa}} 334 – {{circa}} 262 BCE) the coryphaeus of the [[Stoicism|Stoics]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

[[Paul the Apostle]] is often entitled "Coryphaeus" in Christian [[iconography]].{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

In 1856 the [[University of Oxford]] established the office of Coryphaeus or Praecentor with the duty of leading the musical performances directed by the [[Choragus]]. The office ceased to exist in 1899.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Solzhenitsyn's ''[[In the First Circle]]'' (1968), often refers to [[Stalin]] as a "Coryphaeus" ("the Coryphaeus of all the Sciences", for example), meaning that he speaks for all in the Soviet Union.

==In video games==
Corypheus is an antagonist introduced in the Legacy DLC for ''[[Dragon Age II]]''. The same Corypheus returns as the central antagonist and the catalyst to the events of ''[[Dragon Age: Inquisition]]''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

==See also==
* [[USS Corypheus|USS ''Corypheus'']]
* [[Theatre of Coryphaei]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Coryphaeus|volume=7|page=212}}
*{{1728|title=Coryphæus}}
{{Wiktionary}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek theatre]]