Whether the rise of Cypselus had any connexion with the beginnings of Corinthian coinage is a matter of dispute. Busolt[960] dates the earliest issues some half century later than the establishment of the tyranny. Head[961] on the other hand makes the coinage and the tyranny begin approximately together and he is supported by Percy Gardner[962], who dates the earliest coins of Corinth in the early part of the seventh century but after 665 B.C. [Illustration: Fig. 25. Coins of Corinth.] If, then, as seems probable, the English numismatists are nearer the truth than the German, the first issues of “colts,” as the coins were colloquially called from the winged horse that they bore, may have played their part in helping Cypselus to the tyranny. The traces of Lydian influence support this view. But on the other hand Corinth, whose trade was so preponderatingly with the west, may, like its colony Corcyra, have felt the need of a coinage only comparatively late. Where the main facts are so obscure and particulars are completely wanting it is idle to carry speculation further. For evidence as to Cypselus’ personal relationship to the commercial developments of his age we must look elsewhere. Some modern writers have indeed despaired of recovering any picture of the personal history of a ruler who is variously described by our best authorities as having ruled mildly[963] and with bloodthirsty severity[964]. [Sidenote: His personal relationship when tyrant to the commercial developments of his age.] This attitude is quite unnecessary. Both statements are in themselves quite credible as contemporary accounts of the same regime from different points of view. Still, by themselves they do not take us very far. Fortunately we are better informed in other directions. Of the Corinthian colonies in Western Greece, that lined the trade route to Sicily and Italy and the Furthest West, Leukas, Ambracia and Anaktorion were founded by Cypselus[965]. Leukas was converted by him from a peninsula into an island for the greater convenience of navigation[966]. Cypselus is said to have taxed his subjects heavily. This statement is taken from the pseudo-Aristotelian _Oeconomica_[967], a work of no great authority for our early period. The tax is associated by Suidas[968] with the dedication of a colossus of beaten gold which “Didymus says was made by Periander” (not Cypselus) “with the object of checking the Corinthians in their luxury and arrogance.” Theophrastus, so Suidas also states, called the statue the colossus not of Cypselus but of the sons of Cypselus (Κυψελιδῶν). The statement of the _Oeconomica_ must therefore be taken with reserve. But the story of Cypselus’ heavy taxation states also that the tyrant made his subjects work and prosper and able to pay the taxes[969]. [Sidenote: Personal relationships of his son Periander to these same developments.]