A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Δημ́αρατος), a merchant-noble of Corinth, and one of the Bacchiadae. When the power of his clan had been overthrown by Cypselus. about B. C. 657, he fled from Corinth, and settled at Tarquinii in Etruria, where he had mercantile connexions. According to Strabo, he brought with him a large body of retainers and much treasure, and thereby gained such influence, that he was made ruler of Tarquinii. He is said also to have been accompanied by the painter Cleophantus of Corinth, and by Eucheir and Eugrammus, masters of the plastic arts, and together with these refinements, to have even introduced the knowledge of alphabetical writing into Etruria. He married an Etrurian wife, by whom he had two sons, Aruns and Lucumo, afterwards L. Tarquinius Priscus. (Liv. 1.34; Dionys. A. R. 3.46; Polb. 6.2; Strab. v. p.219, viii. p. 378; Cic. Tasc. Quaest. 5.37; Tac. Ann. 11.14; Plin. Nat. 35.3, 12; Niebuhr, Rom. Hist. i. pp. 351, 366, &c.) For the Greek features pervading the story of the Tarquins, see Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, p. 80.

[E.E]