CORYPHÆUS, in the ancient tragedy, was the chief or leader of the company that composed the chorus: (See CHORUS). — The word is formed from the Greek κορύφῃ, "tip of the head." The coryphæus spoke for all the rest, whenever the chorus took part in the action, in quality of a person of the drama, during the course of the acts. Hence coryphæus had passed into a general name for the chief or principal of any company, corporation, sect, opinion, &c. Thus Eustatius of Antioch is called the coryphæus of the council of Nice; and Cicero calls Zeno the coryphæus of the Stoics.