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 κορυφα, "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.