CORYPHÆUS, in the ancient tragedy, was the chief or leader of the company who composed the chorus. The word is formed from the Greek χορῆς, the top of the head. Whenever the chorus took part in the action, the coryphæus spoke for all the rest, in quality of a person of the drama, during the course of the acts. Hence coryphæus passed into a general name for the chief or principal of any company, corporation, sect, or opinion. Thus Eustatius of Antioch is called the coryphæus of the council of Nice; and Cicero calls Zeno the coryphæus of the Stoics.