Aristodemus (Greek: Ἀριστόδημος; c. 550 – c. 490 BC), nicknamed Malakos (meaning "soft" or "malleable" or possibly "effeminate"), was a strategos and then tyrant of Cumae in Magna Graecia.
He gained popularity amongst the people of Cumae due to his opposition to the city's aristocracy and his proposals to more fairly share land and to forgive debts.
Having gained the favour of the people, Aristodemus then made himself tyrant of Cumae, and was said to have arranged for many of the nobles to be put to death or sent into exile.
He compelled the male descendants of the exiled nobles to be raised in the countryside as if they were slaves; in order to de-politicize the common male youth in the city, Plutarch agrees that the remaining male youth in the city were forced by law to dress in a feminine manner, and adds that Aristodemus compelled girls "to bob their hair and to wear boy's clothes and the short undergarment.
[4] Around 490 BC the exiled nobles and their sons, supported by Campanians and mercenaries, were able to take possession of Cumae, and took cruel vengeance on Aristodemus and his family.