Dionysius I of Syracuse

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Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder (ca. 432–367 BC, Greek: Διονύσιος), tyrant of Syracuse, conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies. He was regarded by the ancients as an example of the worst kind of despot--cruel, suspicious and vindictive.

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[edit] Early life

Dionysius I began life as a clerk in a public office. Because of his achievements in the war against Carthage that had begun in 409 BC, he was elected supreme military commander in 406 BC; in the following year he seized total power and became tyrant[1]. In subsequent years he consolidated his position ruthlessly.

[edit] Conquests

He carried on war with Carthage[2] from 397 BC to 392 BC with varying success; his attempts to drive the Carthaginians entirely out of the island of Sicily failed, and at his death they were masters of at least a third of it. He also carried on an expedition against Rhegium capturing it[3] and attacking its allied cities in Magna Graecia. In one campaign, in which he was joined by the Lucanians, he devastated the territories of Thurii and Croton in an attempt to defend Locri.

After a protracted siege he took Rhegium (386), and sold the inhabitants as slaves. He joined the Illyrians in an attempt to plunder the temple of Delphi, pillaged the temple of Caere (then allied with Rome) on the Etruscan coast, and founded several military colonies on the Adriatic. In the Peloponnesian War he espoused the side of the Spartans, and assisted them with mercenaries.

In 385 BC Alcetas of Epirus was a refugee in Dionysus' court. Dionysus wanted a friendly monarch in Epirus and so sent 2,000 Greek hoplites and five hundred suits of Greek armour to help the Illyrians under Bardyllis in attacking the Molossians of Epirus. They ravaged the region and killed 15,000 Molossians, and Alcetas regained his throne.[4] Sparta however intervened[5]; under Agesilaus and with aid from Thessaly, Macedonia, and the Molossians themselves, the Spartans expelled[6] the Illyrians.[7]

[edit] Name Association

His name is most well known for the legends of Damocles and Damon and Pythias.

He also posed as an author and patron of literature; his poems, severely criticized by Philoxenus, were hissed at the Olympic games; but having gained a prize for a tragedy on the Ransom of Hector at the Lenaea at Athens, he was so elated that he engaged in a debauch which proved fatal.

[edit] Death

According to others, he was poisoned by his physicians at the instigation of his son, Dionysius the Younger who succeeded him as ruler of Syracuse. His life was written by Philistus, but the work is not extant.

Additionally, it is said that upon hearing news of his play, The Ransom of Hector, winning the competition at the Lanaean festival at Athens, he celebrated so fiercely that he drank himself to death. Others report that he died of natural causes shortly after learning of the his play's victory in 367 BC. The third theory suggests that "The Company", of which he was a member, had taken revenge on his earlier purges and taxation imposed upon them, in an attempt to raise money for the war with Carthage.

[edit] Intellectual Tastes

Like Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, Dionysius was fond of having literary men about him, such as the historian Philistus, the poet Philoxenus, and the philosopher Plato, but treated them in a most arbitrary manner. Once he had Philoxenos arrested and sent to the quarries for voicing a bad opinion about his poetry. A few days later, he released Philoxenos because of his friends' requests, and brought the poet before him for another poetry reading. Dionysius read his own work and the audience applauded. When he asked Philoxenos how he liked it, the poet replied only "take me back to the quarries".

The Ear of Dionysius in Syracuse is an artificial limestone cave named after Dionysius.

[edit] Fictional References

A fictional version of Dionysius is a character in Mary Renault's historical novel The Mask of Apollo. He also features prominently in L. Sprague de Camp's historical novel The Arrows of Hercules, as a patron of inventors on the island of Ortygia near Syracuse. He is the main character in Valerio Massimo Manfredi's novel Tyrant. He is also mentioned in Dante's The Divine Comedy as a tyrant who indulged in blood and rapine and suffers in a river of boiling blood.

[edit] See also

  • Diod. Sic. xii., xiv., xv.; J Bass, Dionysius I von Syrakus (Vienna, 1881).
  • "Tyrant" a Fictional novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, ISBN 0-330-42654-0

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  1. ^ The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography by Houghton Mifflin,ISBN-10: 061825210X,2003,page 440,"Dionysius the Elder 431—367 BC • Tyrant of Syracuse He made himself absolute ruler of his native city in 405 BC. After ferociously suppressing several insurrections"
  2. ^ The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography by Houghton Mifflin,ISBN-10: 061825210X,2003,page 440,"He warred with Carthaginians from 397 to 392 when he concluded an advantageous peace"
  3. ^ The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography by Houghton Mifflin,ISBN-10: 061825210X,2003,page 440,"In 387 he captured Rhegium"
  4. ^ A History of Greece to 322 B.C, by N. G. L. Hammond.ISBN-10: 0198730950, 1986, page 479,"... Molossi, Alcetas, who was a refugee at his court, Dionysius sent a supply of arms and 2,000 troops to the Illyrians, who burst into Epirus and slaughtered 15,000 Molossians. Sparta intervened as soon as they had learned of the events and expelled the Illyrians, but Alcetas had regained his ..."
  5. ^ A History of Greece to 322 B.C.by N. G. L. Hammond. ISBN-10: 0198730950,1986, page 470, "Sparta had the alliance of Thessaly, Macedonia, and Molossia in Epirus, which she had helped to stave off an Illyrian invasion. ..."
  6. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book 15.13.1,Fifteenth Book of Diodorus
  7. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History by John Boardman,ISBN 0521233488,1923,page 428,""Bardyllis who seized power and set himself up as king of the Dardani"...."Forming an alliance with Dionysius tyrant of Syracuse he killed 15,000 Molossians"
Preceded by:
democracy
position previously held
by Thrasybulus in 465 BC		 Tyrant of Syracuse
405 BC– 367 BC		 Succeeded by:
Dionysius the Younger