Dion of Syracuse, in Greek history, a connection by marriage of the elder and the younger Dionysius, tyrants of Syracuse, over whom he long exercised great influence. He attempted to reform the younger Dionysius, but his enemies succeeded in effecting his banishment. He afterwards returned and made himself ruler of the city, but became unpopular, and in 353 B.C. one of his followers, Callipus of Athens, caused him to be assassinated.
Dionys´ia. See Bacchanalia.
Dionys´ius, St., a disciple of Origen, and Patriarch of Alexandria in A.D. 248. He was driven from the city in 250, and in 257 was banished to Libya, but was restored in 260. He died in A.D. 265.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in Caria, a Greek critic and teacher of eloquence, born about 70 B.C. He went to Rome about 30 B.C., where he wrote his Roman Antiquities, in twenty books, in which he relates (in Greek) the early history of Rome and its government up to the
times of the first Punic War. We have the first nine books of this work entire, the tenth and eleventh nearly so, and some fragments of the others. His rhetorical writings are of greater value, especially his essays on the Greek orators. He died about 6 B.C.—Cf. Sir J. E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship.
Dionysius the Areopagite, that is, one of the judges of the Areopagus, at Athens, a convert to Christianity by the Apostle Paul about the middle of the first century, and the first Bishop of Athens, where he suffered martyrdom. Certain writings formerly ascribed to him consist of obscurely written treatises on mystical subjects. Scotus Erigena translated them into Latin. In France, where a certain Dionysius (see Denis, St.) established the first Christian community at Paris in the third century, they were readily received, this Dionysius being without further inquiry taken for the Areopagite, because the origin of the Gallican Church could thus be carried back to the first century; and France gained a patron who was a martyr and the immediate disciple of an apostle.—Cf. article in Smith's Dictionary of Christian Biography.
Dionysius the Elder, in Greek history, tyrant or absolute ruler of Syracuse, born about 430 B.C. of obscure parentage. He obtained the rank of general, and afterwards of commander-in-chief; and, gaining the support of the army, he seized the supreme power in Syracuse, though only twenty-five years of age. He extended his rule over other cities in Sicily; and after some successes and reverses in the struggle with the Carthaginians, he gained a complete victory over them under the walls of Syracuse. In his expeditions into Lower Italy he reduced the city of Rhegium by famine (387). After another short war with Carthage he lived some time in peace, occupied with writing poems and tragedies, with which he contended for the Olympian prize. In 368 he commenced a new war against the Carthaginians, but failed to drive them entirely out of Sicily. He is said to have died from a potion administered at the instigation of his son Dionysius the Younger (367 B.C.).
Dionysius the Little (so called on account of his short stature), a Scythian monk who was abbot of a monastery at Rome in the beginning of the sixth century, and died about the year A.D. 530, according to others about 545, celebrated as the first to introduce the computation of time from the Christian era. This mode of computation, however, was not publicly used until the eighth century.
Dionysius the Younger, a tyrant of Syracuse, who succeeded his father, Dionysius the Elder, in 367 B.C. For the purpose of recalling him from the excesses to which he was addicted, his kinsman Dion persuaded him to invite Plato to his court, but the influence of the philosopher effected no permanent change. Becoming suspicious of Dion, the tyrant banished him and confiscated his property, but in 357 B.C. Dion made himself master of Syracuse. Dionysius fled to Locri, but after the murder of Dion recovered his power in Syracuse. His misfortunes, however, had rendered him more cruel, and Timoleon, who came to Syracuse with aid from Corinth against the Carthaginians, deposed him in 344 B.C. He was carried to Corinth, where he is said to have gained a living by giving lessons in grammar, or as one of the attendants on the rites of Cybele.
Diony´sus, the original Greek name of the god of wine, the name Bacchus, by which he was also called both by the Greeks and the Romans, being at first a mere epithet or surname.—Cf. R. Brown, The Great Dionysiak Myth.