Dionysius the Elder

430–367 BC

Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, began life as a clerk in a public office, but by courage and diplomacy succeeded in making himself supreme. He carried on war with Carthage with varying success; his attempts to drive the Carthaginians entirely out of the island failed, and at his death they were masters of at least a third of it. He also carried on an expedition against Rhegium and its allied cities in Magna Graecia.

THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES

In one campaign, in which he was joined by the Lucanians, he devastated the territories of Thurii, Croton and Locri. After a protracted siege he took Rhegium (386 B.C.), and sold the inhabitants as slaves. He joined the Illyrians in an attempt to plunder the temple of Delphi, pillaged the temple of Caere 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.

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. According to others, he was poisoned by his physicians at the instigation of his son. His life was written by Philistus, but the work is not extant. Dionysius was regarded by the ancients as a type of the worst kind of despot—cruel, suspicious and vindictive. Like Peisistratus, he was fond of having distinguished literary men about him, such as the historian Philistus, the poet Philoxenus, and the philosopher Plato, but treated them in a most arbitrary manner.

His son Dionysius, known as "the Younger," succeeded in 367 B.C. He was driven from the kingdom by Dion (356 B.C.) and fled to Locri; but during the commotions which followed Dion's assassination, he managed to make himself master of Syracuse. On the arrival of Timoleon he was compelled to surrender and retire to Corinth (343 B.C.), where he spent the rest of his days in poverty.

—Excerpted from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Other Resources

Story Links	Book Links
Sword of Damocles  in	Fifty Famous Stories Retold  by  James Baldwin
Damon and Pythias  in	Fifty Famous Stories Retold  by  James Baldwin
Dionysius the Tyrant  in	Helmet and Spear  by  Alfred J. Church
Dion  in	Tales of the Greeks: The Children's Plutarch  by  F. J. Gould
Tyrant of Syracuse  in	The Story of the Greeks  by  H. A. Guerber
Story of Damon and Pythias  in	The Story of the Greeks  by  H. A. Guerber
Sword of Damocles  in	The Story of the Greeks  by  H. A. Guerber
Dion  in	Our Young Folks' Plutarch  by  Rosalie Kaufman

Image Links
The Sword of Damocles  in Fifty Famous Stories Retold

Contemporary	Short Biography
Dion	Brother-in-law of the Tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse; helped to overthrow him.
Damon and Pythias	Story of Damon and Pythias celebrates trusted friendship and willingness to die for one another.