1. Dionysius I and II, tyrants of Syracuse; see SYRACUSE.

2. Dionysius the Thracian (Dionysios Thrax) (c.170–c.90 BC), of Alexandria, a pupil of Aristarchus and later a teacher of grammar and literature at Rhodes. His only surviving work is a Greek grammar (Technē grammatikē), which remained a standard work for many centuries. Latin grammar fell under its influence, and through Latin most of the modern grammars of Europe are indebted to it. Its influence spread through Syriac and Armenian adaptations, and a large body of comment grew up around it. The Greek verb typtō (‘I beat’) was used to exemplify voices, numbers, and persons, but the full paradigm with all possible moods and tenses was introduced later.

3. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Greek rhetor and historian who lived at Rome for many years from 30 BC. As a literary critic of good judgement he wrote (in Greek) a number of treatises: criticism of the Greek orators Lysias, Isocrates, Isaeus, and Demosthenes, showing in the introduction his preference for the Attic style of rhetoric over that of the Asianic school (see ORATORY 1); some minor works on Deinarchus, Demosthenes, and Thucydides, and a letter on Plato, of whose ‘dithyrambic’ style Dionysius was very critical; and, the most interesting of his works, a treatise On the Arrangement of Words (Peri syntheseōs onomatōn), the only surviving ancient work on word-order and euphony. To this we owe the best preserved text of Sappho's Ode to Aphrodite and the fragment from the Danae poem of Simonides. As a historian Dionysius had a great enthusiasm for Rome, expressed in the twenty books of his Roman Antiquities (Rōmāikē archaiologia), of which books 1–9 and large parts of 10 and 11 survive. It went from mythical times down to the outbreak of the First Punic War (264 BC), the point at which the history of Polybius begins, but the surviving part breaks off in 441 BC. It is a painstakingly detailed composition made from the Roman annalists, and a valuable supplement to Livy. It contains the observation, much repeated since the writer's day, that the style is the man (1. 3).

4. Dionysius the Areopagite, see NEOPLATONISM.

5. Dionysius Periēgētēs (‘the guide’) (probably second century AD), the Greek author of a Description of the World, a didactic poem in 1, 185 hexameters, repeating the views of the Hellenistic scholar Eratosthenes, who was by then somewhat out of date. It enjoyed great popularity in later times. Eustathius in the twelfth century wrote a valuable commentary on it.

c.430–367 B.C., tyrant of Syracuse. Of humble origin, he entered politics as a supporter of the poorer classes. Having prompted (400 B.C.) a measure to elect truly democratic generals, he secured for himself one of these generalships. His next move was to arouse distrust of his colleagues, and so well did he succeed that he soon became tyrant. Fundamentally his reign was characterized by a consistent policy of maintaining the obedience of the Syracusans through fear of the constant menace of the Carthaginians, then masters of a large part of Sicily. At the same time he kept alive the enthusiasm of his subjects by expeditions against the cities of the Italian mainland and by his none too successful efforts to repel the Carthaginians. He sided with Sparta against Athenian naval predominance. He wrote tragedies and was patron of the arts.

Tyrant of Syracuse (405–367) noted for his campaigns against the Carthaginians in Sicily. His son Dionysius (395?–343?), known as “the Younger,” succeeded him as tyrant in 367 and was exiled in 343 for his despotic rule.

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The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: Tyrant of Syracuse who fought the Carthaginians (430-367 BC)
  Synonym: Dionysius the Elder

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