Dionysius I of Syracuse

Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder (c. 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily. He 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.^[1]

Early life

Dionysius began his working life as a clerk in a public office.

When the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] had settled the affairs of Greece to their own taste, they dispatched Aristus, one of their distinguished men, to Syracuse, ostensibly pretending that they would overthrow the government, but in truth with intent to increase the power of the tyranny; for they hoped that by helping to establish the rule of Dionysius they would obtain his ready service because of their benefactions to him.[4]

Dionysius even received the privilege of conscripting mercenaries from lands under Spartan authority. The demise of such a prominent democratic polis and the subsequent actions of Dionysius represented a recurring norm in fourth-century Greek states, thanks to the prevalence of mercenaries. The mercenary and the tyrant went hand in hand; for example, Polybius noted that "the security of despots rests entirely on the loyalty and power of mercenaries".^[5] Aristotle wrote that some form of "guard" (i.e., a personal army) is needed for absolute kingship,^[6] and for an elected tyrant an optimum number of professional soldiers should be employed. Too few would undermine the tyrant's power, while too many would threaten the polis itself. The philosopher also notes that the people of Syracuse were warned not to let Dionysius conscript too many "guards" during his regime.^[6]

Conquests

He fought a

He carried out an expedition against the

According to some sources, after gaining a prize for one of his tragedies, “The Ransom of Hector” (see Intellectual tastes below), at a competition at the Lenaia festival at Athens, he was so elated that he drank himself to death.^[12] Others report that he died of natural causes shortly after learning of his play's victory in 367 BC.^{[citation needed]} According to others, he was given an overdose of a sleeping potion by his physicians at the instigation of his son, Dionysius the Younger, who succeeded him as ruler of Syracuse.^[1] A similar theory, proposed by Justin, stated that Dionysius "was defeated and broken by constant warfare, and finally murdered by a conspiracy of his own kin".^[13]

His life was written by Philistus, but the work is not extant.^[1]

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.^[1] Diodorus Siculus relates in his Bibliotheca historica that Dionysius once had Philoxenus arrested and sent to the quarries for voicing a bad opinion about his poetry. The next day, he released Philoxenus 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 Philoxenus how he liked it, the poet turned to the guards and said "take me back to the quarries."^[14] Plutarch relates a version of this story in his On the Fortune of Alexander.^[15]

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

Dionysius was one of the major figures in Greek and European history. He was a champion of the struggle between the Greeks and Carthage for Sicily, and was the first to bring the war into the enemy's territory. He transformed Syracuse into the most powerful city in the Greek world, and made it the seat of an empire stretching from Sicily across to Italy. Although this empire was technically a constitutional republic, in fact it was the first Greek empire which was in effect a monarchy; in this, Dionysius foreshadowed the accomplishments of Alexander the Great and beyond him of Augustus. He also foreshadowed these later rulers in being one of the first Greek rulers to be given divine honors during his lifetime, and he made innovations in military technique, such as siege engines, which became a standard feature of warfare under Alexander the Great and later generals.^[17]

It has been theorized that

In 402 BC Dionysius I began building the walls of Syracuse, which included an impressive citadel, the Euryalus fortress, protecting the plateau to the northwest of Syracuse, the remains of which are still visible today. The walls were completed in 397 BC and had the following characteristics:

• Length: 27 km
• Width at base: 3.3 m to 5.35 m
• Number of known towers on circuit: 14 (including Euryalos)
• Largest tower: 8.5 m x 8.5 m
• Deepest ditch (at Euryalos fortress): 9 m

Building so big a fortress would have involved installing well over 300 tons of stone every day for 5 years.^[19]

In popular culture and literature

Dionysius I is one of the central characters in the legend of the Sword of Damocles.^[20]

Dionysius I also appears to be mentioned in

A fictional version of Dionysius is a character in Mary Renault's historical novel The Mask of Apollo (1966).

He is the main character in Valerio Massimo Manfredi's novel Tyrant (2003).

"Dionysius the Tyrant" is mentioned in the 2006 Robert Harris novel Imperium as the founder of the Stone Quarries of Syracuse. The narrator, Marcus Tullius Tiro, proclaims the Stone Quarries "the most fearsome prison in the world."

He is featured in the 1962 film Damon and Pythias.

He also features in Friedrich Schiller's "Die Bürgschaft", as well as Osamu Dazai's reworked version "Run, Melos!".

See also

• Archimedes of Syracuse
• Pyrrhus of Epirus

Notes