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 the worst kind of despot: cruel, suspicious, and vindictive.[1]
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dionysius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 284. Endnotes:
- Diod. Sic. xiii., xiv., xv. *J. Bass, Dionysius I. von Syrakus (Vienna, 1881), with full references to authorities in footnotes
