Dionysius I of Syracuse

Portrait from Chronologisch geordneter Bildniss-Saal (1833) by Mark Karl Baldamus Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder (c. 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily. He conquered several cities on Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence on 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.

Early life