Dionysius

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poem in 1, 185 hexameters, repeating the views of the Hellenistic scholar Eratosthenes, who was by then somewhat out of date.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.

The noun has one meaning:

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

The Graeco-Roman name Dionysius, deriving from the name of the Thracian god Dionysus, was exceedingly common, and many ancient people, famous and otherwise, bore it. It remains a common name today in the form Dennis (Denys, Denis, Denise). The modern Greek form of the name is Dionysios or Dionysis.

People named Dionysius

Among the persons known by the name Dionysius, some of the more famous were:

• Dionysius the Elder (or Dionysius I), ruler of Syracuse in Sicily
• Dionysius the Younger, (or Dionysius II), son of the preceding
• Dionysius of Phocaea, commander of the Ionian fleet at the Battle of Lade, 494 BC
• Dionysius Chalcus, Athenian elegiac poet, 5th century BC
• Dionysius of Heraclea, tyrant of Heraclea Pontica, 4th century BC
• Dionysius (Athenian Commander), an Athenian naval commander during the Corinthian War
• Dionysius the Renegade, Stoic philosopher from Heraclea who became a Cyrenaic, c. 300 BC.
• Dionysius (ambassador), 3rd century BC, ambassador to the court of the Indian ruler Ashoka.
• Dionysius Thrax, Greek grammarian, 2nd century BC
• Dionysius of Cyrene, Stoic philosopher and mathematician, c. 150 BC.
• Dionysius, a lector and martyr of Alexandria - see Faustus, Abibus and Dionysius of Alexandria
• Dionysius the Areopagite, Athenian judge who was converted by Paul of Tarsus and became Bishop of Athens
  • Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (5th century), name given to anonymous writer, identified by some with Georgian theologian Peter the Iberian (411–491), author of Corpus Areopagiticum
• Dionysius Periegetes, Greek geographer, 2nd or 3rd century
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Greek historian of the Roman period
• Saint Dionysius of Alexandria, 3rd century Egyptian bishop
• Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, 2nd century bishop
• Dionysius, 3rd century Christian martyr and saint
• Saint Denis, Bishop of Paris, martyr (died ca. 250)
• Pope Dionysius (259–268)
• Dionysius of Alba, 4th-century bishop.
• Dionysius Exiguus, (c. 470–c. 540) monk from Scythia Minor who invented the Anno Domini era
• Dionysius Telmaharensis, (d. 848) former head of the Syrian Jacobite Church
• Jacob Bar-Salibi also known as Dionysius Bar-salibi, member of Syrian Jacobite Church in the 12th century, best known for his commentary on biblical texts
• Dionysius I, Metropolitan of Moscow (c. 1300–1385), 14th century orthodox prelate
• Dionysius the Wise, (late 15th century–early 16th century), Russian medieval icon-painter
• Denis the Carthusian (1402-1471)
• Dionysius the Philosopher, (1560 AD–1611 AD), Epirotian Greek monk who led two farmer revolts against the Ottoman Turks.
• Benjamin Musaphia (1606–1675), Jewish doctor, scholar, and kabbalist, who sometimes called himself Dionysius
• Dionysius Lardner (1793–1859), Irish scientific writer
• Aelius Dionysius, a Greek rhetorician from Halicarnassus

People named Dionysios or Dionysis

• Saint Dionysios of Zakynthos, 15th century Orthodox Christian Archbishop of Aegina
• Dionysios Demetis, Greek composer
• Dionyssis Diakos, Greek revolutionary leader in the Greek War of Independence
• Dionysios Iliadis, Greek judoka
• Dionysios Kasdaglis, Greek-Egyptian tennis player
• Dionysis Makris, Greek singer
• Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, Greek actor
• Dionysis Savvopoulos, Greek songwriter, lyricist and singer
• Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet

See also

• Dionysos (disambiguation)
• Dionisius

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