Two tyrants of the ancient Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily. Dionysius the Elder (432–367 BC) seized power 405 BC. His first two wars with Carthage further extended the power of Syracuse, but in a third (383���378 BC) he was defeated. He was a patron of Plato. He was succeeded by his son, Dionysius the Younger, who was driven out of Syracuse by Dion 356; he was tyrant again 353, but in 343 returned to Corinth.
of Halicarnassus (lived 1st century BC) Greek critic and historian, who settled in Rome 30 BC and wrote 20 books on the early history of Rome, ten of which are extant. He also wrote on rhetoric (prose style).