Dionysius I of Syracuse Biography

Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder (Greek: Διονύσιος ὁ Πρεσβύτερος; c. 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in what is now Sicily, southern Italy. 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.