Once a close friend or perhaps even adoptive father of Dionysius, he was banished for unknown reasons by Dionysius. During the Third Sicilian War, Rhegium had allied itself with Carthage against Syracuse because Syracuse was a rival in Magna Graecia and both wanted to control the Strait of Messina.Determined to control the Strait of Messina located between Messene and Rhegium, Dionysius resettled Messene and Medma with Italian Greeks from Locri and Messenians from Naupactus and Zacynthus respectively. However, he relocated the Messenians to Tyndaris located further west in the coast, to avoid upsetting the Spartans.