Dionysius I of Syracuse Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder ( ; 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 . Early life . Dionysius I began his working life as a clerk in a public office . Because of his achievements in the war against Carthage that had begun in 409 BC , he was elected supreme military commander in 406 BC ; in the following year he seized total power and became tyrant . In subsequent years he consolidated his position ruthlessly . Mercenaries and Autocracy . Dionysius the Elder ’ s victory over the democratic Syracuse represents both the very worst and the very best of the mercenary - leader . Dionysius ’ career as a despot occurred after he was given six hundred personal mercenaries to guard his person after faking an attack on his own life . He was able to increase this guard to one thousand and gradually consolidated his power and established himself as a tyrant . He imposed his mercenaries on all parts of the polis community . Such an act would have truly wiped out any suggestion that democracy was still in force . His rule was “ unconstitutional and illegitimate and could not fail to provoke rebellions among the partisans of democratic government ” . Dionysius ’ position at home would be threatened even as early as 403 by those philosophically opposed to tyranny . Interestingly , Sparta , which had in the past deposed tyrants from Corinth to Athens , did not damn Dionysius and his autocracy . In fact relations between the two were very positive : When the Lacedaemonians [ Spartans ] had settled the affairs of Greece to their own taste , they dispatched Aristus , one of their distinguished men , to Syracuse , ostensibly pretending that they would overthrow the government , but in truth with intent to increase the power of the tyranny ; for they hoped that by helping to establish the rule of Dionysius they would obtain his ready service because of their benefactions to him . Dionysius would even have the privilege of being allowed to conscript mercenaries from lands under Spartan authority . The demise of a prominent democratic polis in the classical world and the subsequent tenure of Dionysius represented what would become a recurring norm in fourth century Greece , thanks to the prevalence of mercenaries . The mercenary and the tyrant went hand - in - hand ; Polybius for example noted how “ the security of despots rests entirely on the loyalty and power of mercenaries ” . Aristotle wrote how some form of ‘ guard ’ ( viz . a personal army ) is needed for absolute kingship , and for an elected tyrant a very particular number of professional soldiers should be employed ; too few undermines the tyrants power and too many threatens the polis itself . The philosopher notes how based on this observation , the people of Syracuse were warned to not let Dionysius conscript too many ‘ guards ’ during his reign . Conquests . He fought a war with Carthage from 397 BC to 392 BC with mixed success ; his attempts to drive the Carthaginians entirely out of the island of Sicily failed , and at his death they were masters of at least a third of it . He also carried on an expedition against Rhegium , capturing it and attacking its allied cities in Magna Graecia . In one campaign , in which he was joined by the Lucanians , he devastated the territories of Thurii and Croton in an attempt to defend Locri . After a protracted siege , he took Rhegium in 386 and sold the inhabitants as slaves . He joined the Illyrians in an attempt to plunder the temple of Delphi and pillaged the temple of Caere ( then allied with Rome ) on the Etruscan coast . In the Adriatic , to facilitate trade , Dionysius founded Ancona , Adria and Issa . After him , the Adriatic became a sea of Syracuse . In the Peloponnesian War , he joined the side of the Spartans and assisted them with mercenaries . In 385 BC , Alcetas of Epirus was a refugee in Dionysus ' court . Dionysus wanted a friendly monarch in Epirus , so he sent 2 , 000 Greek hoplites and 500 suits of Greek armour to help the Illyrians under Bardyllis in attacking the Molossians of Epirus . They ravaged the region and killed 15 , 000 Molossians , and Alcetas regained his throne . Sparta intervened under Agesilaus , however , and with aid from Thessaly , Macedonia , and the Molossians themselves , the Spartans expelled the Illyrians . Death . According to others , he was poisoned by his physicians at the instigation of his son , Dionysius the Younger who succeeded him as ruler of Syracuse . His life was written by Philistus , but the work is not extant . Additionally , it is said that upon hearing news of his play , " The Ransom of Hector " , winning the competition at the Lanaean festival at Athens , he celebrated so fiercely that he drank himself to death . Others report that he died of natural causes shortly after learning of his play ' s victory in 367 BC . The third theory suggests that the company , of which he was a member , had taken revenge on his earlier purges and taxation imposed upon them , in an attempt to raise money for the war with Carthage . Intellectual tastes . Like Pisistratus , tyrant of Athens , Dionysius was fond of having literary men about him , such as the historian Philistus , the poet Philoxenus , and the philosopher Plato , but treated them in a most arbitrary manner . Once he had Philoxenus arrested and sent to the quarries for voicing a bad opinion about his poetry . A few days later , he released Philoxenus because of his friends ' requests , and brought the poet before him for another poetry reading . Dionysius read his own work and the audience applauded . When he asked Philoxenus how he liked it , the poet replied only " Take me back to the quarries . " He also posed as an author and patron of literature ; his poems , severely criticized by Philoxenus , were hissed at the Olympic games ; but having gained a prize for a tragedy on the " Ransom of Hector " at the Lenaea at Athens , he was so elated that he engaged in a debauch which proved fatal . His name is also known for the legend of Damon and Pythias , and he features indirectly ( via his son ) in the legend of the Sword of Damocles . The Ear of Dionysius in Syracuse is an artificial limestone cave named after Dionysius . Walls of Syracuse . In 402 BC Dionysius I began building the Circuit Walls of Syracuse . They were completed in 397 BC and had the following characteristics : Building so big a fortress would have involved installing well over 300 tons of stone every day for 5 years . Fictional references . Dionysius I is mentioned in Dante ' s " Inferno " ( of the " Divine Comedy " ) ( 1308 – 21 ) as a tyrant who indulged in blood and rapine and suffers in a river of boiling blood . A fictional version of Dionysius is a character in Mary Renault ' s historical novel " The Mask of Apollo " ( 1966 ) . He also features prominently in L . Sprague de Camp ' s historical novel " The Arrows of Hercules " ( 1965 ) as a patron of inventors on the island of Ortygia near Syracuse . He is the main character in Valerio Massimo Manfredi ' s novel " Tyrant " ( 2003 ) . He is also featured in the 1962 film Damon and Pythias . | width = 25 % align = center | Preceded by : < br > democracy < br >