1000 Classical Characters Briefly Described

Who was Iphigenia? What did Cincinnatus do? A thousand gods, heroes and tyrants of the classical world, each explained in the time it takes to read a text message.

HomeD › Dione

Dione

A female Titan, by Zeus (Jupiter), by whom she became the mother of Aphrodite (Venus), who is hence called Dionaea, and sometimes even Dione. Hence Caesar is called Dionaeus Caesar, because he claimed descent from Venus.

Dionysius the Elder. Was the son of Hermocrates. He signalized himself in the wars which the Syracusans carried on against Carthage, and made himself absolute at Syracuse. His tyranny rendered him odious to his subjects. He made a subterraneous cave in a rock in the form of a human ear, which was called "the Ear of Dionysius." The sounds of this cave were all directed to one common tympanum, which had a communication with IOOO CLASSICAL CHARACTERS an adjoining room, where Dionysius spent part of his time in listening to what was said by those whom he had imprisoned. He died in the sixty-third year of his age, B. c. 368, after a reign of thirty-eight years.

Dionysius the Younger. Was son of Dionysius the First and Doris. He succeeded his father, and as soon as he ascended the throne he invited Plato to his court and studied under him for some time. Plato advised him to lay aside the supreme power, in which he was supported by Dion. This highly incensed Dionysius, who banished Dion, who collected forces in Greece, and in three days rendered himself master of Syracuse, and expelled the tyrant, B. c. 357. Dionysius, however, recovered Syracuse ten years afterward, but was soon compelled to retire again by the Corinthians under Timoleon.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus. A historian who left his country and came to reside in Rome that he might study all the authors who had written Roman history. He was occupied during twenty-four years on his work on Roman antiquities, which consisted of twenty books.

← Dion ChrysostomusDioscuri →