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تابع .... 28- ديونيسيوس الاول
Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder (ca. 432–367 BC,
Greek
:
Διονύσιος ο Πρεσβύτερος) 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”.
[2]
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 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.
[3]
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”.
[4]
Aristotle
wrote how some form of ‘guard’ (viz. a personal army) is needed for absolute kingship,
[5]
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.
[6]
Conquests
He
carried on war with Carthage
from 397 BC to 392 BC with varying success;
[1]
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
[1]
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
(386), and sold the inhabitants as
slaves
. He joined the
Illyrians
in an attempt to plunder the temple of
Delphi
, 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
.
[7]
After him
Adriatic
became a sea of
Syracuse
. In the
Peloponnesian War
he espoused 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
and so sent 2,000 Greek
hoplites
and five hundred 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.
[8]
Sparta however intervened;
[9]
under
Agesilaus
and with aid from Thessaly, Macedonia and the Molossians themselves, the Spartans expelled
[10]
the Illyrians.
[11]
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."[
citation needed
]
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:
·
Length: 27 kilometers
·
Width at base: 3.3 m to 5.35 m
·
Number of known towers on circuit: 14 (including Euryalos)
·
Largest tower: 8.5 m x 8.5 m
·
Deepest ditch (at Euryalos fortress): 9 m
Building so big a fortress would have involved installing well over 300 tons of stone every day for 5 years.
[12]
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
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