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Son of Hipparinos; a Syracusan, a Platonic philosopher. [He was] the brother of Aristomache, the wife of the older Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily.[1] He also ruled over Sicily as tyrant, expelling Dionysius, the son of the older Dionysius,[2] whose brother Nisaios in turn expelled this Dion.[3] He wrote letters to Plato and to some others.[4]

*di/wn, *(ippari/nou, *surakou/sios, filo/sofos *platwniko/s, tou= *sikeli/as tura/nnou *dionusi/ou tou= prote/rou th=s gameth=s *)aristoma/xhs a)delfo/s: o(\s kai\ e)kra/thse th=s *sikeli/as turanni/dos, e)kbalw\n to\n tou= prote/rou *dionusi/ou ui(o\n *dionu/sion: ou(= pa/lin a)delfo\s *nisai=os e)ce/bale *di/wna tou=ton. e)/grayen e)pistola\s pro\s *pla/twna kai\ a)/llous tina/s.

c.408-353 BCE; OCD(4) s.v. Dion (by B.M. Caven).
The present entry corresponds closely with material in the scholia to Plato's Letters, at 320A; on this and the other primary sources see Westlake (below) 693-5.
[1] Dionysius I of Syracuse (c.430-367 BCE). See delta 1178.
[2] Dion seized Syracuse in 357 BCE, when Dionysius II was absent in Italy. For Dionysius II of Syracuse see delta 1179.
[3] Nisaios is an iotacism for Nysaios. The Suda is mistaken, for Dion was assassinated by Kallippos, who was in turn replaced by Hipparinos and Nysaios, the half-brothers of Dionysius II. Dionysius II returned from Locri in 346 and drove out Nysaios.
[4] Dion is known to have written letters to Plato and Speusippus but none of these has survived.

Berve, H. Dion. Mainz : Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1957. (Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, Nr.10, 1956)
Kroll, W. 'Nysaios' in RE 17.2, col.1661
Westlake, H.D. in Cambridge Ancient History vol.6 edn.2 (1994) chap.13

David Whitehead (augmented note; added keyword; cosmetics) on 17 March 2002@07:15:42.
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 20 December 2002@05:06:55.
David Whitehead (more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 13 July 2012@07:43:14.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 3 August 2014@05:33:59.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 2 January 2015@01:01:25.

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