The Cambridge Ancient History

Dionysius, son of Hermocritus and member of the faction of his father‐in‐law Hermocrates, the Syracusan oligarchic leader and aspiring tyrant who died in 407 BCE, was a cultivated, talented, and ambitious man. He turned into a tyrant in 406/5 when the assembly granted him the title of strategos autokrator for the war against the Carthaginians who were menacing Syracuse. Assisted by mercenaries, Dionysius transformed the office of strategos into a form of tyranny characterized by strong military support and by a direct relationship with the population and the army. As common in the tradition of the Siceliots ever since the Dinomenids, Dionysius employed mercenaries on a large scale, whose service he won by his charisma as a military leader, by awarding them lands (taken from the Chalcidian cities of Naxos, Leontini, and Catana), and by allowing citizenship rights.

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The Cambridge Ancient History

Cited by 50 publications

References 586 publications

The Empire of the Spartans (404–371)

The Empire of the Spartans (404–371)

Sparta and the Peloponnese from the Archaic Period to 362bc

Dionysius I (432–367 BCE)

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