Dionysius II of Syracuse (397-343 BC) was Tyrant of Syracuse from 367 to 356 BC (succeeding Dionysius I and preceding Dion) and from 347 to 344 BC (succeeding Nysaeus and preceding Timoleon).
Biography[]
Dionysius was born in Syracuse in 397 BC, the son of Dionysius I of Syracuse and Doris of Locri. He succeeded his father as tyrant in 367 BC, with his uncle Dion serving as regent. Dionysius lived a lavishly dissolute lifestyle which led to his uncle inviting the philosopher Plato to Syracuse to tutor his nephew, whom both of them sought to make into a "philosopher-king". However, opponents of Dion's reforms poisoned Dionysius' mind against his uncle, and Dionysius and the historian Philistus banished his uncle in 366 BC. Without Dion, however, Dionysius' incompetence with governing men and commanding soldiers resulted in his popularity eroding. When Plato appealed for Dion's return, Dionysius confiscated Dion's property, and even his wife. In 357 BC, Dion returned to Sicily from Zakynthos at the head of a mercenary army, and Dion captured all but Syracuse's island citadel. Dionysius was forced to flee to Locri, which he ruled over from 356 to 346 BC, and he treated the initially friendly locals with great cruelty. In 346 BC, eight years after Dion's officers betrayed and assassinated him, Dionysius returned to Syracuse, where he regained power; his wife and daughters were then murdered by the rebellious Locrians. In 344 BC, he surrendered to Timoleon during the latter's invasion of Sicily, and he went into exile in Corinth, where he died a pauper.