Dionysius I or
Dionysius the Elder (; c. 432 – 367 BC) 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.