Dionysius

The Graeco-Roman name Dionysius, deriving from the name of the Thracian god Dionysus, was exceedingly common, and many ancient people, famous and otherwise, bore it. It remains a common name today in the form Dennis (Denys, Denis, Denise). The modern Greek form of the name is Dionysios or Dionysis. The Spanish form of the name is Dionisio. The Italian form of the name is Dionigi.

People named Dionysius

Among the persons known by the name Dionysius, or using the French version Denis, some of the more famous were:

Ancient Greece and Rome

• Dionysius the Elder (or Dionysius I), ruler of Syracuse in Sicily
• Dionysius the Younger (or Dionysius II), son of the preceding
• Dionysius of Phocaea, commander of the Ionian fleet at the Battle of Lade, 494 BC
• Dionysius Chalcus, Athenian elegiac poet, 5th century BC
• Dionysius of Heraclea, tyrant of Heraclea Pontica, 4th century BC
• Dionysius (Athenian Commander), an Athenian naval commander during the Corinthian War
• Dionysius the Renegade, Stoic philosopher from Heraclea who became a Cyrenaic, c. 300 BC.
• Dionysius (ambassador), 3rd century BC, ambassador to the court of the Indian ruler Ashoka.
• Dionysius Thrax, Greek grammarian, 2nd century BC
• Dionysius of Cyrene, Stoic philosopher and mathematician, c. 150 BC.
• Aelius Dionysius, a Greek rhetorician from Halicarnassus
• Dionysius Periegetes, Greek geographer, 2nd or 3rd century
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Greek historian of the Roman period

Christian saints, monks and bishops

• Dionysius the Areopagite, Athenian judge who was converted by Paul of Tarsus and became Bishop of Athens
  • Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (5th century), name claimed by a pseudonymous writer, identified by some with Georgian theologian Peter the Iberian (411–491), author of Corpus Areopagiticum
• Dionysius, a lector and martyr of Alexandria - see Faustus, Abibus and Dionysius of Alexandria
• Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, 2nd century bishop
• Saint Dionysius of Alexandria, 3rd century Egyptian bishop
• Dionysius, 3rd century Christian martyr and saint
• Saint Denis, Bishop of Paris, martyr (died ca. 250)
• Pope Dionysius, 259–268
• Dionysius of Milan, bishop of Milan 349-355, saint
• Dionysius Exiguus, (c. 470–c. 540) monk from Scythia Minor who invented the Anno Domini era
• Dionysius Telmaharensis, (d. 848) former head of the Syrian Jacobite Church
• Jacob Bar-Salibi also known as Dionysius Bar-salibi, member of Syrian Jacobite Church in the 12th century, best known for his commentary on biblical texts
• Dionysius I, Metropolitan of Moscow (c. 1300–1385), 14th century orthodox prelate
• Saint Dionysios of Zakynthos, 15th century Orthodox Christian Archbishop of Aegina
• Dionysius the Wise, (late 15th century–early 16th century), Russian medieval icon-painter
• Denis the Carthusian (1402-1471)
• Patriarch Dionysius I of Constantinople, Saint, reigned from 1466 to 1471 and from 1488 to 1490
• Patriarch Dionysius II of Constantinople, reigned from 1546 to 1556
• Dionysius the Philosopher, (1560 AD–1611 AD), Epirotian Greek monk who led two farmer revolts against the Ottoman Turks.
• Mar Dionysius I (died 1808), Metropolitan of the Malankara Church

Other

• Benjamin Musaphia (1606–1675), Jewish doctor, scholar, and kabbalist, who sometimes called himself Dionysius
• Dionysius Lardner (1793–1859), Irish scientific writer
• Dionysios Demetis, Greek composer
• Dionyssis Diakos, Greek revolutionary leader in the Greek War of Independence
• Dionysios Iliadis, Greek judoka
• Dionysios Kasdaglis, Greek-Egyptian tennis player
• Dionysis Makris, Greek singer
• Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, Greek actor
• Dionysis Savvopoulos, Greek songwriter, lyricist and singer
• Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet

See also

• Dionysius (journal)
• Dionysos (disambiguation)
• Dionisius