a Syracusan, son of Hipparinus, famous for his power and abilities. He was related to Dionysius, and often advised him together with the philosopher Plato, who at his request had come to reside at the tyrant's court, to lay aside the supreme power. His great popularity rendered him odious in the eyes of the tyrants, who banished him to Greece. There he collected a numerous force, and resolved to free his country from tyranny. This he easily effected on account of his uncommon popularity. He entered the port of Syracuse only in two ships; and in three days reduced under his power an empire which had already subsisted for 50 years, and which was guarded by 500 ships of war, and above 100,000 troops. The tyrant fled to Corinth, and Dion kept the power in his own hands, fearful of the aspiring ambition of some of the friends of Dionysius: but he was shamefully betrayed and murdered by one of his familiar friends called Callipates, or Callippus, 354 years before the Christian era.