C. Jacob, La Description de la terre habitée de Denys d’Alexandrie ou la leçon de géographie (1990); I.O. Tsavari,
Histoire du texte de la description de la terre de Denys le Périégète (1990); H. White, “On the date of Dionysius
Periegetes,” Orpheus 22 (2001) 288–290; E. Amato, “Per la Cronologia di Dionisio el Periegeta,” RPh
77 (2003) 7–16; E. Bowie, “Dénys d’Alexandrie. Un poète grec dans l’empire romain,” REA 106
(2004) 177–186; R. Hunter, “The Periegesis of Dionysius and the traditions of Hellenistic poetry,”
REA 106 (2004) 217–232.
Daniela Dueck
Dionusios of Alexandria (300 – 220 BCE)
Designed a repeating catapult for discharging arrows, possibly constructed during the siege
of Rhodes by De ̄me ̄trios Poliorke ̄te ̄s. P (Belop. p. 73 W.), who saw the weapon in
action, describes the catapult and its operation: a winch was pulled back and forth to volley
arrows as quickly as the men could turn the handles. Philo ̄n criticizes the catapult which
could not be re-sighted between shots.
Irby-Massie and Keyser (2002) 160–161.
GLIM
Dionusios of Buzantion (120 – 180 CE?)
Composed the extant Anaplous of the Bosporos, describing the sail up (anaplous) and back down
the Thrakian Bosporos. The work is preserved in one MS, missing a middle folio, represent-
ing one-third of the work (§ 57 – 96), for which we rely on the 16th c. Latin of Pierre Gilles,
translated from a lost Greek MS. Dionusios’ detailed description of Buzantion seems to
predate the city’s razing by Septimius Seuerus in 196 CE, and the language suggests the 2nd
c. CE. Dionusios refers to or imitates H, T, X, P,
S, P, and A, possibly not using any directly. The work gives an over-
view of the Bosporos (§ 1 – 6), describes sites in and around Buzantion (§ 7 – 34), proceeds up
the European shore of the Bosporos to the Black Sea (§ 35 – 87), and returns down the Asian
shore to Khalke ̄do ̄n (§ 87 – 112). Dionusios’ unusual periplous gives extents only for the
Maiotis, Bosporos, Keras, and walls of Buzantion (§ 2 – 6). He describes monuments, anchor-
ages, and fishing, and for all names provides aitia, which include myths (§7, 24, 45) and
paradoxa (§24, 42, 70, 95). The monuments include many temples, Philip’s siege-bridge
(§27), Dareios’ throne (§57), and the ruined lighthouse Timaion (§77). His greatest practical
interest lies in anchorages, described for 16 sites, and fishing, described for 15 sites, plus
oyster-beds (§37).
Talbert (2000) #53; BNP 2 (2003) 733–735 (Bosporus #1), E. Olshausen; BNP 4 (2004) 487 (#28),
K. Brodersen.
PTK
Dionusios of Corinth (265 BCE – 75 CE)
This epic poet is of uncertain date but he surely lived after K. According to
the Souda Delta-1177, he wrote Hupothekai, Meteo ̄rologoumena, and Aitia from which only a
small fragment remains (P, Amat. 761B = SH 388). He is likely to have also written
a prose commentary on H. However all this remains uncertain because the Souda
attributed to him a Perie ̄ge ̄sis owing to confusion with D A.
BNP 4 (2004) 490 (#43), M. Di Marco.
Christophe Cusset
DIONUSIOS OF ALEXANDRIA