Aelius Dionysius

Aelius Dionysius was a Greek rhetorician from Halicarnassus, who lived in the time of the em­peror Hadrian.Citation
last = Smith
first = William
author-link = William Smith (lexicographer)
contribution = Dionysius, Aelius
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
volume = 1
pages = 1037
publisher =
place = Boston
year = 1867
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1043.html ] He was a very skillful musician, and wrote several works on music and its history.Suda, "s.v." polytonic|Διονύσιος] It is commonly supposed that he was a descendant of the elder Dionysius of Halicarnassus, author of the Roman Archaeo­logy.

Respecting his life nothing further is known. The following works, which are now lost, are attri­buted to him by the ancients:
*A dictionary of Attic words (polytonic|Αττικά ονόματα) in five books, dedi­cated to one Scymnus. Photius speaks in high terms of its usefulness, ["Bibl." Cod. 152] and states that Aelius Dionysius himself made two editions of it, the second of which was a great improvement upon the first. Both editions appear to have been extant in the time of Photius. It seems to have been owing to this work that Aelius Dionysius was called sometimes by the surname of Atticista.
*A history of music (polytonic|μουσική ιστορία) in 36 books, with accounts of citharoedi, auletae, and poets of all kinds.
*polytonic|Ρυθμικά υπομνήματα, in 24 books.
*polytonic|Μουσικης παιδεία ή διατριβαί, in 22 books.
*A work in five books on what Plato had said about music in his polytonic|πολιτεία. [Eudoc. p. 131]
*Johannes Meursius was of opinion that this Dionysius was the author of the work polytonic|περί ακλίτων ρημάτων καί εγκλινομένων λέξεων, which was published by Aldus Manutius in Venice in 1496, in a volume ­titled "Horti Adonidis"; but there is no evidence for this supposition. [Comp. Schol. Venet. "ad Iliad." xv. 705] [Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison, "Prolegom. ad Hom. Il." p. xxix]

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