Dionysiades

{{Short description|Ancient Greek tragic poet}}

{{distinguish|text=Dionysades, the Greek archipelago}}

Dionysiades ({{langx|grc|Διονυσιάδης}}) of Tarsus was an ancient Greek tragic poet who lived in the time of Alexander the Great (second half of the 4th century BC).[https://books.google.com/books?id=5ElAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA281 F. Lübker, J. D. Van Hoëvell, Classisch Woordenboek van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, Rotterdam, 1857, s.v. "Dionysiades", p. 281.] According to Strabo, he was the best of the tragic poets included in the so-called Alexandrian Pleiad.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Ddionysiades-bio-2 William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, s.v. "Dionysiades (2)"]."And the best tragic poet among those enumerated in the 'Pleias' was Dionysides", Strabo, Geographica, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D14%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D15 14.5.15].

It is not certain whether he is identical with Dionysiades of Mallus in Cilicia, also a tragic poet,[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Ddionysiades-bio-1 William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, s.v. "Dionysiades (1)"]. who wrote a work entitled Styles or Lovers of Comedy ({{langx|grc|Χαρακτῆρες ἢ Φιλοκωμῳδοί}}), "in which he describes (ἀπαγγέλλει) the styles of [comic] poets".[http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&page_num=1&user_list=LIST&searchstr=Dionysiades&field=hw_eng&num_per_page=25&db=REAL Suida, s.v. Διονυσιάδης.] This work was perhaps the first attempt to distinguish and define the styles of Attic comic poets.Rudolf Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship: from the Beginnings to the End of the Hellenistic Age, Oxford, 1968, p. 160. The Suda mentions that Dionysiades of Mallus was a member of the Pleiad and his father was named Phylarchides.[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/delta/1169 Suda, delta, 1169]