Curiosities about tyrant Dionysus
The name of Dionysus is linked to a cave that bears his name, the Ear of Dionysus, but there are other anecdotes about him.
According to legend, in fact, he made the quarries a prison because, given their exceptional acoustics, he could have used them to spy on the speeches of his prisoners, and foil any attacks on time.
But Dionisio was a particularly ironic and cunning tyrant and on many stories have been born of him.
Among his most famous misdeeds, we recall that of having removed all the gold decorations from the ancient statues, inventing a different excuse from time to time. The best known episode concerns a statue of Zeus, who is said to have a splendid golden cloak, which Dionysius took and had a wool blanket replaced because, according to him, warmer in winter, which would have been good for the old Zeus. It also seems that, among his most illustrious prisoners, there was also a poet guilty of not having sufficiently appreciated his literary works.
Another episode linked to the figure of Dionysius gave birth to the expression "having a sword of Damocles on the head".
