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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep261: PREVIEW DION'S RETURN AND DESCENT INTO TYRANNY Colleague Professor James Romm. Professor Romm discusses Dion, a returning exile who liberated Syracuse but eventually adopted dictatorial tactics and authorized political assassinations. Although Dion attemp

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

PREVIEW DION'S RETURN AND DESCENT INTO TYRANNY Colleague Professor James Romm. Professor Romm discusses Dion, a returning exile who liberated Syracuse but eventually adopted dictatorial tactics and authorized political assassinations. Although Dion attempted to establish a pluralistic government, he struggled against "white hot" revolutionary passions and a radical populist rival comparable to a Trotsky figure.
1898  SCHOOL OF PLATO

Transcript

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0:35.5

Plato and the Tyrant,

0:41.4

in turning on Dion, the brother-in-law of the tyrants,

0:45.7

that would be Dionysius I and Dionysus II,

0:48.1

double brother-in-law in one instance.

0:52.3

They married several women in all directions, including sisters.

0:59.4

However, Dionne, Dionne, returns to the island after having been exiled with an invasion fleet to drive out the tyrants, or at least to neutralize them, and win back the hearts and minds of the Syracusans.

1:07.2

This is a very powerful state pulling itself apart with family feuding. However, once

1:13.6

Dion is established again, he leans towards being a dictator himself, a tyrant is what they

1:21.5

called them, 2,500 years ago. And he leads to making decisions about political assassination.

1:30.1

Qualifying considerably my reading of Dion, 2,500 years later,

1:36.6

someone who was celebrated by Plato in the 4th century BC contemporary,

1:44.0

and then four and a half centuries, five centuries later, by Plutarch

1:48.4

in the first century AD and the second century AD celebrating the lives, admiring a.miring a.

1:56.1

Who vouchsafed political assassination and worse. Wanted to do worse.

2:02.3

Is James explaining as best we can.

2:05.7

I understand.

2:06.6

I'm using Shakespearean logic to something that didn't have anything to do with

...

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