Deinocrates

(Δεινοκράτης).

1. A Syracusan, was originally a friend of Agathocles, who on that account spared his life in the massacre at Syracause by which he established himself in the tyranny, B. C. 317. Afterwards, however, in B. C. 312, we find Deinocrates commanding the Syracusan exiles them against Agathocles. The latter, when he fled from Africa and returned to Sicily at the end of B. C. 307, found Deinocrates at the head of so formidable an army, that he offered to abdicate the tyranny and restore the exiles, stipulating only for the possession of two fortresses with the territory around them. But the ambition of Deinocrates, who preferred his present power to the condition of a private citizen in Syracuse, led him to reject the offer. Agathocles, however, defeated him in a battle, and he then submitted. He was received into favour by the tyrant, who gave him the command of a portion of his forces, and retained him in his confidence to the end. (Diod. 19.8, 104, 20.77, 79, 89, 90.)