Aelius Dionysius was a Greek rhetoric

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

ian from Halicarnassus

Halicarnassus

Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...

, who lived in the time of the emperor Hadrian

Hadrian

Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

. He was a very skillful musician, and wrote several works on music and its history. It is commonly supposed that he was a descendant of the elder Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...

, 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 in five books, dedicated to one Scymnus. Photius
  Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople
  Photios I , also spelled Photius or Fotios, was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 858 to 867 and from 877 to 886. He is recognized in the Eastern Orthodox churches as St...
  
   speaks in high terms of its usefulness, 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
  Atticista
  Atticista is a surname that can refer to two people in Classical history:*Aelius Dionysius, a Greek rhetorician from Halicarnassus who produced a dictionary of Attic words regarded as highly useful by the ancients....
  
  .
• A history of music in 36 books, with accounts of citharoedi
  Kithara
  The kithara or cithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the lyre or lyra family. In modern Greek the word kithara has come to mean "guitar" ....
  
  , auletae
  Aulos
  An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology.An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos...
  
  , and poets of all kinds., in 24 books., in 22 books.
• A work in five books on what Plato had said about music in his .
• Johannes Meursius
  Johannes Meursius
  Johannes Meursius , was a Dutch classical scholar and antiquary.-Biography:...
  
   was of opinion that this Dionysius was the author of the work , which was published by Aldus Manutius
  Aldus Manutius
  Aldus Pius Manutius , the Latinised name of Aldo Manuzio —sometimes called Aldus Manutius, the Elder to distinguish him from his grandson, Aldus Manutius, the Younger—was an Italian humanist who became a printer and publisher when he founded the Aldine Press at Venice.His publishing legacy includes...
  
   in Venice
  Venice
  Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
  
   in 1496, in a volume titled Horti Adonidis; but there is no evidence for this supposition.