DIONYSIUS, surnamed Periegetes, from his being the author of a ______, containing a description of the whole earth in hexameter verse, and written in a terse and elegant style. This work enjoyed a high degree of popularity in ancient times, and two translations or paraphrases of it were made by the Romans, one by Rufus Festus Avienus, and the other by the grammarian Priscian. The best edition of the original is that by Bernhardy (Leipsic, 1828). Great differences of opinion have been entertained as to the age and country of this Dionysius. All, however, are agreed in placing him in the time of the Roman emperors, and it seems highly probable that he flourished in the latter part of the 3d or the beginning of the 4th century. Éustathius says that he was by descent a Libyan.