The date is established by the fact that he wrote to Pope Soter.

[1] Eusebius in his Chronicle placed his "floruit" in the eleventh year of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (171).

When Hegesippus was at Corinth in the time of Pope Anicetus, Primus was bishop (about 150–5), while Bacchylus was Bishop of Corinth at the time of the Paschal controversy (about 190–8).

[2] Eusebius mentions:[2] But the most important letter is the seventh one, addressed to the Romans, and the only one from which extracts have been preserved.

Pope Soter had sent alms and a letter to the Corinthians, and in response Dionysius wrote: Again: Again: