Marcus Aurelius Papirius Dionysius (died c. 190) was a Roman eques and jurist who held a number of military and civilian positions during the reign of the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, including praefectus annonae, or overseer of the grain rations for Rome.
[1] It attests several positions he held: prefectus vehiculorum, or director of the public post; sacerdos confarreationum et diffarreationum, or official responsible for conducting the ancient form of Roman marriage; and member the advisory board (consilium principis) to the emperor as legal adviser (centenario consiliario Augusti).
Due to the incomplete nature of the text, we cannot be certain of the order or date of these positions, except that they were earlier in his career than the major one he held -- praefectus annonae.
Dionysius abused his office to artifice an impending famine in Rome by deliberately withholding the grain reserves.
This led to a revolt in the Circus Maximus during a horse race, when the crowd was convinced that Cleander was responsible for the lack of food, who then marched to where the emperor Commodus was.