This Dionysius character was not a pleasant ruler and didn't take lightly to smoke being blown up his arse. Damocles was basically a brown-noser to his boss Dionysius II of Syracuse. Here is a 'modern-pop culture' explanation of the Sword. Jack Robert's guidebook mentions the climb and has a sketch, but thats about it. Online research didn't give me much information. I vaguely remember hearing about the climb before, but knew nothing about it. Erik suggested we take a look at an ice climb called the Sword of Damocles.