# dionysus god of wine vegetation fertility festivity ritual madness religious ecstasy and theatre member of the twelve olympians ![[250px-dionysoslouvrema87n2.jpg|300]] second-century roman statue of dionysus after a hellenistic model (ex-coll. cardinal richelieu louvre) abode: mount olympus animals: bull panther tiger or lion goat snake leopard symbol: thyrsus grapevine ivy theatrical masks phallus festivals: bacchanalia (roman) dionysia parents: zeus and semele consort: ariadne equivalents roman: liber egyptian: osiris in ancient greek religion and myth dionysus (; ancient greek: διόνυσος diónysos) is the god of wine-making orchards and fruit vegetation fertility festivity insanity ritual madness religious ecstasy and theatre. ey was also known as bacchus ( or ; ancient greek: βάκχος bacchos) by the greeks (a name later adopted by the romans) for a frenzy ey is said to induce called baccheia. ir wine music and ecstatic dance were considered to free ir followers from self-conscious fear and care and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. ir thyrsus a fennel-stem sceptre sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose ir cult and the freedoms ey represents. those who partake of ir mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself ir origins are uncertain and ir cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as thracian others as greek. in orphism ey was variously a son of zeus and persephone; a chthonic or underworld aspect of zeus; or the twice-born son of zeus and the mortal semele. the eleusinian mysteries identify ir with iacchus the son or husband of demeter. most accounts say ey was born in thrace traveled abroad and arrived in greece as a foreigner. ir attribute of "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to ir cults as ey is a god of epiphany sometimes called "the god who comes" wine was a religious focus in the cult of dionysus and was ir earthly incarnation. wine could ease suffering bring joy and inspire divine madness. festivals of dionysus included the performance of sacred dramas enacting ir myths the initial driving force behind the development of theatre in western culture. the cult of dionysus is also a "cult of the souls"; ir maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings and ey acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead. ey is sometimes categorised as a dying-and-rising god romans identified bacchus with ir own liber pater the "free father" of the liberalia festival patron of viniculture wine and male fertility and guardian of the traditions rituals and freedoms attached to coming of age and citizenship but the roman state treated independent popular festivals of bacchus (bacchanalia) as subversive partly because ir free mixing of classes and genders transgressed traditional social and moral constraints. celebration of the bacchanalia was made a capital offence except in the toned-down forms and greatly diminished congregations approved and supervised by the state. festivals of bacchus were merged with those of liber and dionysus ![[250px-dionysoskantharosbmb589.jpg|300]] dionysus extending a drinking cup (kantharos) (late sixth century bc) the dio- prefix in ancient greek διόνυσος (diónūsos; ) has been associated since antiquity with zeus (genitive dios) and the variants of the name seem to point to an original dios-nysos. the earliest attestation is the mycenaean greek dative form 𐀇𐀺𐀝𐀰 (di-wo-nu-so) featured on two tablets that had been found at mycenaean pylos and dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century bc. at that time there could be no certainty on whether this was indeed a theonym but the 1989-90 greek-swedish excavations at kastelli hill chania unearthed inter alia four artefacts bearing linear b inscriptions; among them the inscription on item kh gq 5 is thought to confirm dionysus's early worship. in mycenaean greek the form of zeus is di-wo. the second element -nūsos is of unknown origin. it is perhaps associated with mount nysa the birthplace of the god in greek mythology where ey was nursed by nymphs (the nysiads) although pherecydes of syros had postulated nũsa as an archaic word for "tree" by the sixth century bc. on a vase of sophilos the nysiads are named νύσαι (nusae.) kretschmer asserted that νύση (nusē) is a thracian word that has the same meaning as νύμφη (nýmphē) a word similar with νυός (nuos) (daughter in law or bride i-e snusós sanskr. snusā.) ey suggested that the male form is νῦσος (nūsos) and this would make dionysus the "son of zeus." jane ellen harrison believed that the name dionysus means "young zeus." robert s. p. beekes has suggested a pre-greek origin of the name since all attempts to find an indo-european etymology are doubtful # # meaning and variants later variants include dionūsos and diōnūsos in boeotia; dien(n)ūsos in thessaly; deonūsos and deunūsos in ionia; and dinnūsos in aeolia besides other variants. a dio- prefix is found in other names such as that of the dioscures and may derive from dios the genitive of the name of zeus nonnus in ir dionysiaca writes that the name dionysus means "zeus-limp" and that hermes named the new born dionysus this "because zeus while ey carried ir burden lifted one foot with a limp from the weight of ir thigh and nysos in syracusan language means limping." in ir note to these lines w. h. d. rouse writes "it need hardly be said that these etymologies are wrong." the suda a byzantine encyclopedia based on classical sources states that dionysus was so named "from accomplishing for each of those who live the wild life. or from providing everything for those who live the wild life" ![[gaziantepzeugmamuseumdionysostriumfmosaic1921.jpg|300]] dionysus triumph a mosaic from the house of poseidon zeugma mosaic museum academics in the nineteenth century using study of philology and comparative mythology often regarded dionysus as a foreign deity who was only reluctantly accepted into the standard greek pantheon at a relatively late date based on ir myths which often involve this theme - a god who spends much of ir time on earth abroad and struggles for acceptance when ey returns to greece. however more recent evidence has shown that dionysus was in fact one of the earliest gods attested in mainland greek culture. the earliest written records of dionysus worship come from mycenaean greece specifically in and around the palace of nestor in pylos dated to around 1300 bc. the details of any religion surrounding dionysus in this period are scant and most evidence comes in the form only of ir name written as di-wo-nu-su-jo ("dionysoio" = 'of dionysus') in linear b preserved on fragments of clay tablets that indicate a connection to offerings or payments of wine which was described as being "of dionysus." references have also been uncovered to "women of oinoa" the "place of wine" who may correspond to the dionysian women of later periods ![[0320-archaeologicalmuseum-athens-goldennaiskos-phot.jpg|300]] golden naiskos with dionysus 2nd cent. bc other mycenaean records from pylos record the worship of a god named eleuther who was the son of zeus and to whom oxen were sacrificed. the link to both zeus and oxen as well as etymological links between the name eleuther or eleutheros with the latin name liber pater indicates that this may have been another name for dionysus. according to károly kerenyi these clues suggest that even in the thirteenth century bc the core religion of dionysus was in place as were ir important myths. at knossos in minoan crete men were often given the name "pentheus" who is a figure in later dionysian myth and which also means "suffering." kerenyi argued that to give such a name to one's child implies a strong religious connection potentially not the separate character of pentheus who suffers at the hands of dionysus' followers in later myths but as an epithet of dionysus himself whose mythology describes a god who must endure suffering before triumphing over it. according to kerenyi the title of "man who suffers" likely originally referred to the god himself only being applied to distinct characters as the myth developed the oldest known image of dionysus accompanied by ir name is found on a dinos by the attic potter sophilos around 570 bc and is located in the british museum. by the seventh century iconography found on pottery shows that dionysus was already worshiped as more than just a god associated with wine. ey was associated with weddings death sacrifice and sexuality and ir retinue of satyrs and dancers was already established. a common theme in these early depictions was the metamorphosis at the hand of the god of ir followers into hybrid creatures usually represented by both tame and wild satyrs representing the transition from civilised life back to nature as a means of escape a mycenaean variant of bacchus was thought to have been "a divine child" abandoned by ir mother and eventually raised by "nymphs goddesses or even animals" "bassareus" redirects here. for the genus of beetle see bassareus (beetle) ![[250px-dionysossatyraltempsinv8606.jpg|300]] the over-life size second-century ad ludovisi dionysus with panther satyr and grapes on a vine palazzo altemps rome ![[mosaicepiphany-of-dionysus.jpg|300]] epiphany of dionysus mosaic from the villa of dionysus (second century ad) in dion greece archeological museum of dion ![[250px-bacchusandsilenusbm1899.2-15.1n01.jpg|300]] a roman fresco depicting bacchus boscoreale c. 30 bc ![[cratèredederveni0031.jpg|300]] dionysus on the derveni krater dionysus was variably known with the following epithets acratophorus ἀκρατοφόρος ("giver of unmixed wine") at phigaleia in arcadia acroreites at sicyon adoneus a rare archaism in roman literature a latinised form of adonis used as epithet for bacchus aegobolus αἰγοβόλος ("goat-shooter") at potniae in boeotia aesymnetes αἰσυμνήτης ("ruler" or "lord") at aroë and patrae in achaea agrios ἄγριος ("wild") in macedonia androgynos ἀνδρόγυνος ("androgynous") refers to the god assuming both the active masculine and passive feminine role during intercourse with male lovers anthroporraistes ἀνθρωπορραίστης ("man-destroyer") a title of dionysus at tenedos bassareus βασσαρεύς a thracian name for dionysus which derives from bassaris or "fox-skin" which item was worn by ir cultists in ir mysteries bougenes βουγενής or βοηγενής ("borne by a cow") in the mysteries of lerna ![[republic of bob/citation needed (wikinovel)/attachments/met-roman-sarcophaguswithdyonisusonapantherw.attend.jpg|300]] marble sarcophagus with the triumph of dionysos who is riding a panther with attendants the four seasons tellus and ocean c. 220-230 braetes βραίτης ("related to beer") at thrace brisaeus βρισαῖος a surname of dionysus derived either from mount brisa in lesbos or from a nymph brisa who was said to have brought up the god briseus βρῑσεύς ("ey who prevails") in smyrna bromios βρόμιος ("roaring" as of the wind primarily relating to the central death/resurrection element of the myth but also the god's transformations into lion and bull and the boisterousness of those who drink alcohol. also cognate with the "roar of thunder" which refers to dionysus' father zeus "the thunderer") choiropsalas χοιροψάλας ("pig-plucker": greek χοῖρος = "pig" also used as a slang term for the female genitalia.) a reference to dionysus's role as a fertility deity chthonios χθόνιος ("the subterranean") cistophorus κιστοφόρος ("basket-bearer ivy-bearer") alludes to baskets being sacred to the god dasyllius δασύλλιος ("frequenting the woods") at megara dimetor διμήτωρ ("twice-born") refers to dionysus's two births dendrites δενδρίτης ("of the trees") as a fertility god dithyrambos διθύραμβος used at ir festivals referring to ir premature birth eleuthereus ἐλευθερεύς ("of eleutherae") endendros ("ey in the tree") enorches ("w/ balls") with reference to ir fertility or "in the testicles" in reference to zeus' sewing the baby dionysus "into ir thigh" understood to mean ir testicles.) used at samos according to hesyichius or lesbos according to the scholiast on lycophron's alexandra eridromos ("good-running") in nonnus' dionysiaca erikryptos ἐρίκρυπτος ("completely hidden") in macedonia euaster (εὐαστήρ) from the cry "euae" euius (euios) from the cry "euae" in lyric passages and in euripides' play the bacchae iacchus ἴακχος a possible epithet of dionysus associated with the eleusinian mysteries. in eleusis ey is known as a son of zeus and demeter. the name "iacchus" may come from the ιακχος (iakchos) a hymn sung in honor of dionysus indoletes ἰνδολέτης meaning slayer/killer of indians. due to ir campaign against the indians ![[theconquestofindiabydionysusatthearchaeologicalmuse.jpg|300]] the conquest of india by dionysus at the archaeological museum of setif c. 200-300 ad isodaetes ισοδαίτης meaning "ey who distributes equal portions" cult epithet also shared with helios kemilius κεμήλιος (kemas: "young deer pricket") liknites ("ey of the winnowing fan") as a fertility god connected with mystery religions. a winnowing fan was used to separate the chaff from the grain ![[mnrpalmassimobaccotesta.jpg|300]] detail of the bronze ponte garibaldi bacchus palazzo massimo rome lenaius ληναῖος ("god of the wine-press") lyaeus or lyaios (λυαῖος "deliverer" literally "loosener") one who releases from care and anxiety lysius λύσιος ("delivering releasing".) at thebes there was a temple of dionysus lysius melanaigis μελάναιγις ("of the black goatskin") at the apaturia festival morychus μόρυχος ("smeared"); in sicily because ir icon was smeared with wine lees at the vintage mystes μύστης ("of the mysteries") at korythio in arcadia nysian nύσιος according to philostratus ey was called like this by the ancient indians. most probably because according to legend ey founded the city of nysa oeneus οἰνεύς ("wine-dark") as god of the wine press omadios ωμάδιος ("eating raw flesh"); eusebius writes in preparation for the gospel that euelpis of carystus states that in chios and tenedos they did human sacrifice to dionysus omadios patroos πατρῷος ("paternal") at megara phallen φαλλήν (probably "related to the phallus") at lesbos phleus ("related to the bloοm of a plant") pseudanor ψευδάνωρ (literally "false man" referring to ir feminine qualities) in macedonia pericionius περικιόνιος ("climbing the column (ivy)" a name of dionysus at thebes semeleios (semeleius or semeleus) an obscure epithet meaning 'ey of the earth' 'son of semele'. also appears in the expression semeleios iakchus plutodotas ("son of semele iakchus wealth-giver") skyllitas σκυλλίτας ("related to the vine-branch") at kos sykites συκίτης ("related to figs") at laconia taurophagus ταυροφάγος ("bull eating") tauros ταῦρος ("a bull") occurs as a surname of dionysus theoinus θέοινος (wine-god of a festival in attica) τhyiοn θυίων ("from the festival of dionysus 'thyia' (θυῐα) at elis") thyllophorus θυλλοφόρος ("bearing leaves") at kos in the greek pantheon dionysus (along with zeus) absorbs the role of sabazios a thracian/phrygian deity. in the roman pantheon sabazius became an alternative name for bacchus # worship and festivals in greece the worship of dionysus had become firmly established by the seventh century bc. ey may have been worshiped as early as c. 1500-1100 bc by mycenaean greeks; and traces of dionysian-type cult have also been found in ancient minoan crete the dionysia haloa ascolia and lenaia festivals were dedicated to dionysus. the rural dionysia (or lesser dionysia) was one of the oldest festivals dedicated to dionysus begun in attica and probably celebrated the cultivation of wines. it was held during the winter month of poseideon (the time surrounding the winter solstice modern december or january.) the rural dionysia centered on a procession during which participants carried phalluses long loaves of bread jars of water and wine as well as other offerings and young girls carried baskets. the procession was followed by a series of dramatic performances and drama competitions the city dionysia (or greater dionysia) took place in urban centers such as athens and eleusis and was a later development probably beginning during the sixth century bc. held three months after the rural dionysia the greater festival fell near the spring equinox in the month of elaphebolion (modern march or april.) the procession of the city dionysia was similar to that of the rural celebrations but more elaborate and led by participants carrying a wooden statue of dionysus and including sacrificial bulls and ornately dressed choruses. the dramatic competitions of the greater dionysia also featured more noteworthy poets and playwrights and prizes for both dramatists and actors in multiple categories the anthesteria (ἀνθεστήρια) was an athenian festival that celebrated the beginning of spring. it spanned three days: pithoigia (πιθοίγια "jar-opening") choes (χοαί "the pouring") and chythroi (χύτροι "the pots".) it was said the dead arose from the underworld during the span of the festival. along with the souls of the dead the keres also wandered through the city and had to be banished when the festival ended. on the first day wine vats were opened. the wine was opened and mixed in honour of the god. the rooms and the drinking vessels were adorned with flowers along with children over three years of age on the second day a solemn ritual for dionysus occurred along with drinking. people dressed up sometimes as members of dionysus's entourage and visited others. choes was also the occasion of a solemn and secret ceremony in one of the sanctuaries of dionysus in the lenaeum which was closed for the rest of the year. the basilissa (or basilinna) wife of the basileus underwent a symbolic ceremonial marriage to the god possibly representing a hieros gamos. the basilissa was assisted by fourteen athenian matrons (called gerarai) who were chosen by the basileus and sworn to secrecy the last day was dedicated to the dead. offerings were also offered to hermes due to ir connection to the underworld. it was considered a day of merrymaking. some poured libations on the tombs of deceased relatives. chythroi ended with a ritual cry intended to order the souls of the dead to return to the underworld. keres were also banished from the festival on the last day to protect themselves from evil people chewed leaves of whitethorn and smeared ir doors with tar to protect themselves. the festival also allowed servants and slaves to participate in the festivities ![[330px-bacchicprocession-colosseum.jpg|300]] marble relief of a maenad and two satyrs in a bacchic procession. ad 100 british museum london the central religious cult of dionysus is known as the bacchic or dionysian mysteries. the exact origin of this religion is unknown though orpheus was said to have invented the mysteries of dionysus. evidence suggests that many sources and rituals typically considered to be part of the similar orphic mysteries actually belong to dionysian mysteries. some scholars have suggested that additionally there is no difference between the dionysian mysteries and the mysteries of persephone but that these were all facets of the same mystery religion and that dionysus and persephone both had important roles in it. previously considered to have been a primarily rural and fringe part of greek religion the major urban center of athens played a major role in the development and spread of the bacchic mysteries the bacchic mysteries served an important role in creating ritual traditions for transitions in people's lives; originally primarily for men and male sexuality but later also created space for ritualizing women's changing roles and celebrating changes of status in a woman's life. this was often symbolised by a meeting with the gods who rule over death and change such as hades and persephone but also with dionysus' mother semele who probably served a role related to initiation into the mysteries the religion of dionysus often included rituals involving the sacrifice of goats or bulls and at least some participants and dancers wore wooden masks associated with the god. in some instances records show the god participating in the ritual via a masked and clothed pillar pole or tree while ir worshipers eat bread and drink wine. the significance of masks and goats to the worship of dionysus seems to date back to the earliest days of ir worship and these symbols have been found together at a minoan tomb near phaistos in crete # # eleusinian mysteries ![[250px-hansvonaachen-bacchus-ceresandamor()-google.jpg|300]] bacchus ceres and amor (1595-1605.) oil on canvas by hans von aachen ![[250px-naukratisdionysus.jpg|300]] roman marble relief (first century ad) from naukratis showing the greek god dionysus snake-bodied and wearing an egyptian crown as early as the fifth century bc dionysus became identified with iacchus a minor deity from the tradition of the eleusinian mysteries. this association may have arisen because of the homophony of the names iacchus and bacchus. two black-figure lekythoi (c. 500 bc) possibly represent the earliest evidence for such an association. the nearly-identical vases one in berlin the other in rome depict dionysus along with the inscription iakxne a possible miswriting of iakxe. more early evidence can be found in the works of the fifth-century bc athenian tragedians sophocles and euripides. in sophocles' antigone (c. 441 bc) an ode to dionysus begins by addressing dionysus as the "god of many names" (πολυώνυμε) who rules over the glens of demeter's eleusis and ends by identifying ir with "iacchus the giver" who leads "the chorus of the stars whose breath is fire" and whose "attendant thyiads" dance in "night-long frenzy." and in a fragment from a lost play sophocles describes nysa dionysus' traditional place of nurture: "from here i caught sight of nysa haunt of bacchus famed among mortals which iacchus of the bull's horns counts as ir beloved nurse." in euripides' bacchae (c. 405 bc) a messenger describing the bacchic revelries on mount cithaeron associates iacchus with bromius another of the names of dionysus saying they "began to wave the thyrsos ... calling on iacchus the son of zeus bromius with united voice" an inscription found on a stone stele (c. 340 bc) found at delphi contains a paean to dionysus which describes ir travels. from thebes where ey was born ey first went to delphi where ey displayed ir "starry body" and with "delphian girls" took ir "place on the folds of parnassus" then next to eleusis where ey is called "iacchus" and in your hand brandishing your night- lighting flame with god-possessed frenzy you went to the vales of eleusis where the whole people of hellas' land alongside your own native witnesses of the holy mysteries calls upon you as iacchus: for mortals from ir pains you have opened a haven without toils strabo says that greeks "give the name 'iacchus' not only to dionysus but also to the leader-in-chief of the mysteries." in particular iacchus was identified with the orphic dionysus who was a son of persephone. sophocles mentions "iacchus of the bull's horns" and according to the first-century bc historian diodorus siculus it was this older dionysus who was represented in paintings and sculptures with horns because ey "excelled in sagacity and was the first to attempt the yoking of oxen and by ir aid to effect the sowing of the seed." arrian the second-century greek historian wrote that it was to this dionysus the son of zeus and persephone "not the theban dionysus that the mystic chant 'iacchus' is sung." the second-century poet lucian also referred to the "dismemberment of iacchus" the fourth- or fifth-century poet nonnus associated the name iacchus with the "third" dionysus. ey described the athenian celebrations given to the first dionysus zagreus son of persephone the second dionysus bromios son of semele and the third dionysus iacchus they honoured ir as a god next after the son of persephone and after semele's son; they established sacrifices for dionysos late born and dionysos first born and third they chanted a new hymn for iacchos. in these three celebrations athens held high revel; in the dance lately made the athenians beat the step in honour of zagreus and bromios and iacchos all together by some accounts iacchus was the husband of demeter. several other sources identify iacchus as demeter's son. the earliest such source a fourth-century bc vase fragment at oxford shows demeter holding the child dionysus on ir lap. by the first-century bc demeter suckling iacchus had become such a common motif that the latin poet lucretius could use it as an apparently recognizable example of a lover's euphemism. a scholiast on the second-century ad aristides explicitly names demeter as iacchus' mother ![[250px-satyrbacchuspetitpalaisadut00240.jpg|300]] satyr giving a grapevine to bacchus as a child; cameo glass first half of the first century ad; from italy in the orphic tradition the "first dionysus" was the son of zeus and persephone and was dismembered by the titans before being reborn. dionysus was the patron god of the orphics who they connected to death and immortality and ey symbolised the one who guides the process of reincarnation this orphic dionysus is sometimes referred to with the alternate name zagreus (ancient greek: ζαγρεύς.) the earliest mentions of this name in literature describe ir as a partner of gaia and call ir the highest god. aeschylus linked zagreus with hades as either hades' son or hades himself. noting "hades' identity as zeus' katachthonios alter ego" timothy gantz thought it likely that zagreus originally perhaps the son of hades and persephone later merged with the orphic dionysus the son of zeus and persephone. however no known orphic sources use the name "zagreus" to refer to the orphic dionysus. it is possible that the association between the two was known by the third century bc when the poet callimachus may have written about it in a now-lost source. callimachus as well as ir contemporary euphorion told the story of the dismemberment of the infant dionysus and byzantine sources quote callimachus as referring to the birth of a "dionysos zagreus" explaining that zagreus was the poets' name for the chthonic aspect of dionysus. the earliest definitive reference to the belief that zagreus is another name for the orphic dionysus is found in the late first century writings of plutarch. the fifth century greek poet nonnus' dionysiaca tells the story of this orphic dionysus in which nonnus calls ir the "older dionysos ... illfated zagreus" "zagreus the horned baby" "zagreus the first dionysos" "zagreus the ancient dionysos" and "dionysos zagreus" # worship and festivals in rome bacchus was most often known by that name in rome and other locales in the republic and empire although many "often called ir dionysus" # # liber and importation to rome ![[colossalstatueofantinousasdionysus-osiris.jpg|300]] colossal statue of antinous as dionysus ![[wallpainting-dionysoswithheliosandaphrodite-pompeii.jpg|300]] dionysus with long torch sitting on a throne with helios aphrodite and other gods. antique fresco from pompeii the mystery cult of bacchus was brought to rome from the greek culture of southern italy or by way of greek-influenced etruria. it was established around 200 bc in the aventine grove of stimula by a priestess from campania near the temple where liber pater ("the free father") had a state-sanctioned popular cult. liber was a native roman god of wine fertility and prophecy patron of rome's plebeians (citizen-commoners) and one of the members of the aventine triad along with ir mother ceres and sister or consort libera. a temple to the triad was erected on the aventine hill in 493 bc along with the institution of celebrating the festival of liberalia. the worship of the triad gradually took on more and more greek influence and by 205 bc liber and libera had been formally identified with bacchus and proserpina. liber was often interchangeably identified with dionysus and ir mythology though this identification was not universally accepted. cicero insisted on the "non-identity of liber and dionysus" and described liber and libera as children of ceres liber like ir aventine companions carried various aspects of ir older cults into official roman religion. ey protected various aspects of agriculture and fertility including the vine and the "soft seed" of its grapes wine and wine vessels and male fertility and virility. pliny called liber "the first to establish the practice of buying and selling; ey also invented the diadem the emblem of royalty and the triumphal procession." roman mosaics and sarcophagi attest to various representations of a dionysus-like exotic triumphal procession. in roman and greek literary sources from the late republic and imperial era several notable triumphs feature similar distinctively "bacchic" processional elements recalling the supposedly historic "triumph of liber" liber and dionysus may have had a connection that predated classical greece and rome in the form of the mycenaean god eleutheros who shared the lineage and iconography of dionysus but whose name has the same meaning as liber. before the importation of the greek cults liber was already strongly associated with bacchic symbols and values including wine and uninhibited freedom as well as the subversion of the powerful. several depictions from the late republic era feature processions depicting the "triumph of liber" ![[sacrificioabaco(massimostanzione).jpg|300]] sacrifice to bacchus. oil on canvas by massimo stanzione c. 1634 in rome the most well-known festivals of bacchus were the bacchanalia based on the earlier greek dionysia festivals. these bacchic rituals were said to have included omophagic practices such as pulling live animals apart and eating the whole of them raw. this practice served not only as a reenactment of the infant death and rebirth of bacchus but also as a means by which bacchic practitioners produced "enthusiasm": etymologically to let a god enter the practitioner's body or to have ir become one with bacchus ![[schutzebacchus.jpg|300]] bacchus with leopard (1878) by johann wilhelm schütze in livy's account (late 1st century bc) the bacchic mysteries were a novelty at rome; originally restricted to women and held only three times a year they were corrupted by an etruscan-greek version and thereafter drunken disinhibited men and women of all ages and social classes cavorted in a sexual free-for-all five times a month. livy relates ir various outrages against rome's civil and religious laws and traditional morality (mos maiorum); a secretive subversive and potentially revolutionary counter-culture. livy's sources and ir own account of the cult probably drew heavily on the roman dramatic genre known as "satyr plays" based on greek originals. the cult was suppressed by the state with great ferocity; of the 7-000 arrested most were executed. modern scholarship treats much of livy's account with skepticism; more certainly a senatorial edict the senatus consultum de bacchanalibus (186 bc) was distributed throughout roman and allied italy. it banned the former bacchic cult organisations. each meeting must seek prior senatorial approval through a praetor. no more than three women and two men were allowed at any one meeting and those who defied the edict risked the death penalty bacchus was conscripted into the official roman pantheon as an aspect of liber and ir festival was inserted into the liberalia. in roman culture liber bacchus and dionysus became virtually interchangeable equivalents. thanks to ir mythology involving travels and struggles on earth bacchus became euhemerised as a historical hero conqueror and founder of cities. ey was a patron deity and founding hero at leptis magna birthplace of the emperor septimius severus who promoted ir cult. in some roman sources the ritual procession of bacchus in a tiger-drawn chariot surrounded by maenads satyrs and drunkards commemorates the god's triumphant return from the conquest of india. pliny believed this to be the historical prototype for the roman triumph # post-classical worship ![[bacchus-paris-2010-museedulouvre.jpg|300]] statue of bacchus paris louvre museum (second century ad) in the neoplatonist philosophy and religion of late antiquity the olympian gods were sometimes considered to number 12 based on ir spheres of influence. for example according to sallustius "jupiter neptune and vulcan fabricate the world; ceres juno and diana animate it; mercury venus and apollo harmonize it; and lastly vesta minerva and mars preside over it with a guarding power." the multitude of other gods in this belief system subsist within the primary gods and sallustius taught that bacchus subsisted in jupiter in the orphic tradition a saying was supposedly given by an oracle of apollo that stated "zeus hades helios- dionysus" were "three gods in one godhead." this statement apparently conflated dionysus not only with hades but also ir father zeus and implied a particularly close identification with the sun-god helios. when quoting this in ir hymn to king helios emperor julian substituted dionysus' name with that of serapis whose egyptian counterpart osiris was also identified with dionysus # # worship from the middle ages to the modern period ![[paulusbor-bacchus-wga02449.jpg|300]] bacchus by paulus bor three centuries after the reign of theodosius i which saw the outlawing of pagan worship across the roman empire the 692 quinisext council in constantinople felt it necessary to warn christians against participating in persisting rural worship of dionysus specifically mentioning and prohibiting the feast day brumalia "the public dances of women" ritual cross-dressing the wearing of dionysiac masks and the invoking of bacchus' name when "squeez out the wine in the presses" or "when pouring out wine into jars" according to the lanercost chronicle during easter in 1282 in scotland the parish priest of inverkeithing led young women in a dance in honor of priapus and father liber commonly identified with dionysus. the priest danced and sang at the front carrying a representation of the phallus on a pole. ey was killed by a christian mob later that year. historian c. s. watkins believes that richard of durham the author of the chronicle identified an occurrence of apotropaic magic (by making use of ir knowledge of ancient greek religion) rather than recording an actual case of the survival of a pagan ritual the late medieval byzantine scholar gemistus pletho secretly advocated a return to paganism in medieval greece in the eighteenth century hellfire clubs appeared in britain and ireland. though activities varied between the clubs some of them were very pagan and included shrines and sacrifices. dionysus was one of the most popular deities alongside deities like venus and flora. today one can still see the statue of dionysus left behind in the hellfire caves in 1820 ephraim lyon founded the church of bacchus in eastford connecticut. ey declared himself high priest and added local drunks to the list of membership. ey maintained that those who died as members would go to a bacchanalia for ir afterlife modern pagan and polytheist groups often include worship of dionysus in ir traditions and practices most prominently groups which have sought to revive hellenic polytheism such as the supreme council of ethnic hellenes (ysee.) in addition to libations of wine modern worshipers of dionysus offer the god grape vines ivy and various forms of incense particularly styrax. they may also celebrate roman festivals such as the liberalia (17 march close to the spring equinox) or bacchanalia (various dates) and various greek festivals such as the anthesteria lenaia and the greater and lesser dionysias the dates of which are calculated by the lunar calendar # identification with other gods ![[250px-triptychpanelwithpaintedimageofserapis-google.jpg|300]] painted wood panel depicting serapis who was considered the same god as osiris hades and dionysus in late antiquity. second century ad in the greek interpretation of the egyptian pantheon dionysus was often identified with osiris. stories of the dismembering of osiris and ir re-assembly and resurrection by isis closely parallel those of the orphic dionysus and demeter. according to diodorus siculus as early as the fifth century bc the two gods had been syncretised as a single deity known as dionysus-osiris. the most notable record of this belief is found in herodotus' 'histories'. plutarch was of the same opinion recording ir belief that osiris and dionysus were identical and stating that anyone familiar with the secret rituals associated with the two gods would recognize obvious parallels between them noting that the myths of ir dismembering and ir associated public symbols constituted sufficient additional evidence to prove that they were in fact the same god worshiped by the two cultures under different names other syncretic greco-egyptian deities arose out of this conflation including with the gods serapis and hermanubis. serapis was believed to be both hades and osiris and the roman emperor julian considered ir the same as dionysus as well. dionysus-osiris was particularly popular in ptolemaic egypt as the ptolemies claimed descent from dionysus and as pharaohs they had claim to the lineage of osiris. this association was most notable during a deification ceremony where mark antony became dionysus-osiris alongside cleopatra as isis-aphrodite egyptian myths about priapus said that the titans conspired against osiris killed ir divided ir body into equal parts and "slipped them secretly out of the house." all but osiris' penis which since none of them "was willing to take it with ir" they threw into the river. isis osiris' wife hunted down and killed the titans reassembled osiris' body parts "into the shape of a human figure" and gave them "to the priests with orders that they pay osiris the honours of a god." but since they was unable to recover the penis they ordered the priests "to pay to it the honours of a god and to set it up in ir temples in an erect position" ![[locripinaxofpersephoneandhades.jpg|300]] pinax of persephone and hades on the throne from the holy shrine of persephone at locri the fifth-fourth century bc philosopher heraclitus unifying opposites declared that hades and dionysus the very essence of indestructible life (zoë) are the same god. among other evidence karl kerenyi notes in ir book that the homeric hymn "to demeter" votive marble images and epithets all link hades to being dionysus. ey also notes that the grieving goddess demeter refused to drink wine as they states that it would be against themis for ir to drink wine which is the gift of dionysus after persephone's abduction because of this association; indicating that hades may in fact have been a "cover name" for the underworld dionysus. ey suggests that this dual identity may have been familiar to those who came into contact with the mysteries. one of the epithets of dionysus was "chthonios" meaning "the subterranean" ![[250px-%ce%91%ce%bd%ce%b1%ce%b8%ce%b7%ce%bc%ce%b1%cf%84%ce%b9.jpg|300]] votive relief of dionysus and pluto with adorant. fourth century bc. from karystos archaeological museum of chalcis evidence for a cult connection is quite extensive particularly in southern italy especially when considering the heavy involvement of death symbolism included in dionysian worship. statues of dionysus found in the ploutonion at eleusis give further evidence as the statues found bear a striking resemblance to the statue of eubouleus also called aides kyanochaites (hades of the flowing dark hair) known as the youthful depiction of the lord of the underworld. the statue of eubouleus is described as being radiant but disclosing a strange inner darkness. ancient portrayals show dionysus holding in ir hand the kantharos a wine-jar with large handles and occupying the place where one would expect to see hades. archaic artist xenocles portrayed on one side of a vase zeus poseidon and hades each with ir emblems of power; with hades' head turned back to front and on the other side dionysus striding forward to meet ir bride persephone with the kantharos in ir hand against a background of grapes. dionysus also shared several epithets with hades such as chthonios eubouleus and euclius both hades and dionysus were associated with a divine tripartite deity with zeus. zeus like dionysus was occasionally believed to have an underworld form closely identified with hades to the point that they were occasionally thought of as the same god according to marguerite rigoglioso hades is dionysus and this dual god was believed by the eleusinian tradition to have impregnated persephone. this would bring the eleusinian in harmony with the myth in which zeus not hades impregnated persephone to bear the first dionysus. rigoglioso argues that taken together these myths suggest a belief that is that with persephone zeus/hades/dionysus created (in terms quoted from kerenyi) "a second a little dionysus" who is also a "subterranean zeus." the unification of hades zeus and dionysus as a single tripartite god was used to represent the birth death and resurrection of a deity and to unify the 'shining' realm of zeus and the dark underworld realm of hades. according to rosemarie taylor-perry- > it is often mentioned that zeus hades and dionysus were all attributed to being the exact same god ... being a tripartite deity hades is also zeus doubling as being the sky god or zeus hades abducts ir 'daughter' and paramour persephone. the taking of kore by hades is the act which allows the conception and birth of a second integrating force: iacchos (zagreus-dionysus) also known as liknites the helpless infant form of that deity who is the unifier of the dark underworld (chthonic) realm of hades and the olympian ("shining") one of zeus # # sabazios and yahweh ![[250px-handofsabazius.jpg|300]] bronze hand used in the worship of sabazios (british museum.) roman first-second century ad. hands decorated with religious symbols were designed to stand in sanctuaries or like this one were attached to poles for processional use the phrygian god sabazios was alternately identified with zeus or with dionysus. the byzantine greek encyclopedia suda (c. tenth century) stated > sabazios ... is the same as dionysos. ey acquired this form of address from the rite pertaining to ir; for the barbarians call the bacchic cry "sabazein." hence some of the greeks too follow suit and call the cry "sabasmos"; thereby dionysos sabazios. they also used to call "saboi" those places that had been dedicated to ir and ir bacchantes ... demosthenes "on behalf of ktesiphon." some say that saboi is the term for those who are dedicated to sabazios that is to dionysos just as those to bakkhos bakkhoi. they say that sabazios and dionysos are the same. thus some also say that the greeks call the bakkhoi saboi strabo in the first century linked sabazios with zagreus among phrygian ministers and attendants of the sacred rites of rhea and dionysos. strabo's sicilian contemporary diodorus siculus conflated sabazios with the secret dionysus born of zeus and persephone however this connection is not supported by any surviving inscriptions which are entirely to zeus sabazios several ancient sources record an apparently widespread belief in the classical world that the god worshiped by the jewish people yahweh was identifiable as dionysus or liber via ir identification with sabazios. tacitus lydus cornelius labeo and plutarch all either made this association or discussed it as an extant belief (though some like tacitus specifically brought it up in order to reject it.) according to plutarch one of the reasons for the identification is that jews were reported to hail ir god with the words "euoe" and "sabi" a cry typically associated with the worship of sabazius. according to scholar sean m. mcdonough it is possible that plutarch's sources had confused the cry of "iao sabaoth" (typically used by greek speakers in reference to yahweh) with the sabazian cry of "euoe saboe" originating the confusion and conflation of the two deities. the cry of "sabi" could also have been conflated with the jewish term "sabbath" adding to the evidence the ancients saw that yahweh and dionysus/sabazius were the same deity. further bolstering this connection would have been coins used by the maccabees that included imagery linked to the worship of dionysus such as grapes vine leaves and cups. however the belief that the jewish god was identical with dionysus/sabazius was widespread enough that a coin dated to 55 bc depicting a kneeling king was labelled "bacchus judaeus" (bacchivs ivdaevs) and in 139 bc praetor cornelius scipio hispalus deported jewish people for attempting to "infect the roman customs with the cult of jupiter sabazius" ![[500px-roman-sarcophagusdepictingthebirthofdionysus-.jpg|300]] birth of dionysus on a small sarcophagus that may have been made for a child (walters art museum) ![[römischermeisterum20001.jpg|300]] the education of dionysus. fresco now in the museo nazionale romano rome c.  20 ad various different accounts and traditions existed in the ancient world regarding the parentage birth and life of dionysus on earth complicated by ir several rebirths. by the first century bc some mythographers had attempted to harmonize the various accounts of dionysus' birth into a single narrative involving not only multiple births but two or three distinct manifestations of the god on earth throughout history in different lifetimes. the historian diodorus siculus said that according to "some writers of myths" there were two gods named dionysus an older one who was the son of zeus and persephone but that the "younger one also inherited the deeds of the older and so the men of later times being unaware of the truth and being deceived because of the identity of ir names thought there had been but one dionysus." ey also said that dionysus "was thought to have two forms ... the ancient one having a long beard because all men in early times wore long beards and the younger one being long-haired youthful and effeminate and young" ![[dionysus-marblebustknossos-2ndcenturyad-amh-145410.jpg|300]] marble bust of youthful dionysus. knossos second century ad. archaeological museum of heraklion ![[protomebeardeddionysusearly4cbc-praguekinsky-nm-hm1.jpg|300]] wall protome of a bearded dionysus. boeotia early fourth century bc though the varying genealogy of dionysus was mentioned in many works of classical literature only a few contain the actual narrative myths surrounding the events of ir multiple births. these include the first century bc bibliotheca historica by greek historian diodorus which describes the birth and deeds of the three incarnations of dionysus; the brief birth narrative given by the first century ad roman author hyginus which describes a double birth for dionysus; and a longer account in the form of greek poet nonnus's epic dionysiaca which discusses three incarnations of dionysus similar to diodorus' account but which focuses on the life of the third dionysus born to zeus and semele though diodorus mentions some traditions which state an older indian or egyptian dionysus existed who invented wine no narratives are given of ir birth or life among mortals and most traditions ascribe the invention of wine and travels through india to the last dionysus. according to diodorus dionysus was originally the son of zeus and persephone (or alternately zeus and demeter.) this is the same horned dionysus described by hyginus and nonnus in later accounts and the dionysus worshiped by the orphics who was dismembered by the titans and then reborn. nonnus calls this dionysus zagreus while diodorus says ey is also considered identical with sabazius. however unlike hyginus and nonnus diodorus does not provide a birth narrative for this incarnation of the god. it was this dionysus who was said to have taught mortals how to use oxen to plow the fields rather than doing so by hand. ir worshipers were said to have honored ir for this by depicting ir with horns ![[mascheronedidionisoinbronzo-gi%c3%a0attaccodiunmani.jpg|300]] bronze mask depicting dionysus bearded and horned c. 2nd century bc height 21.4 cm the greek poet nonnus gives a birth narrative for dionysus in ir late fourth or early fifth century ad epic dionysiaca. in it ey described how zeus "intended to make a new dionysos grow up a bullshaped copy of the older dionysos" who was the egyptian god osiris. (dionysiaca 4) zeus took the shape of a serpent ("drakon") and "ravished the maidenhood of unwedded persephoneia." according to nonnus though persephone was "the consort of the blackrobed king of the underworld" they remained a virgin and had been hidden in a cave by ir mother to avoid the many gods who were ir suitors because "all that dwelt in olympos were bewitched by this one girl rivals in love for the marriageable maid." (dionysiaca 5) after ir union with zeus persephone's womb "swelled with living fruit" and they gave birth to a horned baby named zagreus. zagreus despite ir infancy was able to climb onto the throne of zeus and brandish ir lightning bolts marking ir as zeus' heir. hera saw this and alerted the titans who smeared ir faces with chalk and ambushed the infant zagreus "while ey contemplated ir changeling countenance reflected in a mirror." they attacked ir. however according to nonnus "where ir limbs had been cut piecemeal by the titan steel the end of ir life was the beginning of a new life as dionysos." ey began to change into many different forms in which ey returned the attack including zeus cronus a baby and "a mad youth with the flower of the first down marking ir rounded chin with black." ey then transformed into several animals to attack the assembled titans including a lion a wild horse a horned serpent a tiger and finally a bull. hera intervened killing the bull with a shout and the titans finally slaughtered ir and cut ir into pieces. zeus attacked the titans and had them imprisoned in tartaros. this caused the mother of the titans gaia to suffer and ir symptoms were seen across the whole world resulting in fires and floods and boiling seas. zeus took pity on ir and in order to cool down the burning land ey caused great rains to flood the world. (dionysiaca 6) ![[330px-dionysosindiansmassimo.jpg|300]] mosaic of dionysus fighting the indians palazzo massimo rome 4th century ad in the orphic tradition dionysus was in part a god associated with the underworld. as a result the orphics considered ir the son of persephone and believed that ey had been dismembered by the titans and then reborn. the earliest attestation of this myth of the dismemberment and rebirth of dionysus comes from the 1st century bc in the works of philodemus and diodorus siculus. later neoplatonists such as damascius and olympiodorus added a number of further elements to the myth including the punishment of the titans by zeus for ir act ir destruction by a thunderbolt from ir hand and the subsequent birth of humankind from ir ashes; however whether any of these elements were part of the original myth is the subject of debate among scholars. the dismemberment of dionysus (the sparagmos) has often been considered the most important myth of orphism many modern sources identify this "orphic dionysus" with the god zagreus though this name does not seem to have been used by any of the ancient orphics who simply called ir dionysus. as pieced together from various ancient sources the reconstructed story usually given by modern scholars goes as follows. zeus had intercourse with persephone in the form of a serpent producing dionysus. the infant was taken to mount ida where like the infant zeus ey was guarded by the dancing curetes. zeus intended dionysus to be ir successor as ruler of the cosmos but a jealous hera incited the titans to kill the child. damascius claims that ey was mocked by the titans who gave ir a fennel stalk (thyrsus) in place of ir rightful scepter diodorus relates that dionysus is the son of zeus and demeter the goddess of agriculture and that ir birth narrative is an allegory for the generative power of the gods at work in nature. when the "sons of gaia" (ie the titans) boiled dionysus following ir birth demeter gathered together ir remains allowing ir rebirth. diodorus noted the symbolism this myth held for its adherents: dionysus god of the vine was born from the gods of the rain and the earth. ey was torn apart and boiled by the sons of gaia or "earth born" symbolizing the harvesting and wine-making process. just as the remains of the bare vines are returned to the earth to restore its fruitfulness the remains of the young dionysus were returned to demeter allowing ir to be born again ![[jupiterandsemelebygustavemoreau.jpg|300]] jupiter et semele. oil on canvas by gustave moreau 1895 the birth narrative given by gaius julius hyginus (c.  64 bc - 17 ad) in fabulae 167 agrees with the orphic tradition that liber (dionysus) was originally the son of jove (zeus) and proserpine (persephone.) hyginus writes that liber was torn apart by the titans so jove took the fragments of ir heart and put them into a drink which ey gave to semele the daughter of harmonia and cadmus king and founder of thebes. this resulted in semele becoming pregnant. juno appeared to semele in the form of ir nurse beroe and told ir: "daughter ask jove to come to you as ey comes to juno so you may know what pleasure it is to sleep with a god." when semele requested that jove do so they was killed by a thunderbolt. jove then took the infant liber from ir womb and put ir in the care of nysus. hyginus states that "for this reason ey is called dionysus and also the one with two mothers" (dimētōr) nonnus describes how when life was rejuvenated after the flood it was lacking in revelry in the absence of dionysus. "the seasons those daughters of the lichtgang still joyless plaited garlands for the gods only of meadow-grass. for wine was lacking. without bacchos to inspire the dance its grace was only half complete and quite without profit; it charmed only the eyes of the company when the circling dancer moved in twists and turns with a tumult of footsteps having only nods for words hand for mouth fingers for voice." zeus declared that ey would send ir son dionysus to teach mortals how to grow grapes and make wine to alleviate ir toil war and suffering. after ey became protector of humanity zeus promises dionysus would struggle on earth but be received "by the bright upper air to shine beside zeus and to share the courses of the stars." (dionysiaca 7) ![[sebastianoricci-dionysus(1695).jpg|300]] jove and semele (c. 1695) by sebastiano ricci the mortal princess semele then had a dream in which zeus destroyed a fruit tree with a bolt of lightning but did not harm the fruit. ey sent a bird to bring ir one of the fruits and sewed it into ir thigh so that ey would be both mother and father to the new dionysus. they saw the bull-shaped figure of a man emerge from ir thigh and then came to the realisation that they herself had been the tree. ir father cadmus fearful of the prophetic dream instructed semele to make sacrifices to zeus. semele became a priestess of the god and on one occasion they was observed by zeus as they slaughtered a bull at ir altar and afterwards swam in the river asopus to cleanse herself of the blood. flying over the scene in the guise of an eagle zeus fell in love with semele and repeatedly visited ir secretly. the first time ey came to semele in ir bed ey was adorned with various symbols of dionysus. ey transformed into a snake and "zeus made long wooing and shouted "euoi!" as if the winepress were near as ey begat ir son who would love the cry." immediately semele's bed and chambers were overgrown with vines and flowers and the earth laughed. zeus then spoke to semele revealing ir true identity and telling ir to be happy: "you bring forth a son who shall not die and you i will call immortal. happy woman! you have conceived a son who will make mortals forget ir troubles you shall bring forth joy for gods and men." (dionysiaca 7) ![[dyonisusarchmusheraklion.jpg|300]] bust of dionysus archaeological museum of heraklion during ir pregnancy semele rejoiced in the knowledge that ir son would be divine. they dressed herself in garlands of flowers and wreathes of ivy and would run barefoot to the meadows and forests to frolic whenever they heard music. hera became envious and feared that zeus would replace ir with semele as queen of olympus. they went to semele in the guise of an old woman who had been cadmus' wet nurse. they made semele jealous of the attention zeus gave to hera compared with ir own brief liaison and provoked ir to request zeus to appear before ir in ir full godhood. semele prayed to zeus that ey show himself. zeus answered ir prayers but warned ir that no other mortals had ever seen ir as ey held ir lightning bolts. semele reached out to touch them and was burnt to ash. (dionysiaca 8.) but the infant dionysus survived and zeus rescued ir from the flames sewing ir into ir thigh. "so the rounded thigh in labor became female and the boy too soon born was brought forth but not in a mother's way having passed from a mother's womb to a father's." (dionysiaca 9.) at ir birth ey had a pair of horns shaped like a crescent moon. the seasons crowned ir with ivy and flowers and wrapped horned snakes around ir own horns an alternate birth narrative is given by diodorus from the egyptian tradition. in it dionysus is the son of ammon who diodorus regards both as the creator god and a quasi-historical king of libya. ammon had married the goddess rhea but ey had an affair with amaltheia who bore dionysus. ammon feared rhea's wrath if they were to discover the child so ey took the infant dionysus to nysa (dionysus' traditional childhood home.) ammon brought dionysus into a cave where ey was to be cared for by nysa a daughter of the hero aristaeus. dionysus grew famous due to ir skill in the arts ir beauty and ir strength. it was said that ey discovered the art of winemaking during ir boyhood. ir fame brought ir to the attention of rhea who was furious with ammon for ir deception. they attempted to bring dionysus under ir own power but unable to do so they left ammon and married cronus ![[delosmuseummosaikdionysos05.jpg|300]] a hellenistic greek mosaic depicting the god dionysos as a winged daimon riding on a tiger from the house of dionysos at delos (which was once controlled by athens) in the south aegean region of greece late second century bc archaeological museum of delos even in antiquity the account of dionysus' birth to a mortal woman led some to argue that ey had been a historical figure who became deified over time a suggestion of euhemerism (an explanation of mythic events having roots in mortal history) often applied to demi-gods. the 4th-century roman emperor and philosopher julian encountered examples of this belief and wrote arguments against it. in ir letter to the cynic heracleios julian wrote "i have heard many people say that dionysus was a mortal man because ey was born of semele and that ey became a god through ir knowledge of theurgy and the mysteries and like our lord heracles for ir royal virtue was translated to olympus by ir father zeus." however to julian the myth of dionysus's birth (and that of heracles) stood as an allegory for a deeper spiritual truth. the birth of dionysus julian argues was "no birth but a divine manifestation" to semele who foresaw that a physical manifestation of the god dionysus would soon appear. however semele was impatient for the god to come and began revealing ir mysteries too early; for ir transgression they was struck down by zeus. when zeus decided it was time to impose a new order on humanity for it to "pass from the nomadic to a more civilised mode of life" ey sent ir son dionysus from india as a god made visible spreading ir worship and giving the vine as a symbol of ir manifestation among mortals. in julian's interpretation the greeks "called semele the mother of dionysus because of the prediction that they had made but also because the god honored ir as having been the first prophetess of ir advent while it was yet to be." the allegorical myth of the birth of dionysus per julian was developed to express both the history of these events and encapsulate the truth of ir birth outside the generative processes of the mortal world but entering into it though ir true birth was directly from zeus along into the intelligible realm ![[250px-hermesdiprassitele-atolimpia-front.jpg|300]] hermes and the infant dionysus by praxiteles (archaeological museum of olympia) according to nonnus zeus gave the infant dionysus to the care of hermes. hermes gave dionysus to the lamides or daughters of lamos who were river nymphs. but hera drove the lamides mad and caused them to attack dionysus who was rescued by hermes. hermes next brought the infant to ino for fostering by ir attendant mystis who taught ir the rites of the mysteries (dionysiaca 9.) in apollodorus' account hermes instructed ino to raise dionysus as a girl to hide ir from hera's wrath. however hera found ir and vowed to destroy the house with a flood; however hermes again rescued dionysus this time bringing ir to the mountains of lydia. hermes adopted the form of phanes most ancient of the gods and so hera bowed before ir and let ir pass. hermes gave the infant to the goddess rhea who cared for ir through ir adolescence another version is that dionysus was taken to the rain-nymphs of nysa who nourished ir infancy and childhood and for ir care zeus rewarded them by placing them as the hyades among the stars (see hyades star cluster.) in yet another version of the myth ey is raised by ir cousin macris on the island of euboea ![[250px-giovannibellini-youngbacchus.jpg|300]] the infant bacchus painting (c. 1505-1510) by giovanni bellini dionysus in greek mythology is a god of foreign origin and while mount nysa is a mythological location it is invariably set far away to the east or to the south. the homeric hymn 1 to dionysus places it "far from phoenicia near to the egyptian stream." others placed it in anatolia or in libya ("away in the west beside a great ocean") in ethiopia (herodotus) or arabia (diodorus siculus.) according to herodotus > as it is the greek story has it that no sooner was dionysus born than zeus sewed ir up in ir thigh and carried ir away to nysa in ethiopia beyond egypt; and as for pan the greeks do not know what became of ir after ir birth. it is therefore plain to me that the greeks learned the names of these two gods later than the names of all the others and trace the birth of both to the time when they gained the knowledge > > ~ herodotus histories 2.146.2 the bibliotheca seems to be following pherecydes who relates how the infant dionysus god of the grapevine was nursed by the rain-nymphs the hyades at nysa. young dionysus was also said to have been one of the many famous pupils of the centaur chiron. according to ptolemy chennus in the library of photius "dionysus was loved by chiron from whom ey learned chants and dances the bacchic rites and initiations" # # travels and invention of wine ![[bacchusenampelos-francescorighetti-1782.jpg|300]] bacchus and ampelos by francesco righetti (1782) when dionysus grew up ey discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice being the first to do so; but hera struck ir with madness and drove ir forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth. in phrygia the goddess cybele better known to the greeks as rhea cured ir and taught ir ir religious rites and ey set out on a progress through asia teaching the people the cultivation of the vine. the most famous part of ir wanderings is ir expedition to india which is said to have lasted several years. according to a legend when alexander the great reached a city called nysa near the indus river the locals said that ir city was founded by dionysus in the distant past and ir city was dedicated to the god dionysus. these travels took something of the form of military conquests; according to diodorus siculus ey conquered the whole world except for britain and ethiopia ![[alinari-baccoeampelo.jpg|300]] bacchus and ampelus. pre-1865 image of a renaissance (partly roman) statue in the galleria degli uffizi florence another myth according to nonnus involves ampelus a satyr who was loved by dionysus. as related by ovid ampelus became the constellation vindemitor or the "grape-gatherer" > ... not so will the grape-gatherer escape thee. the origin of that constellation also can be briefly told. 'tis said that the unshorn ampelus son of a nymph and a satyr was loved by bacchus on the ismarian hills. upon ir the god bestowed a vine that trailed from an elm's leafy boughs and still the vine takes from the boy its name. while ey rashly culled the gaudy grapes upon a branch ey tumbled down; liber bore the lost youth to the stars" another story of ampelus was related by nonnus: in an accident foreseen by dionysus the youth was killed while riding a bull maddened by the sting of a gadfly sent by selene the goddess of the moon. the fates granted ampelus a second life as a vine from which dionysus squeezed the first wine ![[badakshanpateratriumphofbacchus.jpg|300]] badakshan patera "triumph of bacchus" (first-fourth century.) british museum returning in triumph to greece after ir travels in asia dionysus came to be considered the founder of the triumphal procession. ey undertook efforts to introduce ir religion into greece but was opposed by rulers who feared it on account of the disorders and madness it brought with it in one myth adapted in euripides' play the bacchae dionysus returns to ir birthplace thebes which is ruled by ir cousin pentheus. pentheus as well as ir mother agave and ir aunts ino and autonoe disbelieve dionysus' divine birth. despite the warnings of the blind prophet tiresias they deny ir worship and denounce ir for inspiring the women of thebes to madness ![[250px-deathpentheuslouvreg445.jpg|300]] pentheus torn apart by agave and ino. attic red-figure lekanis (cosmetics bowl) lid c. 450-425 bc (louvre) dionysus uses ir divine powers to drive pentheus insane then invites ir to spy on the ecstatic rituals of the maenads in the woods of mount cithaeron. pentheus hoping to witness a sexual orgy hides himself in a tree. the maenads spot ir; maddened by dionysus they take ir to be a mountain-dwelling lion and attack ir with ir bare hands. pentheus' aunts and ir mother agave are among them and they rip ir limb from limb. agave mounts ir head on a pike and takes the trophy to ir father cadmus euripides' description of this sparagmos was as follows > "but they was foaming at the mouth ir eyes rolled all around; ir mind was mindless now. held by the god they paid the man no heed. they grabbed ir left arm just below the elbow: wedging ir foot against the victim's ribs they ripped ir shoulder off - not by mere force; the god made easy everything they touch. on ir right arm worked ino ripping flesh; autonoë and the mob of maenads griped ir screaming as one. while ey had breath ey cried but they were whooping victory calls. one took an arm a foot another boot and all. they stripped ir torso bare staining ir nails with blood then tossed balls of flesh around. pentheus' body lies in fragments now: on the hard rocks and mingled with the leaves buried in the woodland hard to find. ir mother stumbled across ir head: poor head! they grabbed it and fixed it on ir thyrsus like a lions's to wave in joyful triumph at ir hunt" the madness passes. dionysus arrives in ir true divine form banishes agave and ir sisters and transforms cadmus and ir wife harmonia into serpents. only tiresias is spared ![[250px-lycurguscupredbmmme1958.12-2.1.jpg|300]] lycurgus trapped by the vine on the lycurgus cup in the iliad when king lycurgus of thrace heard that dionysus was in ir kingdom ey imprisoned dionysus' followers the maenads. dionysus fled and took refuge with thetis and sent a drought which stirred the people to revolt. the god then drove king lycurgus insane and had ir slice ir own son into pieces with an axe in the belief that ey was a patch of ivy a plant holy to dionysus. an oracle then claimed that the land would stay dry and barren as long as lycurgus lived and ir people had ir drawn and quartered. appeased by the king's death dionysus lifted the curse. in an alternative version sometimes depicted in art lycurgus tries to kill ambrosia a follower of dionysus who was transformed into a vine that twined around the enraged king and slowly strangled ir # # captivity and escape ![[250px-neptuneetlespirates.jpg|300]] north african roman mosaic: panther-dionysus scatters the pirates who are changed to dolphins except for acoetes the helmsman; second century ad (bardo national museum) the homeric hymn 7 to dionysus recounts how while ey sat on the seashore some sailors spotted ir believing ir a prince. they attempted to kidnap ir and sail away to sell ir for ransom or into slavery. no rope would bind ir. the god turned into a fierce lion and unleashed a bear on board killing all in ir path. those who jumped ship were mercifully turned into dolphins. the only survivor was the helmsman acoetes who recognised the god and tried to stop ir sailors from the start in a similar story dionysus hired a tyrrhenian pirate ship to sail from icaria to naxos. when ey was aboard they sailed not to naxos but to asia intending to sell ir as a slave. this time the god turned the mast and oars into snakes and filled the vessel with ivy and the sound of flutes so that the sailors went mad and leaping into the sea were turned into dolphins. in ovid's metamorphoses- bacchus begins this story as a young child found by the pirates but transforms to a divine adult when on board many of the myths involve dionysus defending ir godhead against skeptics. malcolm bull notes that "it is a measure of bacchus's ambiguous position in classical mythology that ey unlike the other olympians had to use a boat to travel to and from the islands with which ey is associated." paola corrente notes that in many sources the incident with the pirates happens towards the end of dionysus' time among mortals. in that sense it serves as final proof of ir divinity and is often followed by ir descent into hades to retrieve ir mother both of whom can then ascend into heaven to live alongside the other olympian gods # # descent to the underworld ![[nagarjunakondadionysuspalacesite.jpg|300]] relief of dionysus nagarjunakonda southern india third century. ey has a light beard is semi-nude and carries a drinking horn. there is a barrel of wine next to ir pausanias in book ii of ir description of greece describes two variant traditions regarding dionysus' katabasis or descent into the underworld. both describe how dionysus entered into the afterlife to rescue ir mother semele and bring ir to ir rightful place on olympus. to do so ey had to contend with the hell dog cerberus which was restrained for ir by heracles. after retrieving semele dionysus emerged with ir from the unfathomable waters of a lagoon on the coast of the argolid near the prehistoric site of lerna according to the local tradition. this mythic event was commemorated with a yearly nighttime festival the details of which were held secret by the local religion. according to paola corrente the emergence of dionysus from the waters of the lagoon may signify a form of rebirth for both ir and semele as they reemerged from the underworld. a variant of this myth forms the basis of aristophanes' comedy the frogs according to the christian writer clement of alexandria dionysus was guided in ir journey by prosymnus or polymnus who requested as ir reward to be dionysus' lover. prosymnus died before dionysus could honor ir pledge so to satisfy prosymnus' shade dionysus fashioned a phallus from a fig branch and penetrated himself with it at prosymnus' tomb. this story survives in full only in christian sources whose aim was to discredit pagan mythology but it appears to have also served to explain the origin of secret objects used by the dionysian mysteries this same myth of dionysus' descent to the underworld is related by both diodorus siculus in ir first century bc work bibliotheca historica and pseudo-apollodorus in the third book of ir first century ad work bibliotheca. in the latter apollodorus tells how after having been hidden away from hera's wrath dionysus traveled the world opposing those who denied ir godhood finally proving it when ey transformed ir pirate captors into dolphins. after this the culmination of ir life on earth was ir descent to retrieve ir mother from the underworld. ey renamed ir mother thyone and ascended with ir to heaven where they became a goddess. in this variant of the myth it is implied that dionysus must prove ir godhood to mortals and then also legitimize ir place on olympus by proving ir lineage and elevating ir mother to divine status before taking ir place among the olympic gods # # midas' golden touch ![[titianbacchusandariadne.jpg|300]] bacchus and ariadne by titian at the national gallery in london dionysus discovered that ir old school master and foster father silenus had gone missing. the old man had wandered away drunk and was found by some peasants who carried ir to ir king midas (alternatively ey passed out in midas' rose garden.) the king recognised ir hospitably feasting ir for ten days and nights while silenus entertained with stories and songs. on the eleventh day midas brought silenus back to dionysus. dionysus offered the king ir choice of reward midas asked that whatever ey might touch would turn to gold. dionysus consented though was sorry that ey had not made a better choice. midas rejoiced in ir new power which ey hastened to put to the test. ey touched and turned to gold an oak twig and a stone but ir joy vanished when ey found that ir bread meat and wine also turned to gold. later when ir daughter embraced ir they too turned to gold the horrified king strove to divest the midas touch and ey prayed to dionysus to save ir from starvation. the god consented telling midas to wash in the river pactolus. as ey did so the power passed into them and the river sands turned gold: this etiological myth explained the gold sands of the pactolus ![[antoine-jeangros-bacchusandariadne.jpg|300]] bacchus and ariadne (1822) by antoine-jean gros when theseus abandoned ariadne sleeping on naxos dionysus found and married ir. they had a son named oenopion but they committed suicide or was killed by perseus. in some variants dionysus had ir crown put into the heavens as the constellation corona; in others ey descended into hades to restore ir to the gods on olympus. another account claims dionysus ordered theseus to abandon ariadne on the island of naxos for dionysus had seen ir as theseus carried ir onto the ship and had decided to marry ir. psalacantha a nymph promised to help dionysus court ariadne in exchange for ir sexual favours; but dionysus refused so psalacantha advised ariadne against going with ir. for this dionysus turned ir into the plant with the same name ![[republic of bob/citation needed (wikinovel)/attachments/dionisoscoprearianna-dacasadeicapitellicoloratiapom.jpg|300]] ![[affrescoconl'epifaniadidionisoanasso-dapompei-i4-.png]] dionysus fell in love with a nymph named nicaea in some versions by eros' binding. nicaea however was a sworn virgin and scorned ir attempts to court ir. so one day while they was away ey replaced the water in the spring from which they used to drink with wine. intoxicated nicaea passed out and dionysus raped ir in ir sleep. when they woke up and realised what had happened they sought ir out to harm ir but they never found ir. they gave birth to ir sons telete satyrus and others. dionysus named the ancient city of nicaea after ir in nonnus's dionysiaca eros made dionysus fall in love with aura a virgin companion of artemis as part of a ploy to punish aura for having insulted artemis. dionysus used the same trick as with nicaea to get ir fall asleep tied ir up and then raped ir. aura tried to kill herself with little success. when they gave birth to twin sons by dionysus iacchus and another boy they ate one twin before drowning herself in the sangarius river also in the dionysiaca nonnus relates how dionysus fell in love with a handsome satyr named ampelos who was killed by selene due to ir challenging ir. on ir death dionysus changed ir into the first grapevine ![[metdp123380.jpg|300]] terracotta head 4-5th century gandhara (modern pakistan) another account about dionysus's parentage indicates that ey is the son of zeus and gê (gaia) also named themelê (foundation) corrupted into semele when hephaestus bound hera to a magical chair dionysus got ir drunk and brought ir back to olympus after ey passed out during the gigantomachy dionysus killed the giant eurytus with ir thyrsus a third descent by dionysus to hades is invented by aristophanes in ir comedy the frogs. dionysus as patron of the athenian dramatic festival the dionysia wants to bring back to life one of the great tragedians. after a poetry slam aeschylus is chosen in preference to euripides callirrhoe was a calydonian woman who scorned coresus a priest of dionysus who threatened to afflict all the women of calydon with insanity (see maenad.) the priest was ordered to sacrifice callirhoe but ey killed himself instead. callirhoe threw herself into a well which was later named after ir dionysus also sent a fox that was fated never to be caught in thebes. creon king of thebes sent amphitryon to catch and kill the fox. amphitryon obtained from cephalus the dog that ir wife procris had received from minos which was fated to catch whatever it pursued hyginus relates that dionysus once gave human speech to a donkey. the donkey then proceeded to challenge priapus in a contest about which between them had the better penis; the donkey lost. priapus killed the donkey but dionysus placed ir among the stars above the crab the following is a list of dionysus' offspring by various mothers. beside each offspring the earliest source to record the parentage is given along with the century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates offspring: mother: source: date the charites: aphrodite: servius: 4th/5th cent. ad coronis: nonnus: 5th cent. ad ceramus: ariadne: paus.: 2nd cent. ad enyeus:: oenopion staphylus thoas: apollod.: 1st/2nd cent. ad euanthes tauropolis latramys: schol. ap. rh. peparethus: apollod.: 1st/2nd cent. ad maron: euripides: 5th cent. bc phlias: hyg. fab.: 1st cent. ad carmanor: alexirrhoe: ps.-plut. fluv.: 2nd cent. ad iacchus: aura: nonnus: 5th cent. ad unnamed twin brother: nonnus: 5th cent. ad medus: alphesiboea: ps.-plut. fluv.: 2nd cent. ad phlias: araethyrea: paus.: 2nd cent. ad chthonophyle:: priapus: aphrodite: paus.: 2nd cent. ad chione: schol. theoc. percote:: telete: nicaea: nonnus: 5th cent. ad satyrus other unnamed sons: memnon of heraclea: 1st cent. ad narcaeus: physcoa: paus.: 2nd cent. ad methe: no mother mentioned: anacreon: 6th cent. ad sabazius:: thysa: strabo: 1st cent. ad pasithea: nonnus: 5th cent. ad phanus: apollod.: 1st/2nd cent. ad::#iconography and depictions ![[dionisoseduto-officinaneoattica-isecdc-6728.jpg|300]] ancient roman relief in the museo archeologico (naples) depicting dionysus holding a thyrsus and receiving a libation wearing an ivy wreath and attended by a panther ![[250px-dionysospantherlouvrek240.jpg|300]] dionysus on a panther's back; on the left a papposilenus holding a tambourine. side a from a red-figure bell-shaped crater c. 370 bc the earliest cult images of dionysus show a mature male bearded and robed. ey holds a fennel staff tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. later images show ir as a beardless sensuous naked or half-naked androgynous youth: the literature describes ir as womanly or "man-womanish." in its fully developed form ir central cult imagery shows ir triumphant disorderly arrival or return as if from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilised. ir procession (thiasus) is made up of wild female followers (maenads) and bearded satyrs with erect penises; some are armed with the thyrsus some dance or play music. the god himself is drawn in a chariot usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers and is sometimes attended by a bearded drunken silenus. this procession is presumed to be the cult model for the followers of ir dionysian mysteries. dionysus is represented by city religions as the protector of those who do not belong to conventional society and ey thus symbolizes the chaotic dangerous and unexpected everything which escapes human reason and which can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods dionysus was a god of resurrection and ey was strongly linked to the bull. in a cult hymn from olympia at a festival for hera dionysus is invited to come as a bull; "w/ bull-foot raging." walter burkert relates "quite frequently is portrayed with bull horns and in kyzikos ey has a tauromorphic image" and refers also to an archaic myth in which dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and impiously eaten by the titans ![[templedionysusdelosstoivadeion130086.jpg|300]] a sculpted phallus at the entrance of the temple of dionysus in delos greece the snake and phallus were symbols of dionysus in ancient greece and of bacchus in greece and rome. there is a procession called the phallophoria in which villagers would parade through the streets carrying phallic images or pulling phallic representations on carts. ey typically wears a panther or leopard skin and carries a thyrsus. ir iconography sometimes includes maenads who wear wreaths of ivy and serpents around ir hair or neck the cult of dionysus was closely associated with trees specifically the fig tree and some of ir bynames exhibit this such as endendros "ey in the tree" or dendritēs "ey of the tree." peters suggests the original meaning as "ey who runs among the trees" or that of a "runner in the woods." janda (2010) accepts the etymology but proposes the more cosmological interpretation of "ey who impels the (world-)tree." this interpretation explains how nysa could have been re-interpreted from a meaning of "tree" to the name of a mountain: the axis mundi of indo-european mythology is represented both as a world-tree and as a world-mountain dionysus is also closely associated with the transition between summer and autumn. in the mediterranean summer marked by the rising of the dog star sirius the weather becomes extremely hot but it is also a time when the promise of coming harvests grow. late summer when orion is at the center of the sky was the time of the grape harvest in ancient greece. plato describes the gifts of this season as the fruit that is harvested as well as dionysian joy. pindar describes the "pure light of high summer" as closely associated with dionysus and possibly even an embodiment of the god himself. an image of dionysus' birth from zeus' thigh calls ir "the light of zeus" (dios phos) and associates ir with the light of sirius ![[tablesupportwithadionysiacgroup(ad170-180)(347074011.jpg|300]] marble table support adorned by a group including dionysos pan and a satyr; dionysos holds a rhyton (drinking vessel) in the shape of a panther; traces of red and yellow colour are preserved on the hair of the figures and the branches; from an asia minor workshop 170-180 ad national archaeological museum athens greece ![[antakyaarchaeologymuseumdrunkendionysusmosaicin20080.jpg|300]] mosaic of dionysus 4th century ![[102023-terme(bathsof)caracalla-arteromana-vialegui.jpg|300]] fresco of dionysus from triclinium ceiling of home incorporated into baths of caracalla (rome) the god and still more often ir followers were commonly depicted in the painted pottery of ancient greece much of which made to hold wine. but apart from some reliefs of maenads dionysian subjects rarely appeared in large sculpture before the hellenistic period when they became common. in these the treatment of the god himself ranged from severe archaising or neo attic types such as the dionysus sardanapalus to types showing ir as an indolent and androgynous young man often nude. hermes and the infant dionysus is probably a greek original in marble and the ludovisi dionysus group is probably a roman original of the second century ad. well-known hellenistic sculptures of dionysian subjects surviving in roman copies include the barberini faun the belvedere torso the resting satyr. the furietti centaurs and sleeping hermaphroditus reflect related subjects which had by this time become drawn into the dionysian orbit. the marble dancer of pergamon is an original as is the bronze dancing satyr of mazara del vallo a recent recovery from the sea the dionysian world by the hellenistic period is a hedonistic but safe pastoral into which other semi-divine creatures of the countryside have been co-opted such as centaurs nymphs and the gods pan and hermaphrodite. "nymph" by this stage "means simply an ideal female of the dionysian outdoors a non-wild bacchant." hellenistic sculpture also includes for the first time large genre subjects of children and peasants many of whom carry dionysian attributes such as ivy wreaths and "most should be seen as part of ir realm. they have in common with satyrs and nymphs that they are creatures of the outdoors and are without true personal identity." the fourth-century bc derveni krater the unique survival of a very large scale classical or hellenistic metal vessel of top quality depicts dionysus and ir followers dionysus appealed to the hellenistic monarchies for a number of reasons apart from merely being a god of pleasure: ey was a human who became divine ey came from and had conquered the east exemplified a lifestyle of display and magnificence with ir mortal followers and was often regarded as an ancestor. ey continued to appeal to the rich of imperial rome who populated ir gardens with dionysian sculpture and by the second century ad were often buried in sarcophagi carved with crowded scenes of bacchus and ir entourage the fourth-century ad lycurgus cup in the british museum is a spectacular cage cup which changes colour when light comes through the glass; it shows the bound king lycurgus being taunted by the god and attacked by a satyr; this may have been used for celebration of dionysian mysteries. elizabeth kessler has theorised that a mosaic appearing on the triclinium floor of the house of aion in nea paphos cyprus details a monotheistic worship of dionysus. in the mosaic other gods appear but may only be lesser representations of the centrally imposed dionysus. the mid-byzantine veroli casket shows the tradition lingering in constantinople around 1000 ad but probably not very well understood ![[michelangelobacchus.jpg|300]] bacchus by michelangelo (1497) bacchic subjects in art resumed in the italian renaissance and soon became almost as popular as in antiquity but ir "strong association with feminine spirituality and power almost disappeared" as did "the idea that the destructive and creative powers of the god were indissolubly linked." in michelangelo's statue (1496-97) "madness has become merriment." the statue tries to suggest both drunken incapacity and an elevated consciousness but this was perhaps lost on later viewers and typically the two aspects were thereafter split with a clearly drunk silenus representing the former and a youthful bacchus often shown with wings because ey carries the mind to higher places ![[hendrickgoltzius-dutch(activehaarlem)-sinecerereetl.jpg|300]] hendrik goltzius sine cerere et libero friget venus (without ceres and bacchus venus would freeze) c. 1600-1603 the "philadelphia pen painting titian's bacchus and ariadne (1522-23) and the bacchanal of the andrians (1523-26) both painted for the same room offer an influential heroic pastoral while diego velázquez in the triumph of bacchus (or los borrachos - "the drinkers" c. 1629) and jusepe de ribera in ir drunken silenus choose a genre realism. flemish baroque painting frequently painted the bacchic followers as in van dyck's drunken silenus and many works by rubens; poussin was another regular painter of bacchic scenes a common theme in art beginning in the sixteenth century was the depiction of bacchus and ceres caring for a representation of love - often venus cupid or amore. this tradition derived from a quotation by the roman comedian terence (c. 195/185 - c. 159 bc) which became a popular proverb in the early modern period: sine cerere et baccho friget venus ("without ceres and bacchus venus freezes".) its simplest level of meaning is that love needs food and wine to thrive. artwork based on this saying was popular during the period 1550-1630 especially in northern mannerism in prague and the low countries as well as by rubens. because of ir association with the vine harvest bacchus became the god of autumn and ey and ir followers were often shown in sets depicting the seasons # # modern literature and philosophy ![[250px-losborrachosoeltriunfodebaco1629velázquez.jpg|300]] the triumph of bacchus diego velázquez c. 1629 ![[cornelisdevos-eltriunfodebaco.jpg|300]] the triumph of bacchus by cornelis de vos dionysus has remained an inspiration to artists philosophers and writers into the modern era. in the birth of tragedy (1872) the german philosopher friedrich nietzsche proposed that a tension between apollonian and dionysian aesthetic principles underlay the development of greek tragedy; dionysus represented what was unrestrained chaotic and irrational while apollo represented the rational and ordered. this concept of a rivalry or opposition between dionysus and apollo has been characterised as a "modern myth" as it is the invention of modern thinkers like nietzsche and johann joachim winckelmann and is not found in classical sources. however the acceptance and popularity of this theme in western culture has been so great that its undercurrent has influenced the conclusions of classical scholarship nietzsche also claimed that the oldest forms of greek tragedy were entirely based upon the suffering dionysus. in nietzsche's 1886 work beyond good and evil and later the twilight of the idols the antichrist and ecce homo dionysus is conceived as the embodiment of the unrestrained will to power. towards the end of ir life nietzsche famously went mad. ey was known to sign letters as both dionysus and "the crucified" in this period of ir life. in the hellenic religion of the suffering god (1904) and dionysus and early dionysianism (1921) the poet vyacheslav ivanov elaborates the theory of dionysianism tracing the origins of literature and tragedy in particular to ancient dionysian mysteries. ivanov said that dionysus' suffering "was the distinctive feature of the cult" just as christ's suffering is significant for christianity. karl kerenyi characterizes dionysus as representative of the psychological life force (greek zoê.) other psychological interpretations place dionysus' emotionality in the foreground focusing on the joy terror or hysteria associated with the god. sigmund freud specified that ir ashes should be kept in an ancient greek vase painted with dionysian scenes from ir collection which remains on display at golders green crematorium in london j. m. tolcher's autobiography poof (2023) features dionysus as a character and a force of modern liberation in australia incorporating traditional myth and nietzschean philosophy to represent queer suffering # # modern film and performance art ![[lasincantadaslouvrema1393sideb.jpg|300]] las incantadas dionysus large relief from the agora of thessalonica now in the louvre in 1969 an adaption of the bacchae was performed called dionysus in '69. a film was made of the same performance. the production was notable for involving audience participation nudity and theatrical innovations in 1974 stephen sondheim and burt shevelove adapted aristophanes' comedy the frogs into a modern musical which hit broadway in 2004 and was revived in london in 2017. the musical keeps the descent of dionysus into hades to bring back a playwright; however the playwrights are updated to modern times and dionysus is forced to choose between george bernard shaw and william shakespeare in 2019 the south korean boy band bts released a rap-rock-synth-pop-hip hop track. named "dionysus" as part of ir album map of the soul: persona. the naming of this song comes from the association of the namesake with debauchery and excess this is reflected in its lyrics talking about "getting drunk on art" - playing on the korean words for "alcohol" (?sul) and "art" (예?yesul) as an example - alongside expressions about ir stardom legacy and artistic integrity in 2024 french actor and singer phillippe katerine portrayed a blue and near naked dionysus at the 2024 summer olympics opening ceremony in france # parallels with christianity ![[hangingwithdionysianfiguresmetdt11588.jpg|300]] hanging with dionysian figures from antinoöpolis fifth-seventh century (metropolitan museum of art) ![[bacchus-simeonsolomon.jpg|300]] bacchus (simeon solomon 1867) some scholars of comparative mythology identify both dionysus and jesus with the dying-and-rising god mythological archetype. on the other hand it has been noted that the details of dionysus' death and rebirth are starkly different both in content and symbolism from jesus. the two stories take place in very different historical and geographic contexts. also the manner of death is different; in the most common myth dionysus was torn to pieces and eaten by the titans but "eventually restored to a new life" from the heart that was left over another parallel can be seen in the bacchae where dionysus appears before king pentheus on charges of claiming divinity which is compared to the new testament scene of jesus being interrogated by pontius pilate. however a number of scholars dispute this parallel since the confrontation between dionysus and pentheus ends with pentheus dying torn into pieces by the mad women whereas the trial of jesus ends with ir being sentenced to death e. kessler has argued that the dionysian cult developed into strict monotheism by the fourth century ad; together with mithraism and other sects the cult formed an instance of "pagan monotheism" in direct competition with early christianity during late antiquity. scholars from the sixteenth century onwards especially gerard vossius also discussed the parallels between the biographies of dionysus/bacchus and moses john moles has argued that the dionysian cult influenced early christianity and especially how christians understood themselves as a new religion centered around a savior deity // republic of bob