Dionysus

Dionysus, in Greco-Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness and vegetation, especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy. The occurrence of his name on a Linear B tablet (13th century bce) shows that he was already worshipped in the Mycenaean period, although it is not known where his cult originated. In several legends of his cult, he is depicted as having foreign, usually eastern, origins. Dionysus was often counted among the 12 Olympian gods in the Greek pantheon, taking the place of Hestia. His Roman equivalent was Bacchus.

Birth and family

Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, a daughter of Cadmus (king of Thebes). Out of jealousy, Hera, the wife of Zeus, persuaded the pregnant Semele to prove her lover’s divinity by requesting that he appear in his real person. Zeus complied, but his power was too great for the mortal Semele, who was blasted with thunderbolts. However, Zeus saved his son by sewing him up in his thigh and keeping him there until he reached maturity, so that he was twice-born. Dionysus was then conveyed by the god Hermes to be brought up by the bacchantes (maenads, or thyiads) of Nysa, a purely imaginary spot. In some accounts Dionysus descended into the underworld and recovered Semele, after which she was raised to divinity or immortalized in a constellation.

In Orphic legend (i.e., based on the stories of Orpheus), Dionysus—under the name Zagreus—was the son of Zeus by his daughter Persephone. At the direction of Hera, the infant Zagreus/Dionysus was torn to pieces, cooked, and eaten by the evil Titans. But his heart was saved by Athena, and he (now Dionysus) was resurrected by Zeus through Semele. Zeus struck the Titans with lightning, and they were consumed by fire. From their ashes came the first humans, who thus possessed both the evil nature of the Titans and the divine nature of the gods.

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From Athena to Zeus: Basics of Greek Mythology

Dionysus married the Cretan princess Ariadne, whom he had found wandering on the island of Naxos. In some traditions Ariadne had been abandoned on Naxos by the hero Theseus, whom she had helped escape from the Labyrinth in Crete after he slayed the Minotaur.

Wine and wanderings

In some accounts Dionysus is credited with the discovery of winemaking after his companion Ampelus died and was turned into a vine. In alternate versions of the story, the vine existed before Ampelus died, and it was only later that Dionysus discovered the art of winemaking. He is believed to have traveled far and wide teaching winemaking, finally reaching India. Among the mortals he taught was the farmer Icarius, who was killed by his neighbors after they mistook wine-induced intoxication for poisoning.

Dionysus played a key role in the return of the divine smith Hephaestus to Mount Olympus after he had been cast out by his mother, Hera. When Hephaestus avenged himself against Hera’s rejection by trapping her in a chair, Dionysus helped secure her release by plying Hephaestus with wine, after which Hephaestus freed Hera. Dionysus was also associated with the legend of Midas, to whom he granted the ability to turn everything he touched into gold.

Dionysian beliefs and rituals

As Dionysus apparently represented the sap, juice, or lifeblood element in nature, lavish festal orgia (rites) in his honor were widely instituted. These Dionysia (Bacchanalia) quickly won converts among women. Men, however, met them with hostility. In Thrace Dionysus was opposed by Lycurgus, who ended up blind and mad.

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In Thebes Dionysus was opposed by Pentheus, his cousin, who was torn to pieces by the bacchantes when he attempted to spy on their activities. Athenians were punished with impotence for dishonoring the god’s cult. Their husbands’ resistance notwithstanding, women took to the hills, wearing fawn skins and crowns of ivy and shouting the ritual cry, “Euoi!” Forming thyai (holy bands) and waving thyrsoi (singular: thyrsus; fennel wands bound with grapevine and tipped with ivy), they danced by torchlight to the rhythm of the aulos (double pipe) and the tympanon (handheld drum). While they were under the god’s inspiration, the bacchantes were believed to possess occult powers and the ability to charm snakes and suckle animals, as well as preternatural strength that enabled them to tear living victims to pieces before indulging in a ritual feast (ōmophagia). The bacchantes hailed the god by his titles of Bromios (“Thunderer”), Taurokeros (“Bull-Horned”), or Tauroprosopos (“Bull-Faced”), in the belief that he incarnated the sacrificial beast.

Dionysus had the power to inspire and to create ecstasy, and his cult had special importance for art and literature. Performances of tragedy and comedy in Athens were part of two festivals of Dionysus, the Lenaea and the Great (or City) Dionysia. Dionysus was also honored in lyric poems called dithyrambs. In Roman literature his nature is often misunderstood, and he is simplistically portrayed as the jolly Bacchus who is invoked at drinking parties. In 186 bce the celebration of the Bacchanalia was prohibited in Italy.

The followers of Dionysus included spirits of fertility, such as the satyrs and sileni, and in his rituals the phallus was prominent. Dionysus often took on a bestial shape and was associated with various animals. Dionysian beliefs and ritual practices also provided Greek artists with a rich range of subjects and imagery. His personal attributes were an ivy wreath, the thyrsus, and the kantharos, a large two-handled goblet—these served as recognizable visual markers of Dionysus in Greek art. In early Greek art he was represented as a bearded man, but later he was portrayed as youthful and effeminate. Bacchic revels were a favorite subject of vase painters, who frequently depicted Dionysus with his characteristic attributes and surrounded by maenads and satyrs engaged in music, dance, and drinking.