Dionysos

	Bust of Dionysos

Dionysos, who was also called Bacchus, or (in Rome) LIBER was, in Greco-Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness and flora. He was especially known as the god of wine and ecstasy. Dionysos was introduced to Greece from Thrace and Phrygia, but the strange legends of his birth and death (and his marriage to the Cretan goddess Ariadne) suggest that his cult represented a harkening back to pre-Hellenic Minoan nature religion.

According to the most popular legend, Dionysos was the son of Zeus and Semele (a daughter of Cadmus, King of Thebes). Out of jealousy, Hera (the wife of Zeus) persuaded Semele to prove her lover’s divinity by requesting him to appear in his real person. Zeus complied, but his power was too great for the mortal Semele, who was blasted with thunderbolts. Zeus, however, saved his son by sewing him up in his thigh, where him kept him until maturity. Dionysos was therefore born twice. After his second birth, the god was conveyed by the god Hermes and brought up by Bacchants (or Maenads, a group of female followers of the god) at Nysa (a mythical location)

Dionysos represented the sap, fluid, and lifeblood element of nature. As a result, sumptuous festal orgia (rites) were widely instituted in his honour. These Dionysia (or Bacchanalia) quickly won converts amongst the women in the post-Mycenaean world. There is some evidence, however, that the male population met such events with hostility. In a legend accounted for by the playwright Euripides in The Bacchae, Pentheus, king of Thebes, was torn to pieces by frenzied Bacchants while he attempted to spy on their activities. Other myths show how the Athenians were punished with impotence for dishonouring the god’s cult. Bacchants reputedly abandoned their families and took to the hills, wearing fawn skins and crowns of ivy and shouting their ritual cry of "Euoi!". They also formed thyasi (or holy bands) and waving thyrsoi (fennel wands bound with vine leaves and tipped with ivy), danced by torchlight to the rhythm of flutes and tympani (kettledrums). Whilst entranced by the power of the god, the Bacchants were believed to possess supernatural powers, (such as the ability to charm snakes and suckle animals), as well as extraordinary strength that enabled them to tear living victims to pieces (sparagmos) before indulging in a ritual feast (omophagia). The Bacchants chose to call Dionysos by one of his many other titles, either that of Bromios (Thunderer), Taukeros (Bull-Horned), or Tauroprosopos (Bull-faced). They did this because they believed that he incarnated the sacrificial beast. For a considerable amount of time, the worship of Dionysos thrived Asia Minor (notably in Phrygia and Lydia). His cult is also closely associated with those of numerous Asiatic deities.

Although Dionysos was believed to have descended to the underworld to bring back his mother Semele and was associated with Persephone in southern Italy, any original connection between the god and the netherworld seems doubtful; although Dionysos did possess a gift for prophecy. He was acknowledged by the priesthood at Delphi on almost equal terms with Apollo; had an oracle in Thrace; and was later patron of a healing shrine at Amphicleia in Phocis.

The followers of Dionysos included spirits of fertility, such as the satyrs, and in his ritual festivals, the phallus was prominent. Dionysos often took on a bestial shape and has been associated with various animals. His personal attributes were an ivy wreath (thyrsus), and the kantharos (a large two-handed goblet). In early graphic representations he was bearded, but later he became portrayed as youthful and effeminate. Bacchanalia were a favourite subject of vase painters.