Dionysus

8 Pages 1918 Words

Zeus’ divine child
relishes the happy life
He loves peace who sheds happiness
Peace who nurses admirable youths
And gave of the rich and poor
He hates those who do not do their best
day and wondrous night
to live happily.
(Euripides, Bacchai 416-426)

Dionysus has been called the Father of Wine, the Bringer of Virility, and the Patron of the Theatrical Arts, of which he is most well known for. Dionysus, also known as Bacchus, Iacchus, Bassareus, Trietenicus, and Liber, is credited for the creation of wine and theatre, yet his origins and earthly powers are vague and convoluted (Apiryon, 1). His origin has long been suspected to be in a fusion of a rural, local Greek nature god and another more potent god imported from Phrygia (central Turkey) or Thrace later in Greek prehistory (Gross, 1). Contradictory, Dionysus was one of the most important deities to the Greeks, yet historically he was rarely mentioned in writing. He was the Thracian, and eventually Greek, god of ecstasy, terror, guilt and atonement, death and resurrection, vegetation, trees, wine, madness, and drama. He also represented Eleusis: ecstasy, personal delivery from the world through physical or spiritual intoxication, and initiation into secret rites (1).To comprehend the complicated worship of this (once)nature deity, one must understand his origins, his followers, his holidays, and the evolution of the entire religion into the current form of theatre today.
There are countless versions to the origins of Dionysus, and most continue in a common thread while contradicting each other. In the most profuse and popular tale, Dionysus was born of Zeus and Semele, a mortal woman whom Zeus had fallen in love with and the romance continued for many years. To no ones surprise, Semele became pregnant and rumors flew around Mt. Olympus. Eventually Hera, Queen of the gods and Zeus’ wife, discovered her husband’s secret affair with this human woman and became gree...