Wall painting of the bacchanalian dance, C1st Rome |
Dionysus
Roman name: Bacchus
God of wine, sexual rapture, and religious ecstasy
A multifaceted god, Dionysus was simultaneously the bacchanalian leader of the frenzied Maenads, the mystic deity of the Orphic mysteries, and patron of the theatre and arts.
In early art, Dionysus was represented as a bearded man, but he was later depicted as youthful and effeminate. His followers included the satyrs (spirits of fertility), and the phallus was prominent in his rituals.
Twice-born God
In the most popular story of his birth, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele. Angry that Semele was pregnant with Zeus’ child, Hera (Zeus’ main consort), encouraged the mortal to demand proof of her lover’s divinity. When Zeus appeared to Semele in his divine glory, she was blasted with thunderbolts. However, Zeus rescued his unborn son, and sewed him into his thigh until he was ready to be born for the second time, whereupon he was raised by the Maenads.
In another version of the story, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Persephone, Queen of the underworld. The jealous Hera asked the Titans to lure the baby Dionysus away from his mother with toys. They then tore him limb from limb and ate everything but his heart, which was saved by either Athena, Rhea or Demeter. Zeus recreated his son from the heart, and implanted him in Semele who carried him until he was, again, born for the second time. This account of his birth was central to the Orphic mysteries.
Referring to his dual birth, Dionysus’ epithet dithrambos means 'two doors'.
Orgiastic Excess
Lavish rites, orgia, were observed in Dionysus’ honour. While men were generally opposed to the cult, women were attracted to it. Dionysus’ followers, the Maenads, collected in wild spaces, where they danced wearing fawn skins and ivy crowns. Whilst under the god’s inspiration, the women were believed to possess occult powers: the ability to charm snakes and suckle animals, as well as the preternatural strength to tear living victims limb from limb.
Dionysus and other gods
Hephaestus once imprisoned his mother, Hera, on a magic throne and ignored the other gods’ pleas to release her. Dionysus intoxicated Hephaestus and then took him from Lemnos to Mount Olympus slumped over the back of a mule. For this he was made one of the twelve Olympians.
Dionysus had prophetic powers. He had his own oracle at Thrace, and Apollo frequently left the oracle at Delphi to his care.