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Thecult of Dionysus consisted of devotees who involved themselves in forms of ecstatic worship in reverence ofDionysus. An ecstatic ritual performed by the cult included theorgeia, a forest rite involvingecstatic dance during the night.[1] TheDionysia andLenaia festivals inAthens were dedicated toDionysus, as well as thephallic processions. These processions often featured villagers parading through the streets with large phallic representations.[2] Thecult of Dionysus traces back to at leastMycenaean Greece, since his name is found onMyceneanLinear B tablets as𐀇𐀺𐀝𐀰(di-wo-nu-so).[3][4][5] However, many view Thrace and Phrygia as the birthplace of Dionysus, and therefore the concepts and rites attributed to his worship.[6] Dionysian worship was especially fervent in Thrace and parts of Greece that were previously inhabited by Thracians, such as Phocis and Boeotia.[6] Initiates worshipped him in theDionysian Mysteries, which were comparable to and linked with theOrphic Mysteries, and may have influencedGnosticism. It is possible that waterdivination was an important aspect of worship within the cult.[7]
The cult was strongly associated withsatyrs,centaurs, andsileni, and its characteristic symbols were thebull, theserpent,tigers/leopards,ivy, and wine. One reason for Dionysus's association with the silent is that Silenus, a chief figure among them, was said to have taught Dionysus the art of wine-making.[8] Dionysus himself is often shown riding aleopard, wearing a leopard skin, or in a chariot drawn bypanthers, and is also recognized by his iconicthyrsus. Besides thegrapevine and its clashing alter-ego, the poisonous ivy plant, both sacred to him, thefig was another one of his accredited symbols. Additionally, the pinecone that topped histhyrsus linked him toCybele, an Anatolian goddess. The Dionysian effect the god had on women also bores a resemblance toKrishna, an Indian god who enchanted femalegopis with music to venture into the forest in the night.[1]
The exact historical basis of the Cult of Dionysus and Dionysian rites still remains unknown, however there are some speculations. Dionysus may have traveled throughout Greece as anorpheotelestae, or a traveling healer, curing illnesses through ecstatic dance.[1] Dionysian worship in Rome was also said to have arrived via a traveling magician-priest.[1] Dionysus'secstatic dances and drumming of the tympana, a common drum depicted on vases with maenads, is then speculated to have been the origin of the cult's own rituals.
Others speculate that the Dionysian cults sprung from the wishes of Dionysus himself. During the Hellenistic period, an inscription fromMagnesia on the Meander details of the image of Dionysus being found in aplane tree.[2] The people interpreted this image as Dionysus himself seeking the establishment of his worship there.[2]Maenads were brought fromThebes to participate in theorgeia and the Bacchicthiasoi in Magnesia in the fifth century.[2] Some believe that Dionysus exists through these rites and can be evoked from dance, explaining his instigations for cult worship.[1]
Cult rituals generally included ecstatic dancing to the point of exhaustion, music, and night-wandering in nature.Delphi,Magnesia, andMiletus were cities that held active activity for the Cult of Dionysus during the first through the third centuries.[1] During the Hellenistic period, Dionysiac worshipers were often organized into three different groups namedSemele,Agave, Ino and Atonoe.[2] These groups met periodically to dance and participate in rituals together in reverence of Dionysus.[2]There is an association with tragedies that occurred during these celebrations, often times they are misconstrued or associated with beliefs that these tragedies were actually part of practicing rituals.[9]
Women played an especially prominent role in the cult of Dionysus, in part due to the Dionysian effect he had on women.Homer's Hymn 1 references Dionysus as "gynaimanes", or "he who drives women insane."[2] Known asmaenads, women followers of Dionysus performed ecstatic forms of worship, including participation in theorgeia. Human maenadic dancers engaging in ecstatic worship were popularly depicted on Greek vases.
Theoreibaia, or winter dance, was a popular form of maenadic Dionysian worship that was scheduled biannually in winter. Oftentimes, for these forms of worship, Maenads would dress in fawnskin and ivy wreaths.[2] Maenads would run into the woods and, imbued withenthousiasmos, call for Dionysus or yell "ewoi", a Bacchic cry of frenzy.[1] Hair tossing, dance, andthyrsos wielding was also a common occurrence during theoreibaia.[1] In the second century,Pausanias referenced maenads who submittedMount Parnassus, andPlutarch'sDe primo frigido discussed maenads worshiping and getting caught in a snowstorm,[1][2] illustrating that maenads were not mythological figures in Greek culture, but rather real women.
Violence was a prevalent facet of maenadic frenzies. Maenads would catch, kill, and eat wild animals, from snakes to bears and wolves, in the forest during their ecstatic trances, engaging insparagmos andomophagia.[1]The Bacchae byEuripides also references the violent tendencies of maenadic worship, in which maenads mistookKing Pentheus for a lion and killed him. The maenads usually killed their prey by hand, but depictions of weapons, such as a sword, have been portrayed onpyxes.[1]
The appeal the Cult of Dionysus had towards women specifically also captures the reversal of the socio-biological realm of ancient Greece. Women could not participate in much of public life, including drinking and hunting, and were forced towards domestic obligations centering the home and children.[1][2] Participating in ecstatic and violent rites suggests the subversion of the establisheddivision of labor and the occupation of a dominant role, a notion common in other festivals like the RomanSaturnalia.[1]
Introduced into Rome (c. 200 BC) fromMagna Graecia or by way of Greek-influencedEtruria, the bacchanalia were held in secret and attended by women only, in the grove of Simila, near theAventine Hill, on 16 and 17 March. Subsequently, admission to the rites were extended to men, and celebrations took place five times per month. The notoriety of these festivals, where many kinds of crimes and political conspiracies were supposed to be planned, led in 186 BC to a decree of theSenate—the so-calledSenatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered inCalabria (1640), now atVienna—by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the Senate. In spite of the severe punishment inflicted on those found in violation of this decree, the Bacchanalia were not stamped out, at any rate in the south of Italy, for a very long time.
Dionysus is equated with both Bacchus andLiber (alsoLiber Pater). Liber ("the free one") was a god of fertility, wine, and growth, married toLibera. His festival was theLiberalia, celebrated on 17 March, but in some myths the festival was also held on 5 March.
Dionysus sometimes has theepithet Acratophorus', by which he was designated as the giver of unmixed wine, and worshiped atPhigaleia inArcadia.[10][11] InSicyon he was worshiped by the name Acroreites.[12] As Bacchus, he carried the Latinepithet Adoneus', "Ruler".[13] Aegobolus, "goat killer", was the name under which he was worshiped atPotniae inBoeotia.[14] AsAesymnetes ("ruler" or "lord") he was worshiped at Aroë andPatrae inAchaea. Another epithet was Bromios, "the thunderer" or "he of the loud shout". As Dendrites, "he of the trees", he is a powerful fertility god.Dithyrambos is sometimes used to refer to him or to solemn songs sung to him at festivals; the name refers to his premature birth. Eleutherios ("the liberator") was an epithet for both Dionysus andEros. Other forms of the god as regarding fertility include the epithet inSamos andLesbosEnorches' ("with balls"[15] or perhaps "in the testicles" in reference to Zeus' sewing the infant Dionysus into his thigh, i.e., his testicles).[16] Evius is an epithet of his used prominently inEuripides' play,The Bacchae.Iacchus (Greek:Ἴακχος), possibly an epithet of Dionysus, is associated with theEleusinian Mysteries; inEleusis, he is known as a son ofZeus andDemeter. The nameIacchus may come fromiacchus, a hymn sung in honor of him.[17] With the epithet Liknites ("he of the winnowing fan"), he is a fertility god connected with themystery religions. A winnowing fan was similar to ashovel and was used to separate the chaff from the grain. In addition, Dionysus is known as Lyaeus ("he who unties") as a god of relaxation and freedom from worry and as Oeneus, he is the god of thewine press.
In the Greekpantheon, Dionysus (along withZeus) absorbs the role ofSabazios, aPhrygian deity. In theRoman pantheon, Sabazius became an alternate name for Bacchus.[18]
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