Inancient Greek religion andmyth,Dionysus (/daɪ.əˈnaɪsəs/;Ancient Greek:ΔιόνυσοςDiónysos) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility,festivity, insanity, ritual madness,religious ecstasy, andtheatre.[3][4] He was also known asBacchus (/ˈbækəs/ or/ˈbɑːkəs/;Ancient Greek:ΒάκχοςBacchos) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by theRomans) for a frenzy he is said to induce calledbaccheia.[5] AsDionysus Eleutherius ("the liberator"), his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful.[6] Histhyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose hiscult and the freedoms he represents.[7] Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.[8]
His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources asThracian, others as Greek.[9][10][11] InOrphism, he was variously a son ofZeus andPersephone; achthonic or underworld aspect of Zeus; or the twice-born son of Zeus and the mortalSemele. TheEleusinian Mysteries identify him withIacchus, the son or husband ofDemeter. Most accounts say he was born in Thrace, traveled abroad, and arrived in Greece as a foreigner. His attribute of "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults, as he is a god ofepiphany, sometimes called "the god who comes".[12]
Wine was a religious focus in the cult of Dionysus and was his earthly incarnation.[13] Wine could ease suffering, bring joy, and inspire divine madness.[14] Festivals of Dionysus included the performance of sacred dramas enacting his myths, the initial driving force behind thedevelopment of theatre in Western culture.[15] The cult of Dionysus is also a "cult of the souls"; hismaenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead.[16] He is sometimes categorised as adying-and-rising god.[17]
Romans identified Bacchus with their ownLiber Pater, the "Free Father" of theLiberalia festival, patron of viniculture, wine and male fertility, and guardian of the traditions, rituals and freedoms attached to coming of age and citizenship, but the Roman state treated independent, popular festivals of Bacchus (Bacchanalia) as subversive, partly because their free mixing of classes and genders transgressed traditional social and moral constraints. Celebration of the Bacchanalia was made a capital offence, except in the toned-down forms and greatly diminished congregations approved and supervised by the State. Festivals of Bacchus were merged with those of Liber and Dionysus.
Dionysus extending a drinking cup(kantharos) (late sixth century BC)
Thedio- prefix inAncient GreekΔιόνυσος (Diónūsos;[di.ó.nyː.sos]) has been associated since antiquity withZeus (genitiveDios), and the variants of the name seem to point to an original*Dios-nysos.[18] The earliest attestation is theMycenaean Greekdative form𐀇𐀺𐀝𐀰(di-wo-nu-so),[19][18] featured on two tablets that had been found atMycenaeanPylos and dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. At that time, there could be no certainty on whether this was indeed atheonym,[20][21] but the 1989–90 Greek-Swedish Excavations atKastelli Hill, Chania, unearthed,inter alia, four artefacts bearing Linear B inscriptions; among them, the inscription on item KH Gq 5 is thought to confirm Dionysus's early worship.[22]In Mycenaean Greek the form ofZeus isdi-wo.[23] The second element-nūsos is of unknown origin.[18] It is perhaps associated with MountNysa, the birthplace of the god in Greek mythology, where he was nursed by nymphs (theNysiads),[24] althoughPherecydes of Syros had postulatednũsa as an archaic word for "tree" by the sixth century BC.[25][26] On a vase ofSophilos the Nysiads are namedνύσαι (nusae).[27]Kretschmer asserted thatνύση (nusē) is aThracian word that has the same meaning asνύμφη (nýmphē), a word similar withνυός (nuos) (daughter in law, or bride, I-E *snusós, Sanskr.snusā).[28] He suggested that the male form isνῦσος (nūsos) and this would make Dionysus the "son of Zeus".[27]Jane Ellen Harrison believed that the name Dionysus means "young Zeus".[29]Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested aPre-Greek origin of the name, since all attempts to find anIndo-European etymology are doubtful.[19][18]
Later variants includeDionūsos andDiōnūsos inBoeotia;Dien(n)ūsos inThessaly;Deonūsos andDeunūsos inIonia; andDinnūsos inAeolia, besides other variants. ADio- prefix is found in other names, such as that of theDioscures, and may derive fromDios, the genitive of the name ofZeus.[30]
Nonnus, in hisDionysiaca, writes that the name Dionysus means "Zeus-limp" and that Hermes named the new born Dionysus this, "because Zeus while he carried his burden lifted one foot with a limp from the weight of his thigh, andnysos in Syracusan language means limping".[31] In his note to these lines,W. H. D. Rouse writes "It need hardly be said that these etymologies are wrong".[31] TheSuda, a Byzantine encyclopedia based on classical sources, states that Dionysus was so named "from accomplishing [διανύειν] for each of those who live the wild life. Or from providing [διανοεῖν] everything for those who live the wild life."[32]
Academics in the nineteenth century, using study ofphilology andcomparative mythology, often regarded Dionysus as a foreign deity who was only reluctantly accepted into the standard Greek pantheon at a relatively late date, based on his myths which often involve this theme—a god who spends much of his time on earth abroad, and struggles for acceptance when he returns to Greece. However, more recent evidence has shown that Dionysus was in fact one of the earliest gods attested in mainland Greek culture.[14] The earliest written records of Dionysus worship come fromMycenaean Greece, specifically in and around thePalace of Nestor inPylos, dated to around 1300 BC.[33] The details of any religion surrounding Dionysus in this period are scant, and most evidence comes in the form only of his name, written asdi-wo-nu-su-jo ("Dionysoio" = 'of Dionysus') inLinear B, preserved on fragments of clay tablets that indicate a connection to offerings or payments of wine, which was described as being "of Dionysus". References have also been uncovered to "women of Oinoa", the "place of wine", who may correspond to the Dionysian women of later periods.[33]
Golden naiskos with Dionysus, 2nd cent. BC.
Other Mycenaean records from Pylos record the worship of a god named Eleuther, who was the son of Zeus, and to whom oxen were sacrificed. The link to both Zeus and oxen, as well as etymological links between the name Eleuther or Eleutheros with the Latin nameLiber Pater, indicates that this may have been another name for Dionysus. According toKároly Kerényi, these clues suggest that even in the thirteenth century BC, the core religion of Dionysus was in place, as were his important myths. AtKnossos in MinoanCrete, men were often given the name "Pentheus", who is a figure in later Dionysian myth and which also means "suffering". Kerényi argued that to give such a name to one's child implies a strong religious connection, potentially not the separate character ofPentheus who suffers at the hands of Dionysus' followers in later myths, but as an epithet of Dionysus himself, whose mythology describes a god who must endure suffering before triumphing over it. According to Kerényi, the title of "man who suffers" likely originally referred to the god himself, only being applied to distinct characters as the myth developed.[33]
The oldest known image of Dionysus accompanied by his name is found on adinos by the Attic potterSophilos around 570 BC and is located in theBritish Museum.[34] By the seventh century, iconography found on pottery shows that Dionysus was already worshiped as more than just a god associated with wine. He was associated with weddings, death, sacrifice, and sexuality, and his retinue of satyrs and dancers was already established. A common theme in these early depictions was the metamorphosis, at the hand of the god, of his followers into hybrid creatures, usually represented by both tame and wildsatyrs, representing the transition from civilized life back to nature as a means of escape.[14]
While scholarly references are scarce, there exists a notable overlap between the Greco-Roman Dionysus and the Hindu god Shiva. Shared iconography and background include a crescent or horns on the head, panther or tiger skins, serpents, phallic symbolism (Shiva lingam), association as a wanderer and outcaste and association with ritual ecstasy. Shiva is understood to be one of a triple godhead that includes Vishnu and Brahma. Dionysus is noted in several references with an association with the east and India.[citation needed]
A Mycenaean variant of Bacchus was thought to have been "a divine child" abandoned by his mother and eventually raised by "nymphs,goddesses, or even animals."[35]
AndrogynosἈνδρόγυνος (androgynous), refers to the god assuming both the active, masculine and passive, feminine role during intercourse with male lovers.[40]
Anthroporraistes,Ἀνθρωπορραίστης ("man-destroyer"), a title of Dionysus at Tenedos.[41]
Bassareus,Βασσαρεύς a Thracian name for Dionysus, which derives frombassaris or "fox-skin", which item was worn by his cultists in their mysteries.[42][43]
Bougenes,Βουγενής or Βοηγενής ("borne by a cow"), in the Mysteries ofLerna.[44][45]
Marble sarcophagus with the Triumph of Dionysos, who is riding a panther, with attendants, the Four Seasons, Tellus and Ocean, c. 220–230
Brisaeus,Βρισαῖος, a surname of Dionysus, derived either from mount Brisa in Lesbos or from a nymph Brisa, who was said to have brought up the god.[47]
BromiosΒρόμιος ("roaring", as of the wind, primarily relating to the central death/resurrection element of the myth,[50] but also the god's transformations into lion and bull,[51] and the boisterousness of those who drink alcohol. Also cognate with the "roar of thunder", which refers to Dionysus' father, Zeus "the thunderer".[52])
Choiropsalasχοιροψάλας ("pig-plucker": Greekχοῖρος = "pig", also used as a slang term for the female genitalia). A reference to Dionysus's role as a fertility deity.[53][54]
Enorches ("with balls"),[64] with reference to his fertility, or "in the testicles" in reference to Zeus' sewing the baby Dionysus "into his thigh", understood to mean his testicles).[65] Used atSamos according toHesyichius,[66] orLesbos according to thescholiast on Lycophron'sAlexandra.[67]
Eridromos ("good-running"), in Nonnus'Dionysiaca.[68]
ErikryptosἘρίκρυπτος ("completely hidden"), in Macedonia.
Iacchus,Ἴακχος a possible epithet of Dionysus, associated with theEleusinian Mysteries. InEleusis, he is known as a son ofZeus andDemeter. The name "Iacchus" may come from the Ιακχος (Iakchos), a hymn sung in honor of Dionysus.
Indoletes,Ἰνδολέτης, meaning slayer/killer of Indians. Due to his campaign against the Indians.[71]
The Conquest ofIndia by Dionysus at the archaeological museum ofSétif, c. 200–300 AD
Isodaetes,Ισοδαίτης, meaning "he who distributes equal portions", cult epithet also shared with Helios.[72]
Liknites ("he of the winnowing fan"), as a fertility god connected withmystery religions. A winnowing fan was used to separate the chaff from the grain.
Phleus ("related to the bloοm of a plant").[96][97][98]
Pseudanor,Ψευδάνωρ (literally "false man", referring to his feminine qualities), inMacedonia.
Pericionius,Περικιόνιος ("climbing the column (ivy)", a name of Dionysus at Thebes.[99]
Semeleios[100] (Semeleius orSemeleus),[101] an obscure epithet meaning 'He of the Earth', 'son of Semele'.[102][103][104][105] Also appears in the expressionSemeleios Iakchus plutodotas ("Son of Semele, Iakchus, wealth-giver").[106]
Skyllitas,Σκυλλίτας ("related to the vine-branch") at Kos.[107][108]
Sykites,Συκίτης ("related to figs"), at Laconia.[109]
The worship of Dionysus had become firmly established by the seventh century BC.[121] He may have been worshiped as early as c. 1500–1100 BC byMycenaean Greeks;[122][22] and traces of Dionysian-type cult have also been found in ancientMinoan Crete.[33]
TheDionysia,Haloa,Ascolia andLenaia festivals were dedicated to Dionysus.[123] TheRural Dionysia (or Lesser Dionysia) was one of the oldest festivals dedicated to Dionysus, begun inAttica, and probably celebrated the cultivation of wines. It was held during the winter month of Poseideon (the time surrounding the winter solstice, modern December or January). The Rural Dionysia centered on a procession, during which participants carried phalluses, long loaves of bread, jars of water and wine as well as other offerings, and young girls carried baskets. The procession was followed by a series of dramatic performances and drama competitions.[124]
The City Dionysia (or Greater Dionysia) took place in urban centers such asAthens andEleusis, and was a later development, probably beginning during the sixth century BC. Held three months after the Rural Dionysia, the Greater festival fell near the spring equinox in the month of Elaphebolion (modern March or April). The procession of the City Dionysia was similar to that of the rural celebrations, but more elaborate, and led by participants carrying a wooden statue of Dionysus, and including sacrificial bulls and ornately dressed choruses. The dramatic competitions of the Greater Dionysia also featured more noteworthy poets and playwrights, and prizes for both dramatists and actors in multiple categories.[124][15]
TheAnthesteria (Ἀνθεστήρια) was an Athenian festival that celebrated the beginning of spring. It spanned three days: Pithoigia (Πιθοίγια, "Jar-Opening"), Choes (Χοαί, "The Pouring") and Chythroi (Χύτροι "The Pots").[125] It was said the dead arose from the underworld during the span of the festival. Along with the souls of the dead, theKeres also wandered through the city and had to be banished when the festival ended.[126] On the first day, Wine vats were opened.[127] The wine was opened and mixed in honour of the god.[128] The rooms and the drinking vessels were adorned with flowers along with children over three years of age.[125]
On the second day, a solemn ritual for Dionysus occurred along with drinking. People dressed up, sometimes as members of Dionysus's entourage, and visited others. Choes was also the occasion of a solemn and secret ceremony in one of the sanctuaries of Dionysus in the Lenaeum, which was closed for the rest of the year. The basilissa (or basilinna), wife of the basileus, underwent a symbolic ceremonial marriage to the god, possibly representing aHieros gamos. The basilissa was assisted by fourteen Athenian matrons (calledGerarai) who were chosen by the basileus and sworn to secrecy.[125][129]
The last day was dedicated to the dead. Offerings were also offered toHermes, due to his connection to the underworld. It was considered a day of merrymaking.[125] Some pouredLibations on the tombs of deceased relatives. Chythroi ended with a ritual cry intended to order the souls of the dead to return to the underworld.[129]Keres were also banished from the festival on the last day.[126]
To protect themselves from evil, people chewed leaves of whitethorn and smeared their doors with tar to protect themselves. The festival also allowed servants and slaves to participate in the festivities.[125][126]
Marble relief of a Maenad and two satyrs in a Bacchic procession. AD 100,British Museum,London.
The central religious cult of Dionysus is known as the Bacchic orDionysian Mysteries. The exact origin of this religion is unknown, thoughOrpheus was said to have invented the mysteries of Dionysus.[130] Evidence suggests that many sources and rituals typically considered to be part of the similarOrphic Mysteries actually belong to Dionysian mysteries.[14] Some scholars have suggested that, additionally, there is no difference between the Dionysian mysteries and the mysteries ofPersephone, but that these were all facets of the same mystery religion, and that Dionysus and Persephone both had important roles in it.[14][131] Previously considered to have been a primarily rural and fringe part of Greek religion, the major urban center ofAthens played a major role in the development and spread of the Bacchic mysteries.[14]
The Bacchic mysteries served an important role in creating ritual traditions for transitions in people's lives; originally primarily for men and male sexuality, but later also created space for ritualizing women's changing roles and celebrating changes of status in a woman's life. This was often symbolized by a meeting with the gods who rule over death and change, such asHades and Persephone, but also with Dionysus' mother Semele, who probably served a role related to initiation into the mysteries.[14]
The religion of Dionysus often included rituals involving the sacrifice of goats or bulls, and at least some participants and dancers wore wooden masks associated with the god. In some instances, records show the god participating in the ritual via a masked and clothed pillar, pole, or tree, while his worshipers eat bread and drink wine. The significance of masks and goats to the worship of Dionysus seems to date back to the earliest days of his worship, and these symbols have been found together at aMinoan tomb nearPhaistos in Crete.[33]
Bacchus, Ceres and Amor, (1595–1605). Oil on canvas byHans von Aachen.Roman marble relief (first century AD) fromNaukratis showing the Greek god Dionysus, snake-bodied and wearing anEgyptian crown.
As early as the fifth century BC, Dionysus became identified withIacchus, a minor deity from the tradition of theEleusinian Mysteries.[132] This association may have arisen because of the homophony of the names Iacchus and Bacchus. Twoblack-figurelekythoi (c. 500 BC), possibly represent the earliest evidence for such an association. The nearly-identical vases, one in Berlin,[133] the other in Rome,[134] depict Dionysus, along with the inscriptionIAKXNE, a possible miswriting ofIAKXE.[135] More early evidence can be found in the works of the fifth-century BC Athenian tragediansSophocles andEuripides.[136] InSophocles'Antigone (c. 441 BC), an ode to Dionysus begins by addressing Dionysus as the "God of many names" (πολυώνυμε), who rules over the glens of Demeter's Eleusis, and ends by identifying him with "Iacchus the Giver", who leads "the chorus of the stars whose breath is fire" and whose "attendant Thyiads" dance in "night-long frenzy".[137] And in a fragment from a lost play, Sophocles describesNysa, Dionysus' traditional place of nurture: "From here I caught sight of Nysa, haunt of Bacchus, famed among mortals, which Iacchus of the bull's horns counts as his beloved nurse".[138] InEuripides'Bacchae (c. 405 BC), a messenger, describing the Bacchic revelries on mountCithaeron, associates Iacchus withBromius, another of the names of Dionysus, saying, they "began to wave the thyrsos ... calling on Iacchus, the son of Zeus, Bromius, with united voice."[139]
An inscription found on a stonestele (c. 340 BC), found atDelphi, contains a paean to Dionysus, which describes his travels.[140] FromThebes, where he was born, he first went toDelphi where he displayed his "starry body", and with "Delphian girls" took his "place on the folds of Parnassus",[141] then next toEleusis, where he is called "Iacchus":
Strabo, says that Greeks "give the name 'Iacchus' not only to Dionysus but also to the leader-in-chief of the mysteries".[143] In particular, Iacchus was identified with theOrphic Dionysus, who was a son of Persephone.[144] Sophocles mentions "Iacchus of the bull's horns", and according to the first-century BC historianDiodorus Siculus, it was this older Dionysus who was represented in paintings and sculptures with horns, because he "excelled in sagacity and was the first to attempt the yoking of oxen and by their aid to effect the sowing of the seed".[145]Arrian, the second-century Greek historian, wrote that it was to this Dionysus, the son of Zeus and Persephone, "not the Theban Dionysus, that the mystic chant 'Iacchus' is sung".[146] The second-century poetLucian also referred to the "dismemberment of Iacchus".[147]
The fourth- or fifth-century poetNonnus associated the name Iacchus with the "third" Dionysus. He described the Athenian celebrations given to the first DionysusZagreus, son ofPersephone, the second DionysusBromios, son ofSemele, and the third Dionysus Iacchus:
They [the Athenians] honoured him as a god next after the son of Persephone, and after Semele's son; they established sacrifices for Dionysos late born and Dionysos first born, and third they chanted a new hymn for Iacchos. In these three celebrations Athens held high revel; in the dance lately made, the Athenians beat the step in honour of Zagreus and Bromios and Iacchos all together.[148]
By some accounts, Iacchus was the husband of Demeter.[149] Several other sources identify Iacchus as Demeter's son.[150] The earliest such source, a fourth-century BC vase fragment at Oxford, shows Demeter holding the child Dionysus on her lap.[151] By the first-century BC, Demeter suckling Iacchus had become such a common motif, that the Latin poetLucretius could use it as an apparently recognizable example of a lover's euphemism.[152] A scholiast on the second-century ADAristides, explicitly names Demeter as Iacchus' mother.[153]
Satyr giving agrapevine to Bacchus as a child;cameo glass, first half of the first century AD; from Italy
In theOrphic tradition, the "first Dionysus" was the son ofZeus andPersephone, and was dismembered by theTitans before being reborn.[154] Dionysus was the patron god of the Orphics, who they connected to death and immortality, and he symbolized the one who guides the process ofreincarnation.[155]
This Orphic Dionysus is sometimes referred to with the alternate nameZagreus (Ancient Greek:Ζαγρεύς). The earliest mentions of this name in literature describe him as a partner ofGaia and call him the highest god.Aeschylus linked Zagreus with Hades, as either Hades' son or Hades himself.[156] Noting "Hades' identity as Zeus'katachthonios alter ego",Timothy Gantz thought it likely that Zagreus, originally, perhaps, the son of Hades and Persephone, later merged with the Orphic Dionysus, the son of Zeus and Persephone.[157] However, no known Orphic sources use the name "Zagreus" to refer to the Orphic Dionysus. It is possible that the association between the two was known by the third century BC, when the poetCallimachus may have written about it in a now-lost source.[158] Callimachus, as well as his contemporaryEuphorion, told the story of the dismemberment of the infant Dionysus,[159] andByzantine sources quote Callimachus as referring to the birth of a "Dionysos Zagreus", explaining that Zagreus was the poets' name for thechthonic aspect of Dionysus.[160] The earliest definitive reference to the belief that Zagreus is another name for the Orphic Dionysus is found in the late first century writings ofPlutarch.[161] The fifth century Greek poetNonnus'Dionysiaca tells the story of this Orphic Dionysus, in which Nonnus calls him the "older Dionysos ... illfated Zagreus",[162] "Zagreus the horned baby",[163] "Zagreus, the first Dionysos",[164] "Zagreus the ancient Dionysos",[165] and "Dionysos Zagreus".[166]
Colossal statue ofAntinous as Dionysus.Dionysus with long torch sitting on a throne, withHelios,Aphrodite and other gods. Antique fresco fromPompeii.
Themystery cult of Bacchus was brought toRome from theGreek culture of southern Italy or by way of Greek-influencedEtruria. It was established around 200 BC in theAventine grove ofStimula by apriestess fromCampania, near thetemple whereLiber Pater ("the Free Father") had a State-sanctioned, popular cult.Liber was a native Roman god of wine, fertility, and prophecy, patron of Rome'splebeians (citizen-commoners), and one of the members of theAventine Triad, along with his mother Ceres and sister or consort Libera. A temple to the Triad was erected on theAventine Hill in 493 BC, along with the institution of celebrating the festival ofLiberalia. The worship of the Triad gradually took on more and more Greek influence, and by 205 BC, Liber and Libera had been formally identified with Bacchus andProserpina.[168] Liber was often interchangeably identified with Dionysus and his mythology, though this identification was not universally accepted.[169] Cicero insisted on the "non-identity of Liber and Dionysus" and described Liber and Libera as children of Ceres.[170]
Liber, like his Aventine companions, carried various aspects of his older cults into official Roman religion. He protected various aspects of agriculture and fertility, including the vine and the "soft seed" of its grapes, wine and wine vessels, and male fertility and virility.[170] Pliny called Liber "the first to establish the practice of buying and selling; he also invented the diadem, the emblem of royalty, and the triumphal procession."[171] Roman mosaics and sarcophagi attest to various representations of a Dionysus-like exotic triumphal procession. In Roman and Greek literary sources from the late Republic and Imperial era, several notable triumphs feature similar, distinctively "Bacchic" processional elements, recalling the supposedly historic "Triumph of Liber".[172]
Liber and Dionysus may have had a connection that predated Classical Greece and Rome, in the form of the Mycenaean god Eleutheros, who shared the lineage and iconography of Dionysus but whose name has the same meaning as Liber.[33] Before the importation of the Greek cults, Liber was already strongly associated with Bacchic symbols and values, including wine and uninhibited freedom, as well as the subversion of the powerful. Several depictions from the late Republic era feature processions, depicting the "Triumph of Liber".[172]
In Rome, the most well-known festivals of Bacchus were theBacchanalia, based on the earlier Greek Dionysia festivals. These Bacchic rituals were said to have includedomophagic practices, such as pulling live animals apart and eating the whole of them raw. This practice served not only as a reenactment of the infant death and rebirth of Bacchus, but also as a means by which Bacchic practitioners produced "enthusiasm": etymologically, to let a god enter the practitioner's body or to have her become one with Bacchus.[173][174]
InLivy's account (late 1st century BC), the Bacchic mysteries were a novelty at Rome; originally restricted to women and held only three times a year, they were corrupted by an Etruscan-Greek version, and thereafter drunken, disinhibited men and women of all ages and social classes cavorted in a sexual free-for-all five times a month. Livy relates their various outrages against Rome's civil and religious laws and traditional morality (mos maiorum); a secretive, subversive and potentially revolutionary counter-culture. Livy's sources, and his own account of the cult, probably drew heavily on the Roman dramaticgenre known as "Satyr plays", based on Greek originals.[175][176] The cult was suppressed by the State with great ferocity; of the 7,000 arrested, most were executed. Modern scholarship treats much of Livy's account with skepticism; more certainly, a Senatorial edict, theSenatus consultum de Bacchanalibus (186 BC) was distributed throughout Roman and allied Italy. It banned the former Bacchic cult organisations. Each meeting must seek prior senatorial approval through apraetor. No more than three women and two men were allowed at any one meeting, and those who defied the edict risked the death penalty.
Bacchus was conscripted into the official Roman pantheon as an aspect of Liber, and his festival was inserted into theLiberalia. In Roman culture, Liber, Bacchus and Dionysus became virtually interchangeable equivalents. Thanks to his mythology involving travels and struggles on earth, Bacchus becameeuhemerised as a historical hero, conqueror, and founder of cities. He was a patron deity and founding hero atLeptis Magna, birthplace of the emperorSeptimius Severus, who promoted his cult. In some Roman sources, the ritual procession of Bacchus in a tiger-drawn chariot, surrounded by maenads, satyrs and drunkards, commemorates the god's triumphant return from the conquest of India.Pliny believed this to be the historical prototype for theRoman Triumph.[177]
Statue of Bacchus, Paris,Louvre Museum (second century AD)
In theNeoplatonist philosophy and religion ofLate Antiquity, the Olympian gods were sometimes considered to number 12 based on their spheres of influence. For example, according toSallustius, "Jupiter, Neptune, and Vulcan fabricate the world; Ceres, Juno, and Diana animate it; Mercury, Venus, and Apollo harmonize it; and, lastly, Vesta, Minerva, and Mars preside over it with a guarding power."[178] The multitude of other gods, in this belief system, subsist within the primary gods, and Sallustius taught that Bacchus subsisted in Jupiter.[178]
In theOrphic tradition, a saying was supposedly given by an oracle ofApollo that stated "Zeus,Hades, [and]Helios-Dionysus" were "three gods in one godhead". This statement apparently conflated Dionysus not only with Hades, but also his father Zeus, and implied a particularly close identification with the sun-god Helios. When quoting this in hisHymn to King Helios,Emperor Julian substituted Dionysus' name with that ofSerapis, whose Egyptian counterpartOsiris was also identified with Dionysus.
Three centuries after the reign ofTheodosius I which saw theoutlawing of pagan worship across the Roman Empire, the 692Quinisext Council in Constantinople felt it necessary to warn Christians against participating in persisting rural worship of Dionysus, specifically mentioning and prohibiting the feast dayBrumalia, "the public dances of women", ritual cross-dressing, the wearing of Dionysiac masks, and the invoking of Bacchus' name when "squeez[ing] out the wine in the presses" or "when pouring out wine into jars".[179]
According to theLanercost chronicle, duringEaster in 1282 inScotland, the parish priest ofInverkeithing led young women in a dance in honor ofPriapus andFather Liber, commonly identified with Dionysus. The priest danced and sang at the front, carrying a representation of the phallus on a pole. He was killed by a Christian mob later that year.[180] Historian C. S. Watkins believes that Richard of Durham, the author of the chronicle, identified an occurrence ofapotropaic magic (by making use of his knowledge ofancient Greek religion), rather than recording an actual case of the survival of a pagan ritual.[181]
The late medieval Byzantine scholarGemistus Pletho secretly advocated a return to paganism in medieval Greece.[citation needed]
In the eighteenth century,Hellfire Clubs appeared inBritain andIreland. Though activities varied between the clubs, some of them were very pagan, and included shrines and sacrifices. Dionysus was one of the most popular deities, alongside deities likeVenus andFlora. Today one can still see the statue of Dionysus left behind in theHellfire Caves.[182]
In 1820, Ephraim Lyon founded the Church of Bacchus inEastford,Connecticut. He declared himself High Priest, and added local drunks to the list of membership. He maintained that those who died as members would go to a Bacchanalia for their afterlife.[183]
Modern pagan andpolytheist groups often include worship of Dionysus in their traditions and practices, most prominently groups which have sought to reviveHellenic polytheism, such as theSupreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes (YSEE).[184] In addition to libations of wine, modern worshipers of Dionysus offer the god grape vines, ivy, and various forms of incense, particularlystyrax.[185] They may also celebrate Roman festivals such as the Liberalia (17 March, close to theSpring Equinox) orBacchanalia (Various dates), and various Greek festivals such as theAnthesteria,Lenaia, and the Greater and LesserDionysias, the dates of which are calculated by thelunar calendar.[186]
Painted wood panel depicting Serapis, who was considered the same god as Osiris, Hades, and Dionysus inLate Antiquity. Second century AD.
In theGreek interpretation of theEgyptian pantheon, Dionysus was often identified withOsiris.[187] Stories of the dismembering ofOsiris and his re-assembly and resurrection byIsis closely parallel those of the Orphic Dionysus and Demeter.[188] According to Diodorus Siculus,[189] as early as the fifth century BC, the two gods had been syncretized as a single deity known asDionysus-Osiris. The most notable record of this belief is found inHerodotus' 'Histories'.[190]Plutarch was of the same opinion, recording his belief that Osiris and Dionysus were identical and stating that anyone familiar with the secret rituals associated with the two gods would recognize obvious parallels between them, noting that the myths of their dismembering and their associated public symbols constituted sufficient additional evidence to prove that they were, in fact the same god worshiped by the two cultures under different names.[191]
Other syncretic Greco-Egyptian deities arose out of this conflation, including with the godsSerapis andHermanubis. Serapis was believed to be both Hades and Osiris, and the Roman Emperor Julian considered him the same as Dionysus as well. Dionysus-Osiris was particularly popular in Ptolemaic Egypt, as the Ptolemies claimed descent from Dionysus, and as Pharaohs they had claim to the lineage of Osiris.[192] This association was most notable during a deification ceremony whereMark Antony became Dionysus-Osiris, alongsideCleopatra as Isis-Aphrodite.[193]
Egyptian myths aboutPriapus said that the Titans conspired against Osiris, killed him, divided his body into equal parts, and "slipped them secretly out of the house". All but Osiris' penis, which since none of them "was willing to take it with him", they threw into the river. Isis, Osiris' wife, hunted down and killed the Titans, reassembled Osiris' body parts "into the shape of a human figure", and gave them "to the priests with orders that they pay Osiris the honours of a god". But since she was unable to recover the penis she ordered the priests "to pay to it the honours of a god and to set it up in their temples in an erect position."[194]
Pinax of Persephone and Hades on the throne, from the holy shrine of Persephone at Locri.
The fifth–fourth century BC philosopherHeraclitus, unifying opposites, declared thatHades and Dionysus, the very essence of indestructible life(zoë), are the same god.[195] Among other evidence,Karl Kerényi notes in his book[196] that the Homeric Hymn "To Demeter",[197] votive marble images[198] and epithets[199] all link Hades to being Dionysus. He also notes that the grieving goddess Demeter refused to drink wine, as she states that it would be againstthemis[jargon] for her to drink wine, which is the gift of Dionysus, after Persephone's abduction because of this association; indicating that Hades may in fact have been a "cover name" for the underworld Dionysus.[200] He suggests that this dual identity may have been familiar to those who came into contact with theMysteries.[201] One of the epithets of Dionysus was "Chthonios", meaning "the subterranean".[202]
Votive relief of Dionysus andPluto with adorant. Fourth century BC. FromKarystos, Archaeological Museum ofChalcis.
Evidence for a cult connection is quite extensive, particularly in southern Italy, especially when considering the heavy involvement of death symbolism included in Dionysian worship.[203] Statues of Dionysus[204][205] found in the Ploutonion at Eleusis give further evidence as the statues found bear a striking resemblance to the statue of Eubouleus, also calledAides Kyanochaites (Hades of the flowing dark hair),[206][207][208] known as the youthful depiction of the Lord of the Underworld. The statue of Eubouleus is described as being radiant but disclosing a strange inner darkness.[209][207] Ancient portrayals show Dionysus holding in his hand the kantharos, a wine-jar with large handles, and occupying the place where one would expect to see Hades. Archaic artist Xenocles portrayed on one side of a vase, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, each with his emblems of power; with Hades' head turned back to front and, on the other side, Dionysus striding forward to meet his bride Persephone, with the kantharos in his hand, against a background of grapes.[210] Dionysus also shared several epithets with Hades such asChthonios,Eubouleus and Euclius.
Both Hades and Dionysus were associated with a divine tripartite deity withZeus.[211][212] Zeus, like Dionysus, was occasionally believed to have an underworld form, closely identified with Hades, to the point that they were occasionally thought of as the same god.[212]
According to Marguerite Rigoglioso, Hades is Dionysus, and this dual god was believed by the Eleusinian tradition to have impregnated Persephone. This would bring the Eleusinian in harmony with the myth in which Zeus, not Hades, impregnated Persephone to bear the first Dionysus. Rigoglioso argues that taken together, these myths suggest a belief that is that, with Persephone, Zeus/Hades/Dionysus created (in terms quoted from Kerényi) "a second, a little Dionysus", who is also a "subterranean Zeus".[212] The unification of Hades, Zeus, and Dionysus as a single tripartite god was used to represent the birth, death and resurrection of a deity and to unify the 'shining' realm of Zeus and the dark underworld realm of Hades.[211] According to Rosemarie Taylor-Perry,[211][212]
it is often mentioned that Zeus, Hades and Dionysus were all attributed to being the exact same god ... Being a tripartite deity Hades is also Zeus, doubling as being the Sky God or Zeus, Hades abducts his 'daughter' and paramour Persephone. The taking of Kore by Hades is the act which allows the conception and birth of a second integrating force: Iacchos (Zagreus-Dionysus), also known as Liknites, the helpless infant form of that Deity who is the unifier of the dark underworld (chthonic) realm of Hades and the Olympian ("Shining") one of Zeus.
Bronze hand used in the worship of Sabazios (British Museum).[213] Roman first–second century AD. Hands decorated with religious symbols were designed to stand in sanctuaries or, like this one, were attached to poles for processional use.[214]
ThePhrygian godSabazios was alternately identified with Zeus or with Dionysus. The Byzantine Greek encyclopedia,Suda (c. tenth century), stated:[215]
Sabazios ... is the same as Dionysos. He acquired this form of address from the rite pertaining to him; for the barbarians call the bacchic cry "sabazein". Hence some of the Greeks too follow suit and call the cry "sabasmos"; thereby Dionysos [becomes] Sabazios. They also used to call "saboi" those places that had been dedicated to him and hisBacchantes ... Demosthenes [in the speech] "On Behalf of Ktesiphon" [mentions them]. Some say that Saboi is the term for those who are dedicated to Sabazios, that is to Dionysos, just as those [dedicated] to Bakkhos [are] Bakkhoi. They say that Sabazios and Dionysos are the same. Thus some also say that the Greeks call the Bakkhoi Saboi.
Strabo, in the first century, linked Sabazios with Zagreus among Phrygian ministers and attendants of the sacred rites of Rhea and Dionysos.[216] Strabo's Sicilian contemporary,Diodorus Siculus, conflated Sabazios with the secret Dionysus, born of Zeus and Persephone,[217] However, this connection is not supported by any surviving inscriptions, which are entirely toZeus Sabazios.[218]
Several ancient sources record an apparently widespread belief in the classical world that the god worshiped by theJewish people,Yahweh, was identifiable as Dionysus orLiber via his identification with Sabazios. Tacitus, Lydus, Cornelius Labeo, and Plutarch all either made this association, or discussed it as an extant belief (though some, like Tacitus, specifically brought it up in order to reject it). According to Plutarch, one of the reasons for the identification is that Jews were reported to hail their god with the words "Euoe" and "Sabi", a cry typically associated with the worship of Sabazius. According to scholarSean M. McDonough, it is possible that Plutarch's sources had confused the cry of "Iao Sabaoth" (typically used by Greek speakers in reference to Yahweh) with the Sabazian cry of "Euoe Saboe", originating the confusion and conflation of the two deities. The cry of "Sabi" could also have been conflated with the Jewish term "sabbath", adding to the evidence the ancients saw that Yahweh and Dionysus/Sabazius were the same deity. Further bolstering this connection would have been coins used by theMaccabees that included imagery linked to the worship of Dionysus such as grapes, vine leaves, and cups. However the belief that the Jewish god was identical with Dionysus/Sabazius was widespread enough that a coin dated to 55 BC depicting a kneeling king was labelled "Bacchus Judaeus" (BACCHIVS IVDAEVS), and in 139 BC praetor Cornelius Scipio Hispalus deported Jewish people for attempting to "infect the Roman customs with the cult of Jupiter Sabazius".[219]
Marble bust of youthful Dionysus. Knossos, second century AD.Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.Wall protome of a bearded Dionysus.Boeotia, early fourth century BC.
Though the varying genealogy of Dionysus was mentioned in many works of classical literature, only a few contain the actual narrative myths surrounding the events of his multiple births. These include the first century BCBibliotheca historica by Greek historianDiodorus, which describes the birth and deeds of the three incarnations of Dionysus;[225] the brief birth narrative given by the first century AD Roman authorHyginus, which describes a double birth for Dionysus; and a longer account in the form of Greek poetNonnus's epicDionysiaca, which discusses three incarnations of Dionysus similar to Diodorus' account, but which focuses on the life of the third Dionysus, born to Zeus and Semele.
Though Diodorus mentions some traditions which state an older, Indian or Egyptian Dionysus existed who invented wine, no narratives are given of his birth or life among mortals, and most traditions ascribe the invention of wine and travels through India to the last Dionysus. According to Diodorus, Dionysus was originally the son of Zeus andPersephone (or alternately, Zeus andDemeter). This is the same horned Dionysus described by Hyginus and Nonnus in later accounts, and the Dionysus worshiped by the Orphics, who was dismembered by the Titans and then reborn. Nonnus calls this DionysusZagreus, while Diodorus says he is also considered identical withSabazius.[226] However, unlike Hyginus and Nonnus, Diodorus does not provide a birth narrative for this incarnation of the god. It was this Dionysus who was said to have taught mortals how to use oxen to plow the fields, rather than doing so by hand. His worshipers were said to have honored him for this by depicting him with horns.[226]
Bronze mask depicting Dionysus bearded and horned, c. 2nd century BC, height 21.4 cm.[227]
The Greek poetNonnus gives a birth narrative for Dionysus in his late fourth or early fifth century AD epicDionysiaca. In it, he described how Zeus "intended to make a new Dionysos grow up, a bullshaped copy of the older Dionysos" who was the Egyptian god Osiris. (Dionysiaca 4)[228] Zeus took the shape of a serpent ("drakon"), and "ravished the maidenhood of unwedded Persephoneia." According to Nonnus, though Persephone was "the consort of the blackrobed king of the underworld", she remained a virgin, and had been hidden in a cave by her mother to avoid the many gods who were her suitors, because "all that dwelt in Olympos were bewitched by this one girl, rivals in love for the marriageable maid." (Dionysiaca 5)[229] After her union with Zeus, Persephone's womb "swelled with living fruit", and she gave birth to a horned baby, named Zagreus. Zagreus, despite his infancy, was able to climb onto the throne of Zeus and brandish his lightning bolts, marking him as Zeus' heir. Hera saw this and alerted the Titans, who smeared their faces with chalk and ambushed the infant Zagreus "while he contemplated his changeling countenance reflected in a mirror." They attacked him. However, according to Nonnus, "where his limbs had been cut piecemeal by the Titan steel, the end of his life was the beginning of a new life as Dionysos." He began to change into many different forms in which he returned the attack, including Zeus,Cronus, a baby, and "a mad youth with the flower of the first down marking his rounded chin with black." He then transformed into several animals to attack the assembled Titans, including a lion, a wild horse, a horned serpent, a tiger, and, finally, a bull. Hera intervened, killing the bull with a shout, and the Titans finally slaughtered him and cut him into pieces. Zeus attacked the Titans and had them imprisoned inTartaros. This caused the mother of the Titans,Gaia, to suffer, and her symptoms were seen across the whole world, resulting in fires and floods, and boiling seas. Zeus took pity on her, and in order to cool down the burning land, he caused great rains toflood the world. (Dionysiaca 6)[230]
Mosaic of Dionysus fighting the Indians,Palazzo Massimo Rome, 4th century AD
In the Orphic tradition, Dionysus was, in part, a god associated with the underworld. As a result, the Orphics considered him the son of Persephone, and believed that he had been dismembered by theTitans and then reborn. The earliest attestation of this myth of the dismemberment and rebirth of Dionysus comes from the 1st century BC, in the works ofPhilodemus andDiodorus Siculus.[231] Later, Neoplatonists such asDamascius andOlympiodorus added a number of further elements to the myth, including the punishment of the Titans by Zeus for their act, their destruction by a thunderbolt from his hand, and the subsequent birth of humankind from their ashes; however, whether any of these elements were part of the original myth is the subject of debate among scholars.[232] The dismemberment of Dionysus (thesparagmos) has often been considered the most important myth of Orphism.[233]
Many modern sources identify this "Orphic Dionysus" with the godZagreus, though this name does not seem to have been used by any of the ancient Orphics, who simply called him Dionysus.[234] As pieced together from various ancient sources, the reconstructed story, usually given by modern scholars, goes as follows.[235] Zeus had intercourse with Persephone in the form of a serpent, producing Dionysus. The infant was taken toMount Ida, where, like the infant Zeus, he was guarded by the dancingCuretes. Zeus intended Dionysus to be his successor as ruler of the cosmos, but a jealous Hera incited the Titans to kill the child. Damascius claims that he was mocked by the Titans, who gave him a fennel stalk (thyrsus) in place of his rightful scepter.[236]
Diodorus relates that Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, and that his birth narrative is an allegory for the generative power of the gods at work in nature.[237] When the "Sons of Gaia" (i.e. the Titans) boiled Dionysus following his birth, Demeter gathered together his remains, allowing his rebirth. Diodorus noted the symbolism this myth held for its adherents: Dionysus, god of the vine, was born from the gods of the rain and the earth. He was torn apart and boiled by the sons of Gaia, or "earth born", symbolizing the harvesting and wine-making process. Just as the remains of the bare vines are returned to the earth to restore its fruitfulness, the remains of the young Dionysus were returned to Demeter allowing him to be born again.[226]
Nonnus describes how, when life was rejuvenated after the flood, it was lacking in revelry in the absence of Dionysus. "TheSeasons, those daughters of the lichtgang, still joyless, plaited garlands for the gods only of meadow-grass. For Wine was lacking. Without Bacchos to inspire the dance, its grace was only half complete and quite without profit; it charmed only the eyes of the company, when the circling dancer moved in twists and turns with a tumult of footsteps, having only nods for words, hand for mouth, fingers for voice." Zeus declared that he would send his son Dionysus to teach mortals how to grow grapes and make wine, to alleviate their toil, war, and suffering. After he became protector of humanity, Zeus promises, Dionysus would struggle on earth, but be received "by the bright upper air to shine beside Zeus and to share the courses of the stars." (Dionysiaca 7).[239]
The mortal princess Semele then had a dream, in which Zeus destroyed a fruit tree with a bolt of lightning, but did not harm the fruit. He sent a bird to bring him one of the fruits, and sewed it into his thigh, so that he would be both mother and father to the new Dionysus. She saw the bull-shaped figure of a man emerge from his thigh, and then came to the realization that she herself had been the tree. Her father Cadmus, fearful of the prophetic dream, instructed Semele to make sacrifices to Zeus. Zeus came to Semele in her bed, adorned with various symbols of Dionysus. He transformed into a snake, and "Zeus made long wooing, and shouted "Euoi!" as if the winepress were near, as he begat his son who would love the cry." Immediately, Semele's bed and chambers were overgrown with vines and flowers, and the earth laughed. Zeus then spoke to Semele, revealing his true identity, and telling her to be happy: "you bring forth a son who shall not die, and you I will call immortal. Happy woman! you have conceived a son who will make mortals forget their troubles, you shall bring forth joy for gods and men." (Dionysiaca 7).[240]
Bust of Dionysus, Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.
During her pregnancy, Semele rejoiced in the knowledge that her son would be divine. She dressed herself in garlands of flowers and wreathes of ivy, and would run barefoot to the meadows and forests to frolic whenever she heard music. Hera became envious and feared that Zeus would replace her with Semele as queen of Olympus. She went to Semele in the guise of an old woman who had been Cadmus' wet nurse. She made Semele jealous of the attention Zeus gave to Hera, compared with their own brief liaison and provoked her to request Zeus to appear before her in his full godhood. Semele prayed to Zeus that he show himself. Zeus answered her prayers but warned her that no other mortals had ever seen him as he held his lightning bolts. Semele reached out to touch them and was burnt to ash. (Dionysiaca 8).[241] But the infant Dionysus survived, and Zeus rescued him from the flames, sewing him into his thigh. "So the rounded thigh in labour became female, and the boy too soon born was brought forth, but not in a mother's way, having passed from a mother's womb to a father's." (Dionysiaca 9). At his birth, he had a pair of horns shaped like a crescent moon. TheSeasons crowned him with ivy and flowers, and wrapped horned snakes around his own horns.[242]
An alternate birth narrative is given by Diodorus from the Egyptian tradition. In it, Dionysus is the son ofAmmon, who Diodorus regards both as the creator god and a quasi-historical king ofLibya. Ammon had married the goddessRhea, but he had an affair withAmaltheia, who bore Dionysus. Ammon feared Rhea's wrath if she were to discover the child, so he took the infant Dionysus toNysa (Dionysus' traditional childhood home). Ammon brought Dionysus into a cave where he was to be cared for by Nysa, a daughter of the heroAristaeus.[226] Dionysus grew famous due to his skill in the arts, his beauty, and his strength. It was said that he discovered the art of winemaking during his boyhood. His fame brought him to the attention of Rhea, who was furious with Ammon for his deception. She attempted to bring Dionysus under her own power but, unable to do so, she left Ammon and marriedCronus.[226]
Even in antiquity, the account of Dionysus' birth to a mortal woman led some to argue that he had been a historical figure who became deified over time, a suggestion ofEuhemerism (an explanation of mythic events having roots in mortal history) often applied to demi-gods. The 4th-century Roman emperor and philosopherJulian encountered examples of this belief, and wrote arguments against it. In his letterTo the Cynic Heracleios, Julian wrote "I have heard many people say that Dionysus was a mortal man because he was born of Semele and that he became a god through his knowledge oftheurgy and the Mysteries, and like our lord Heracles for his royal virtue was translated to Olympus by his father Zeus." However, to Julian, the myth of Dionysus's birth (and that of Heracles) stood as an allegory for a deeper spiritual truth. The birth of Dionysus, Julian argues, was "no birth but a divine manifestation" to Semele, who foresaw that a physical manifestation of the god Dionysus would soon appear. However, Semele was impatient for the god to come, and began revealing his mysteries too early; for her transgression, she was struck down by Zeus. When Zeus decided it was time to impose a new order on humanity, for it to "pass from the nomadic to a more civilized mode of life", he sent his son Dionysus from India as a god made visible, spreading his worship and giving the vine as a symbol of his manifestation among mortals. In Julian's interpretation, the Greeks "called Semele the mother of Dionysus because of the prediction that she had made, but also because the god honored her as having been the first prophetess of his advent while it was yet to be." The allegorical myth of the birth of Dionysus, per Julian, was developed to express both the history of these events and encapsulate the truth of his birth outside the generative processes of the mortal world, but entering into it, though his true birth was directly from Zeus along into theintelligible realm.[13]
According to Nonnus, Zeus gave the infant Dionysus to the care ofHermes. Hermes gave Dionysus to the Lamides, or daughters of Lamos, who were river nymphs. But Hera drove the Lamides mad and caused them to attack Dionysus, who was rescued by Hermes. Hermes next brought the infant toIno for fostering by her attendant Mystis, who taught him the rites of the mysteries (Dionysiaca 9). In Apollodorus' account, Hermes instructed Ino to raise Dionysus as a girl, to hide him from Hera's wrath.[243] However, Hera found him, and vowed to destroy the house with a flood; however, Hermes again rescued Dionysus, this time bringing him to the mountains ofLydia. Hermes adopted the form ofPhanes, most ancient of the gods, and so Hera bowed before him and let him pass. Hermes gave the infant to the goddessRhea, who cared for him through his adolescence.[242]
Another version is that Dionysus was taken to the rain-nymphs ofNysa, who nourished his infancy and childhood, and for their care Zeus rewarded them by placing them as theHyades among the stars (seeHyades star cluster). In yet another version of the myth, he is raised by his cousinMacris on the island ofEuboea.[244]
Dionysus in Greek mythology is a god of foreign origin, and while Mount Nysa is a mythological location, it is invariably set far away to the east or to the south. TheHomeric Hymn 1 to Dionysus places it "far fromPhoenicia, near to theEgyptian stream".[245] Others placed it in Anatolia, or inLibya ("away in the west beside a great ocean"), in Ethiopia (Herodotus), orArabia (Diodorus Siculus).[246]According toHerodotus:
As it is, the Greek story has it that no sooner was Dionysus born than Zeus sewed him up in his thigh and carried him away toNysa in Ethiopia beyondEgypt; and as forPan, the Greeks do not know what became of him after his birth. It is therefore plain to me that the Greeks learned the names of these two gods later than the names of all the others, and trace the birth of both to the time when they gained the knowledge.
TheBibliotheca seems to be following Pherecydes, who relates how the infant Dionysus, god of the grapevine, was nursed by the rain-nymphs, theHyades at Nysa. Young Dionysus was also said to have been one of the many famous pupils of thecentaurChiron. According to Ptolemy Chennus in the Library of Photius, "Dionysus was loved by Chiron, from whom he learned chants and dances, the bacchic rites and initiations."[247]
When Dionysus grew up, he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice, being the first to do so;[248] but Hera struck him with madness, and drove him forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth. InPhrygia the goddessCybele, better known to the Greeks as Rhea, cured him and taught him her religious rites, and he set out on a progress through Asia teaching the people the cultivation of the vine. The most famous part of his wanderings is his expedition toIndia, which is said to have lasted several years. According to a legend, whenAlexander the Great reached a city called Nysa near theIndus river, the locals said that their city was founded by Dionysus in the distant past and their city was dedicated to the god Dionysus.[249] These travels took something of the form of military conquests; according toDiodorus Siculus he conquered the whole world except for Britain andEthiopia.[250]
Bacchus and Ampelus. Pre-1865 image of a Renaissance (partly Roman) statue in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
Another myth according toNonnus involvesAmpelus, asatyr, who was loved by Dionysus. As related byOvid, Ampelus became the constellationVindemitor, or the "grape-gatherer":[251]
... not so will the Grape-gatherer escape thee. The origin of that constellation also can be briefly told. 'Tis said that the unshorn Ampelus, son of a nymph and a satyr, was loved by Bacchus on the Ismarian hills. Upon him the god bestowed a vine that trailed from an elm's leafy boughs, and still the vine takes from the boy its name. While he rashly culled the gaudy grapes upon a branch, he tumbled down; Liber bore the lost youth to the stars."
Another story of Ampelus was related byNonnus: in an accident foreseen by Dionysus, the youth was killed while riding a bull maddened by the sting of a gadfly sent bySelene, the goddess of theMoon. TheFates granted Ampelus a second life as a vine, from which Dionysus squeezed the first wine.[252]
Returning in triumph to Greece after his travels in Asia, Dionysus came to be considered the founder of the triumphal procession. He undertook efforts to introduce his religion into Greece, but was opposed by rulers who feared it, on account of the disorders and madness it brought with it.
In one myth, adapted inEuripides' playThe Bacchae, Dionysus returns to his birthplace,Thebes, which is ruled by his cousinPentheus. Pentheus, as well as his motherAgave and his auntsIno andAutonoe, disbelieve Dionysus' divine birth. Despite the warnings of the blind prophetTiresias, they deny his worship and denounce him for inspiring the women of Thebes to madness.
Pentheus torn apart by Agave and Ino. Attic red-figurelekanis (cosmetics bowl) lid, c. 450–425 BC (Louvre)
Dionysus uses his divine powers to drive Pentheus insane, then invites him to spy on the ecstatic rituals of theMaenads, in the woods ofMount Cithaeron. Pentheus, hoping to witness a sexualorgy, hides himself in a tree. The Maenads spot him; maddened by Dionysus, they take him to be a mountain-dwellinglion and attack him with their bare hands. Pentheus' aunts and his mother Agave are among them, and they rip him limb from limb. Agave mounts his head on a pike and takes the trophy to her father Cadmus.
Euripides' description of this sparagmos was as follows:
"But she was foaming at the mouth, her eyes rolled all around; her mind was mindless now. Held by the god, she paid the man no heed. She grabbed his left arm just below the elbow: wedging her foot against the victim's ribs she ripped his shoulder off – not by mere force; the god made easy everything they touch. On his right arm worked Ino, ripping flesh; Autonoë and the mob of maenads griped him, screaming as one. While he had breath, he cried, but they were whooping victory calls. One took an arm, a foot another, boot and all. They stripped his torso bare, staining their nails with blood, then tossed balls of flesh around. Pentheus' body lies in fragments now: on the hard rocks, and mingled with the leaves buried in the woodland, hard to find. His mother stumbled across his head: poor head! She grabbed it, and fixed it on her thrysus, like a lions's, to wave in joyful triumph at her hunt."[254]
The madness passes. Dionysus arrives in his true, divine form, banishes Agave and her sisters, and transforms Cadmus and his wifeHarmonia into serpents. Only Tiresias is spared.[255]
In the Iliad, when KingLycurgus of Thrace heard that Dionysus was in his kingdom, he imprisoned Dionysus' followers, theMaenads. Dionysus fled and took refuge withThetis, and sent adrought which stirred the people to revolt. The god then drove King Lycurgus insane and had him slice his own son into pieces with an axe in the belief that he was a patch of ivy, a plant holy to Dionysus. Anoracle then claimed that the land would stay dry and barren as long as Lycurgus lived, and his people had himdrawn and quartered. Appeased by the king's death, Dionysus lifted the curse.[256][257] In an alternative version, sometimes depicted in art, Lycurgus tries to kill Ambrosia, a follower of Dionysus, who was transformed into a vine that twined around the enraged king and slowly strangled him.[258]
North African Roman mosaic: Panther-Dionysus scatters the pirates, who are changed to dolphins, except forAcoetes, the helmsman; second century AD (Bardo National Museum)
TheHomeric Hymn 7 to Dionysus recounts how, while he sat on the seashore, some sailors spotted him, believing him a prince. They attempted to kidnap him and sail away to sell him for ransom or into slavery. No rope would bind him. The god turned into a fierce lion and unleashed a bear on board, killing all in his path. Those who jumped ship were mercifully turned into dolphins. The only survivor was the helmsman,Acoetes, who recognized the god and tried to stop his sailors from the start.[259]
In a similar story, Dionysus hired aTyrrhenian pirate ship to sail fromIcaria toNaxos. When he was aboard, they sailed not to Naxos but to Asia, intending to sell him as a slave. This time the god turned the mast and oars into snakes, and filled the vessel with ivy and the sound of flutes so that the sailors went mad and, leaping into the sea, were turned into dolphins. InOvid'sMetamorphoses, Bacchus begins this story as a young child found by the pirates but transforms to a divine adult when on board.
Many of the myths involve Dionysus defending his godhead against skeptics. Malcolm Bull notes that "It is a measure of Bacchus's ambiguous position in classical mythology that he, unlike the other Olympians, had to use a boat to travel to and from the islands with which he is associated".[260] Paola Corrente notes that in many sources, the incident with the pirates happens towards the end of Dionysus' time among mortals. In that sense, it serves as final proof of his divinity and is often followed by his descent into Hades to retrieve his mother, both of whom can then ascend into heaven to live alongside the other Olympian gods.[17]
Relief of Dionysus,Nagarjunakonda, SouthernIndia, third century. He has a light beard, is semi-nude and carries a drinking horn. There is a barrel of wine next to him.[261][262]
Pausanias, in book II of hisDescription of Greece, describes two variant traditions regarding Dionysus'katabasis, or descent into the underworld. Both describe how Dionysus entered into the afterlife to rescue his mother Semele, and bring her to her rightful place on Olympus. To do so, he had to contend with the hell dogCerberus, which was restrained for him byHeracles. After retrieving Semele, Dionysus emerged with her from the unfathomable waters of a lagoon on the coast of theArgolid near the prehistoric site ofLerna, according to the local tradition.[263] This mythic event was commemorated with a yearly nighttime festival, the details of which were held secret by the local religion. According to Paola Corrente, the emergence of Dionysus from the waters of the lagoon may signify a form of rebirth for both him and Semele as they reemerged from the underworld.[17][264] A variant of this myth forms the basis ofAristophanes' comedyThe Frogs.[17]
According to the Christian writerClement of Alexandria, Dionysus was guided in his journey byProsymnus or Polymnus, who requested, as his reward, to be Dionysus' lover. Prosymnus died before Dionysus could honor his pledge, so to satisfy Prosymnus' shade, Dionysus fashioned aphallus from a fig branch and penetrated himself with it at Prosymnus' tomb.[265][266] This story survives in full only in Christian sources, whose aim was to discredit pagan mythology, but it appears to have also served to explain the origin of secret objects used by theDionysian Mysteries.[267]
This same myth of Dionysus' descent to the underworld is related by bothDiodorus Siculus in his first century BC workBibliotheca historica, and Pseudo-Apollodorus in the third book of his first century AD workBibliotheca. In the latter, Apollodorus tells how after having been hidden away from Hera's wrath, Dionysus traveled the world opposing those who denied his godhood, finally proving it when he transformed his pirate captors into dolphins. After this, the culmination of his life on earth was his descent to retrieve his mother from the underworld. He renamed his motherThyone, and ascended with her to heaven, where she became a goddess.[268] In this variant of the myth, it is implied that Dionysus must prove his godhood to mortals and then also legitimize his place on Olympus by proving his lineage and elevating his mother to divine status, before taking his place among the Olympic gods.[17]
Dionysus discovered that his old school master and foster father,Silenus, had gone missing. The old man had wandered away drunk, and was found by some peasants who carried him to their kingMidas (alternatively, he passed out in Midas' rose garden). The king recognized him hospitably, feasting him for ten days and nights while Silenus entertained with stories and songs. On the eleventh day, Midas brought Silenus back to Dionysus. Dionysus offered the king his choice of reward.
Midas asked that whatever he might touch would turn to gold. Dionysus consented, though was sorry that he had not made a better choice. Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched and turned to gold an oak twig and a stone, but his joy vanished when he found that his bread, meat, and wine also turned to gold. Later, when his daughter embraced him, she too turned to gold.
The horrified king strove to divest theMidas Touch, and he prayed to Dionysus to save him from starvation. The god consented, telling Midas to wash in the riverPactolus. As he did so, the power passed into them, and the river sands turned gold: thisetiological myth explained the gold sands of the Pactolus.
WhenTheseus abandonedAriadne sleeping on Naxos, Dionysus found and married her. They had a son named Oenopion, but she committed suicide or was killed byPerseus. In some variants, Dionysus had her crown put into the heavens as the constellation Corona; in others, he descended intoHades to restore her to the gods on Olympus. Another account claims Dionysus ordered Theseus to abandon Ariadne on the island of Naxos, for Dionysus had seen her as Theseus carried her onto the ship and had decided to marry her.[citation needed]Psalacantha, a nymph, promised to help Dionysus court Ariadne in exchange for his sexual favours; but Dionysus refused, so Psalacantha advised Ariadne against going with him. For this Dionysus turned her into the plant with the same name.[269]
Dionysus fell in love with a nymph namedNicaea, in some versions byEros' binding. Nicaea however was a sworn virgin and scorned his attempts to court her. So one day, while she was away, he replaced the water in the spring from which she used to drink with wine. Intoxicated, Nicaea passed out, and Dionysus raped her in her sleep. When she woke up and realized what had happened, she sought him out to harm him, but she never found him. She gave birth to his sonsTelete,Satyrus, and others. Dionysus named the ancient city ofNicaea after her.[270]
InNonnus'sDionysiaca, Eros made Dionysus fall in love withAura, a virgin companion ofArtemis, as part of a ploy to punish Aura for having insulted Artemis. Dionysus used the same trick as with Nicaea to get her fall asleep, tied her up, and then raped her. Aura tried to kill herself, with little success. When she gave birth to twin sons by Dionysus,Iacchus and another boy, she ate one twin before drowning herself in theSangarius river.[271]
Also in theDionysiaca, Nonnus relates how Dionysus fell in love with a handsome satyr namedAmpelos, who was killed by Selene due to him challenging her. On his death, Dionysus changed him into the first grapevine.[272]
A third descent by Dionysus to Hades is invented byAristophanes in his comedyThe Frogs. Dionysus, as patron of the Athenian dramatic festival, theDionysia, wants to bring back to life one of the great tragedians. After apoetry slam,Aeschylus is chosen in preference toEuripides.
WhenHephaestus boundHera to a magical chair, Dionysus got him drunk and brought him back to Olympus after he passed out.[citation needed]
Callirrhoe was aCalydonian woman who scornedCoresus, a priest of Dionysus, who threatened to afflict all the women of Calydon with insanity (seeMaenad). The priest was ordered to sacrifice Callirhoe but he killed himself instead. Callirhoe threw herself into a well which was later named after her.[citation needed]
Dionysus also sent a fox that was fated never to be caught in Thebes.Creon, king of Thebes, sentAmphitryon to catch and kill the fox.Amphitryon obtained fromCephalus the dog that his wifeProcris had received fromMinos, which was fated to catch whatever it pursued.[citation needed]
Another account about Dionysus's parentage indicates that he is the son of Zeus and Gê (Gaia), also namedThemelê (foundation), corrupted intoSemele.[273][274]
Hyginus relates that Dionysus once gave human speech to a donkey. The donkey then proceeded to challenge Priapus in a contest about which between them had the better penis; the donkey lost. Priapus killed the donkey, but Dionysus placed him among the stars, above theCrab.[275][276]
The following is a list of Dionysus' offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates.
Ancient Roman relief in the Museo Archeologico (Naples) depicting Dionysus holding a thyrsus and receiving a libation, wearing an ivy wreath, and attended by a pantherDionysus on apanther's back; on the left, apapposilenus holding a tambourine. Side A from a red-figure bell-shaped crater, c. 370 BC.
The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a mature male, bearded and robed. He holds afennel staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as athyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth: the literature describes him as womanly or "man-womanish".[303] In its fully developed form, his central cult imagery shows his triumphant, disorderly arrival or return, as if from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilized. His procession(thiasus) is made up of wild female followers (maenads) and beardedsatyrs witherect penises; some are armed with thethyrsus, some dance or play music. The god himself is drawn in a chariot, usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers, and is sometimes attended by a bearded, drunkenSilenus. This procession is presumed to be the cult model for the followers of hisDionysian Mysteries. Dionysus is represented by city religions as the protector of those who do not belong to conventional society and he thus symbolizes the chaotic, dangerous and unexpected, everything which escapes human reason and which can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods.[304]
Dionysus was a god of resurrection and he was strongly linked to thebull. In a cult hymn fromOlympia, at a festival for Hera, Dionysus is invited to come as a bull; "with bull-foot raging".Walter Burkert relates, "Quite frequently [Dionysus] is portrayed with bull horns, and inKyzikos he has a tauromorphic image", and refers also to an archaic myth in which Dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and impiously eaten by theTitans.[305]
A sculpted phallus at the entrance of the temple of Dionysus inDelos, Greece
The snake andphallus were symbols of Dionysus in ancient Greece, and of Bacchus in Greece and Rome.[306][307][308] There is a procession called thephallophoria, in which villagers would parade through the streets carrying phallic images or pulling phallic representations on carts. He typically wears a panther or leopard skin and carries a thyrsus. His iconography sometimes includesmaenads, who wear wreaths of ivy and serpents around their hair or neck.[309][310][311]
The cult of Dionysus was closely associated with trees, specifically thefig tree, and some of hisbynames exhibit this, such asEndendros "he in the tree" orDendritēs, "he of the tree". Peters suggests the original meaning as "he who runs among the trees", or that of a "runner in the woods". Janda (2010) accepts the etymology but proposes the more cosmological interpretation of "he who impels the (world-)tree". This interpretation explains howNysa could have been re-interpreted from a meaning of "tree" to the name of a mountain: theaxis mundi ofIndo-European mythology is represented both as aworld-tree and as aworld-mountain.[312]
Dionysus is also closely associated with the transition between summer and autumn. In the Mediterranean summer, marked by the rising of the dog starSirius, the weather becomes extremely hot, but it is also a time when the promise of coming harvests grow. Late summer, whenOrion is at the center of the sky, was the time of the grape harvest in ancient Greece. Plato describes the gifts of this season as the fruit that is harvested as well as Dionysian joy. Pindar describes the "pure light of high summer" as closely associated with Dionysus and possibly even an embodiment of the god himself. An image of Dionysus' birth from Zeus' thigh calls him "the light of Zeus" (Dios phos) and associates him with the light of Sirius.[33]
Marble table support adorned by a group includingDionysos,Pan and aSatyr; Dionysos holds arhyton (drinking vessel) in the shape of a panther; traces ofred andyellow colour are preserved onthe hair of the figures and the branches; from anAsia Minor workshop, 170–180 AD,National Archaeological Museum, Athens, GreeceMosaic of Dionysus, 4th century.Fresco of Dionysus from triclinium ceiling of home incorporated into Baths of Caracalla (Rome)
The Dionysian world by the Hellenistic period is a hedonistic but safepastoral into which other semi-divine creatures of the countryside have been co-opted, such ascentaurs,nymphs, and the godsPan andHermaphrodite.[316] "Nymph" by this stage "means simply an ideal female of the Dionysian outdoors, a non-wild bacchant".[317] Hellenistic sculpture also includes for the first time large genre subjects of children and peasants, many of whom carry Dionysian attributes such as ivy wreaths, and "most should be seen as part of his realm. They have in common with satyrs and nymphs that they are creatures of the outdoors and are without true personal identity."[318] The fourth-century BCDerveni Krater, the unique survival of a very large scale Classical or Hellenistic metal vessel of top quality, depicts Dionysus and his followers.
Dionysus appealed to the Hellenistic monarchies for a number of reasons, apart from merely being a god of pleasure: He was a human who became divine, he came from, and had conquered, the East, exemplified a lifestyle of display and magnificence with his mortal followers, and was often regarded as an ancestor.[319] He continued to appeal to the rich of Imperial Rome, who populated their gardens with Dionysian sculpture, and by the second century AD were often buried insarcophagi carved with crowded scenes of Bacchus and his entourage.[320]
The fourth-century ADLycurgus Cup in theBritish Museum is a spectacularcage cup which changes colour when light comes through the glass; it shows the bound KingLycurgus being taunted by the god and attacked by a satyr; this may have been used for celebration of Dionysian mysteries. Elizabeth Kessler has theorized that a mosaic appearing on thetriclinium floor of the House of Aion inNea Paphos, Cyprus, details a monotheistic worship of Dionysus.[321] In the mosaic, other gods appear but may only be lesser representations of the centrally imposed Dionysus. The mid-ByzantineVeroli Casket shows the tradition lingering inConstantinople around 1000 AD, but probably not very well understood.
Bacchic subjects in art resumed in theItalian Renaissance, and soon became almost as popular as in antiquity, but his "strong association with feminine spirituality and power almost disappeared", as did "the idea that the destructive and creative powers of the god were indissolubly linked".[322] InMichelangelo's statue (1496–97) "madness has become merriment". The statue tries to suggest both drunken incapacity and an elevated consciousness, but this was perhaps lost on later viewers, and typically the two aspects were thereafter split, with a clearly drunk Silenus representing the former, and a youthful Bacchus often shown with wings, because he carries the mind to higher places.[323]
A common theme in art beginning in the sixteenth century was the depiction of Bacchus and Ceres caring for a representation of love – often Venus, Cupid, or Amore. This tradition derived from a quotation by the Roman comedianTerence (c. 195/185 – c. 159 BC) which became a popular proverb in theEarly Modern period:Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus ("withoutCeres andBacchus,Venus freezes"). Its simplest level of meaning is that love needs food and wine to thrive. Artwork based on this saying was popular during the period 1550–1630, especially inNorthern Mannerism inPrague and theLow Countries, as well as byRubens. Because of his association with the vine harvest, Bacchus became the god of autumn, and he and his followers were often shown in sets depicting the seasons.[326]
Dionysus has remained an inspiration to artists, philosophers and writers into themodern era. InThe Birth of Tragedy (1872), the German philosopherFriedrich Nietzsche proposed that a tension betweenApollonian and Dionysian aesthetic principles underlay the development ofGreek tragedy; Dionysus represented what was unrestrained chaotic and irrational, while Apollo represented the rational and ordered. This concept of a rivalry or opposition between Dionysus and Apollo has been characterized as a "modern myth", as it is the invention of modern thinkers like Nietzsche andJohann Joachim Winckelmann, and is not found in classical sources. However, the acceptance and popularity of this theme in Western culture has been so great, that its undercurrent has influenced the conclusions of classical scholarship.[327]
Nietzsche also claimed that the oldest forms of Greek Tragedy were entirely based upon the suffering Dionysus. In Nietzsche's 1886 workBeyond Good and Evil, and laterThe Twilight of the Idols,The Antichrist andEcce Homo, Dionysus is conceived as the embodiment of the unrestrainedwill to power. Towards the end of his life, Nietzsche famously went mad. He was known to sign letters as both Dionysus and "The Crucified" in this period of his life. InThe Hellenic Religion of the Suffering God (1904), andDionysus and Early Dionysianism (1921), the poetVyacheslav Ivanov elaborates the theory ofDionysianism, tracing the origins of literature, andtragedy in particular, to ancient Dionysian mysteries. Ivanov said that Dionysus' suffering "was the distinctive feature of the cult" just as Christ's suffering is significant for Christianity.[328]Karl Kerényi characterizes Dionysus as representative of the psychological life force (GreekZoê).[329] Other psychological interpretations place Dionysus'emotionality in the foreground, focusing on thejoy,terror orhysteria associated with the god.[330][331][332][333][334]Sigmund Freud specified that his ashes should be kept in an Ancient Greek vase painted with Dionysian scenes from his collection, which remains on display atGolders Green Crematorium in London.
J. M. Tolcher's autobiography,Poof (2023), features Dionysus as a character and a force of modern liberation inAustralia, incorporating traditional myth and Nietzschean philosophy to representqueer suffering.[335][336]
In 1969, an adaption ofThe Bacchae was performed, calledDionysus in '69. Afilm was made of the same performance. The production was notable for involving audience participation, nudity, and theatrical innovations.[337]
In 1974, Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove adapted Aristophanes' comedyThe Frogs into amodern musical, which hit broadway in 2004 and was revived in London in 2017. The musical keeps the descent of Dionysus into Hades to bring back a playwright; however, the playwrights are updated to modern times, and Dionysus is forced to choose betweenGeorge Bernard Shaw andWilliam Shakespeare.[338]
In 2019, the South Korean boy bandBTS released arap-rock-synth-pop-hip hop track.[211][339] named "Dionysus" as part of their albumMap of the Soul: Persona. The naming of this song comes from the association of the namesake with debauchery and excess, this is reflected in its lyrics talking about "getting drunk on art" –playing on the Korean words for "alcohol" (술sul) and "art" (예술yesul) as an example – alongside expressions about their stardom, legacy, and artistic integrity.[340]
Some scholars ofcomparative mythology identify both Dionysus and Jesus with thedying-and-rising god mythologicalarchetype.[344] On the other hand, it has been noted that the details of Dionysus' death and rebirth are starkly different both in content and symbolism from Jesus. The two stories take place in very different historical and geographic contexts. Also, the manner of death is different; in the most common myth, Dionysus was torn to pieces and eaten by theTitans, but "eventually restored to a new life" from the heart that was left over.[345][346]
Another parallel can be seen inThe Bacchae where Dionysus appears before King Pentheus on charges of claiming divinity, which is compared to the New Testament scene of Jesus being interrogated by Pontius Pilate.[347][348][349] However, a number of scholars dispute this parallel, since the confrontation between Dionysus and Pentheus ends with Pentheus dying, torn into pieces by the mad women, whereas the trial of Jesus ends with him being sentenced to death.[350]
E. Kessler has argued that the Dionysian cult developed into strictmonotheism by the fourth century AD; together withMithraism and other sects, the cult formed an instance of "pagan monotheism" in direct competition withEarly Christianity duringLate Antiquity.[351] Scholars from the sixteenth century onwards, especiallyGerard Vossius, also discussed the parallels between the biographies of Dionysus/Bacchus andMoses.[352]
John Moles has argued that the Dionysian cult influenced early Christianity, and especially how Christians understood themselves as a new religion centered around a savior deity.[344]
^Rosemarie Taylor-Perry, 2003.The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revisited. Algora Press.
^Hedreen, Guy Michael.Silens in Attic Black-figure Vase-painting: Myth and Performance. University of Michigan Press. 1992.ISBN9780472102952. p. 1
^James, Edwin Oliver.The Tree of Life: An Archaeological Study. Brill Publications. 1966. p. 234.ISBN9789004016125
^In Greek "both votary and god are called Bacchus". Burkert, p. 162. For the initiate as Bacchus, seeEuripides,Bacchae491. For the god, who alone isDionysus, seeSophocles,Oedipus Rex 211 and Euripides,Hippolytus 560.
^Olszewski, E. (2019).Dionysus’s enigmatic thyrsus.Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,163(2), 153–173.
^Sutton, p. 2, mentions Dionysus as The Liberator in relation to the cityDionysia festivals. InEuripides,Bacchae379–385: "He holds this office, to join in dances, [380] to laugh with the flute, and to bring an end to cares, whenever the delight of the grape comes at the feasts of the gods, and in ivy-bearing banquets the goblet sheds sleep over men."
^Thomas McEvilley,The Shape of Ancient Thought, Allsworth press, 2002, pp. 118–121.Google Books preview
^Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram,Sophocles: an interpretation, Cambridge University Press, 1980, p. 109Google Books preview
^Zofia H. Archibald, in Gocha R. Tsetskhladze (Ed.)Ancient Greeks west and east, Brill, 1999, pp. 429 ff.Google Books preview
^Rosemarie Taylor-Perry, 2003.The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revisited. Algora Press.
^abJulian, trans. by Emily Wilmer Cave Wright. To the Cynic Heracleios.The Works of the Emperor Julian, volume II (1913) Loeb Classical Library.
^John Chadwick,The Mycenaean World, Cambridge University Press, 1976, pp. 99ff: "But Dionysos surprisingly appears twice at Pylos, in the formDiwonusos, both times irritatingly enough on fragments, so that we have no means of verifying his divinity."
^Fox, p. 217, "The word Dionysos is divisible into two parts, the first originally Διος (cf. Ζευς), while the second is of an unknown signification, although perhaps connected with the name of the Mount Nysa which figures in the story of Lykourgos: ... when Dionysos had been reborn from the thigh of Zeus, Hermes entrusted him to the nymphs of Mount Nysa, who fed him on the food of the gods, and made him immortal."
^Testimonia of Pherecydes in an early fifth-century BC fragment, FGrH 3, 178, in the context of a discussion on the name of Dionysus: "Nũsas (acc. pl.), he [Pherecydes] said, was what they called the trees."
^Janson, Horst Woldemar; Janson, Anthony F. (2004). Touborg, Sarah; Moore, Julia; Oppenheimer, Margaret; Castro, Anita (eds.).History of Art: The Western Tradition. Vol. 1 (Revised 6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:Pearson Education. p. 105.ISBN0-13-182622-0.
^Used thus byAusonius,Epigrams, 29, 6, and inCatullus, 29; see Lee M. Fratantuono, NIVALES SOCII: CAESAR, MAMURRA, AND THE SNOW OF CATULLUS C. 57,Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, New Series, Vol. 96, No. 3 (2010), p. 107, Note 2.
^Scaife, Ross (2 July 2000)."Androgynous".Suda On Line: Byzantine Lexicography. Suda On Line and the Stoa Consortium. Retrieved17 February 2024.Dionysos, as one doing both active, male things and passive, female ones. [...] Sexual intercourse, specifically, is envisaged here.
^McKeown, J.C.A Cabinet of Greek Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the Cradle of Western Civilization, Oxford University Press, New York, 2013, p. 210)
^Suidas s.v. Kistophoros :"Kistophoros (basket-bearer, ivy-bearer) : It seems that baskets were sacred to Dionysos and the Two Goddesses [Demeter and Persephone]." [N.B. Derived from Harpocration s.v. kittophoros, the ivy-bearer.]
^Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 3. 62. 5 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.):"Dionysos was named twice-born (dimetor) by the ancients, counting it as a single and first birth when the plant is set in the ground and begins to grow, and as a second birth when it becomes laden with fruit and ripens its grape-clusters—the god thus being considered as having been born once from the earth and again from the vine."
^Reece, Steve, "The Epithet ἐρίδρομος in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca,"Philologus: Zeitschrift für antike Literatur und ihre Rezeption 145 (2001) 357–359, explains Nonnus' use of this epithet at Dionysiaca 23.28 as a translation of the moribund Homeric epithet ἐριούνιος, which in Cyprian means "good-running."
^Versnel, H.S. (2015).Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual. Vol. 1, Ter Unus. Isis, Dionysos, Hermes. Three Studies in Henotheism.Brill Publications. p. 119.ISBN978-90-04-09266-2.
^Suidas (1705).Souidas. : Suidæ lexicon, Græce & Latine. Textum Græcum cum manuscriptis codicibus collatum a quamplurimis mendis purgavit, notisque perpetuis illustravit: versionem Latinam Æmilii Porti innumeris in locis correxit; indicesque auctorum & rerum adjecit Ludolphus Kusterus, Professor humaniorum literarum in Gymnasio Regio Berolinensi. Typis academicis.OCLC744697285.
^Suidas s.v. Oinops (quoting Greek Anthology 6. 44. 5 and 7. 20. 2) :"Oinops (wine-dark): 'to wine-dark [so-and-so],' to black [so-and-so]. In theEpigrams: '. . . from which we poured libations, as much [as is] right, to wine-dark Bakkhos and the Satyroi.' But ruddy (oinôpos) [means] wine-coloured, bright or black. 'Feeding on the ruddy grape-cluster of Bakkhos.'"
^Opsomer, Jan. "La démiurgie des jeunes dieux selon Proclus". In: Études Classiques Tome 71, Nº. 1: Le "Timée" au fil des âges: son influence et ses lectures. 2003. pp. 18–19 (footnote nr. 47), 25 and 37–38 (footnote nr. 124).ISSN0014-200X
^Georges, Karl Ernst.Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch. Hannover: August 1918 (Nachdruck Darmstadt 1998). Band 2. Sp. 2582.
^Harrison, Jane Ellen.Themis. Cambridge University Press. 1912. p. 421.
^Naylor, H. Darnley.Horace Odes and Epodes: A study in word-order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1922. p. 37.
^Putnam, Michael C. J. (1994). "Structure and Design in Horace "Odes" 1. 17".The Classical World.87 (5):357–375.doi:10.2307/4351533.JSTOR4351533.
^Papaioannou, Sophia (2013). "Embracing Vergil’s 'Arcadia': Constructions and representations of a literary topos in the poetry of the Augustans". In:Acta Antiqua 53: 160–161. DOI: 10.1556/AAnt.53.2013.2-3.2.
^Humphreys, S. C.The Strangeness of Gods: Historical perspectives on the interpretation of Athenian religion. Oxford University Press. 2004. p. 235 (footnote nr. 34).ISBN0-19-926923-8
^Hesych. σκυλλίς , κληματίς. Nilsson Vol. I , p.584.
^abc(Photius, Lexicon, s.v. "Thyraze Kares.")To the doors, Kares, it is no longer Anthestria": some authorities contented that this is what is said to the crowd of Karian slaves, since at the Anthestria they join in the feast and do not do any work. Therefore, when the festival is over, they send them back out to work with the words, "To the doors, Keres, it is no longer Anthestria." since the souls [keres] wander about through the city at the Anthestria.
^(Plutarch, Table-talk, 655e.)At Athens they inaugurate the new wine on the eleventh of the month, and they call the day pithoigia.
^(Phanodemus, in Athenaeus, Deipnosophists XI. 456a; frag 12in FGrH 325.)At the temple of Dionysus in Limnai ["The Marshes"] the Athenians bring the new wine from the jars age mix it in honour of the god and then they drink it themselves. Because of this custom Dionysus is called Limnaios, because the wine was mixed with water and then for the first time drunk diluted.
^abRice, David G. Stambaugh, John E. (2014).Sources for the Study of Greek Religion Corrected Edition. Society of Biblical Literature.ISBN978-1-62837-067-6.OCLC893453849.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012,p. 127; Graf 2005, "Iacchus".
^Jiménez San Cristóbal 2013,p. 279, Bowie, A. M., pp. 232–233; Sophocles,Antigone1115–1125,1146–1154; Versnel, pp. 23–24. Jebb, in hisnote to line 1146χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, understands the Sophoclean use of the name "Iacchus" as specifically denoting the Eleusinian Dionysus.
^Russell, Bertrand. History of Western Philosophy.Routledge, 1996, p. 25
^Kraemer, Ross S. "Ecstasy and Possession: The Attraction of Women to the Cult of Dionysus." The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 72 60 Jan.–Apr. 1979.
^... "the Bacchic passages in the Roman drama, taken over from their Greek models, presented a pejorative image of the Bacchic cult which predisposed the Romans towards persecution before the consul denounced the cult in 186." Robert Rouselle, Liber-Dionysus in Early Roman Drama,The Classical Journal, 82, 3 (1987), p. 193.
^Pliny attributes the invention of the triumph to "FatherLiber" (who by Pliny's time was identified with Bacchus and Dionysus): see Pliny,Historia Naturalis, 7.57 (ed. Bostock) at Perseus:Tufts.edu
^Concilium Constantinopolitanum a. 691/2 in Trullo habitum. Canon 62. H. Ohme (ed.) Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum, Series Secunda II: Concilium Universale Constantinopolitanum Tertium, Pars 4.ISBN978-3-11-030853-2. Berlin/Boston Oktober 2013.
^Heraclitus, encountering the festival of thePhallophoria, in whichphalli were paraded about, remarked in a surviving fragment: "If they did not order the procession in honor of the god and address the phallus song to him, this would be the most shameless behavior. But Hades is the same as Dionysos, for whom they rave and act likebacchantes", Kerényi 1976,pp. 239–240.
^Summary of Karl Kerényi: "The Hymn tells us that Persephone was abducted in Nysion pedion, or the Nysian Plain, a plain that was named after the Dionysian mountain of Nysa. Nysa was regarded as the birthplace and first home of Dionysus. The divine marriage of Plouton and Persephone was celebrated on 'the meadow'. The dangerous region that Kore let herself be lured to in search of flowers was likely not originally connected to Plouton but to Dionysus, as Dionysus himself had the strange surname of 'the gaping one', though despite this the notion that the wine god in his quality as the Lord of the Underworld does not appear on the surface of the hymn. People would not be able to detect the hidden meaning it if it wasn’t for archaic vase portrayals."Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter [pp. 34, 35]."The Hymn to Demeter later mentions that Queen Metaneira of Eleusis later offers the disguised Demeter a beaker of sweet wine, something that Demeter refuses on the grounds that it would be against themis, the very nature of order and justice, for her to drink red wine and she instead invents a new beverage called kykeon to drink instead. The fact that Demeter refuses to drink wine on the grounds that it would be against themis indicates that she is well aware of who Persephone's abductor is, that it is the Subterranean cover name of Dionysus. The critic of the mysteries, the severe philosopher Herakleitos once declared "Hades is the same as Dionysos." The subterranean wine god was the ravisher, so how could Demeter accept something that was his gift to mankind" [p. 40]
^Summary of Karl Kerényi:"The book later refers to Herakles initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries so that he may enter the Underworld. In the iconography after his initiation Herakles in shown wearing a fringed white garment with a Dionysian deerskin thrown over it. Kore is shown with her mother Demeter and a snake twined around the Mystery basket, foreshadowing the secret, as making friends with snakes was Dionysian [p. 58].The god of the Anthesteria was Dionysus, who celebrated his marriage in Athens amid flowers, the opening of wine jars, and the rising up of the souls of the dead [p. 149].There are two reliefs in a marble votive relief of the fourth century BC. One depicts Kore crowning her mother Demeter, the deities at the second altar are Persephone and her husband Dionysus as the recumbent god has the features of the bearded Dionysus rather than of Plouton. In his right hand, he raises not a cornucopia, the symbol of wealth, but a wine vessel and in his left, he bears the goblet for the wine. Over their heads an inscription reads "To the God and Goddess" [pp. 151, 152].The fragments of a gilded jar cover of the Kerch type show Dionysus, Demeter, little Ploutos, Kore, and a curly-haired boy clad in a long garment, one of the first son's of the Eleusinian king who was the first to be initiated.On another vase, Dionysus sits on his omphalos with his thryrsos in his left hand, sitting opposite Demeter, looking at each other severely. Kore is shown moving from Demeter towards Dionysus, as if trying to reconcile them [p. 162].Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter
^Summary of Karl Kerényi:Kore and Thea are two different duplications of Persephone; Plouton and Theos are duplications of the subterranean Dionysus. The duplication of the mystery god as subterranean father and subterranean son, as Father Zagreus and the child Zagreus, husband and son of Persephone, has more to do with the mysteries of Dionysus than with the Eleusinian Mysteries. But a duplication of the chthonian, mystical Dionysus is provided even by his youthful aspect, which became distinguished and classical as the son of Semele from the son of Persephone. Semele, though not of Eleusinian origin, is also a double of Persephone [p. 155].Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter
^Loyd, Alan B (2009).What is a God?: Studies in the Nature of Greek Divinity. The Classical Press of Wales.ISBN978-1905125357.The identification of Hades and Dionysus does not seem to be a particular doctrine of Herakleitos, nor does it commit him to monotheism. The evidence for a cult connection between the two is quite extensive, particularly in Southern Italy, and the Dionysiac mysteries are associated with death rituals.
^abSummary of Karl Kerényi: These attempts at a reconstruction would remain very fragmentary were we not, in conclusion, to look attentively into the face of the god Eubouleus. The Lord of the Underworld bore this name in the youthful form represented in the statue, ascribed to Praxiteles, which is now in the National Museum at Athens and probably stood originally in the place where it was found, the Ploutonion. This youth is Plouton himself – radiant but disclosing a strange inner darkness – and at the same time his double and servant, comparable to Hermes or Pais besides Kabeiros or Theos [p. 172]. ... The plentiful hair or long curls suggest rather Hades kyanochaites, Hades of the dark hair [p. 173].
^Sudas, under "Sabazios", "saboi"; Sider, David. "Notes on Two Epigrams of Philodemus".The American Journal of Philology,103.2 (Summer 1982:208–213) pp. 209ff.
^E.N. Lane has taken pains to dismiss this widespread conflation: Lane, "Towards a definition of the iconography of Sabazios",Numen27 (1980:9–33), andCorpus Cultis Jovis Sabazii:, inÉtudes Préliminaires aux Religions Orientales dans l'Empire Romain: Conclusions100.3 (Leiden, etc: Brill) 1989.
^Meisner, pp. 249–50; Graf and Johnston, pp. 195–6 n. 7 to p. 65.
^According to Meisner, p. 238, "[o]ver the last two centuries, many scholars have considered this narrative of Dionysus and the Titans to have been the central, defining myth of Orphism". See, for example, Nilsson,p. 202, who calls it "the cardinal myth of Orphism", and Guthrie,p. 107, who describes the myth as "the central point of Orphic story". According to Linforth,p. 307, it is "commonly regarded as essentially and peculiarly Orphic and the very core of the Orphic religion", while Parker 2002,p. 495, writes that "it has been seen as the Orphic 'arch-myth'.
^According to Gantz, p. 118, 'Orphic sources preserved seem not to use the name "Zagreus", and according to West 1983, p. 153, the 'name was probably not used in the Orphic narrative'. Edmonds 1999, p. 37 n. 6 says: 'Lobeck 1892 seems to be responsible for the use of the name Zagreus for the Orphic Dionysos. As Linforth noticed, "It is a curious thing that the name Zagreus does not appear in any Orphic poem or fragment, nor is it used by any author who refers to Orpheus" (Linforth 1941:311). In his reconstruction of the story, however, Lobeck made extensive use of the fifth-century epic of Nonnos, who does use the name Zagreus, and later scholars followed his cue. The association of Dionysos with Zagreus appears first explicitly in a fragment of Callimachus preserved in the Etymologicum Magnum (fr. 43.117 P), with a possible earlier precedent in the fragment from EuripidesCretans (fr. 472 Nauck). Earlier evidence, however, (e.g.,Alkmaionis fr. 3 PEG; Aeschylus frr. 5, 228) suggests that Zagreus was often identified with other deities.'
^Damascius, Commentary on the Phaedo, I, 170, see in translation Westerink,The Greek Commentaries onPlato's Phaedo, vol. II (The Prometheus Trust, Westbury) 2009
^Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.ISBN0-674-99135-4,0-674-99136-2
^Conner, Nancy. "The Everything Book of Classical Mythology" 2ed
^Homeric Hymn 1 to Dionysus : ‘There is a certain Nysa, mountain high, with forests thick, in Phoinike afar, close to Aigyptos' (Egypt's) streams.’
^Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 2. 3 (trans. Oldfather) : "Zeus taking up the child [i.e. Dionysos from the dead body of his mother Semele], handed it over to Hermes, and ordered him to take it to the cave in Nysa, which lay between Phoinikia (Phoenicia) and the Neilos (the River Nile), where he should deliver it to the Nymphai (Nymphs) that they should rear it and with great solicitude bestow upon it the best of care.
^Photius,Library; "Ptolemy Chennus, New History"Book 4
^Homer, Iliad 6. 129 ff (trans. Lattimore):"I will not fight against any god of the heaven, since even the son of Dryas, Lykourgos the powerful, did not live long; he who tried to fight with the gods of the bright sky, who once drove the fosterers of Mainomenos (rapturous) Dionysos headlong down the sacred Nyseian hill, and all of them shed and scattered their wands on the ground, stricken with an ox-goad by murderous Lykourgos, while Dionysos in terror dived into the salt surf, and Thetis took him to her bosom, frightened, with the strong shivers upon him at the man's blustering. But the gods who live at their ease were angered with Lykourgos and the son of Cronus [Zeus] struck him to blindness, nor did he live long afterwards, since he was hated by all the immortals."[N.B. The reference to the Nyseian hill and the nurses of Dionysus suggests that Homer placed the story in Boeotia while the god was still a child—contrary to subsequent accounts of the myth in which Dionysus is a youth visiting Thrace.]
^Nonnus,Dionysiaca 11. 185 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.):"[Ampelos the love of Dionysos rode upon the back of a wild bull:] He shouted boldly to the fullfaced Moon (Mene)—'Give me best, Selene, horned driver of cattle! Now I am both—I have horns and I ride a bull!'So he called out boasting to the round Moon. Selene looked with a jealous eye through the air, to see how Ampleos rode on the murderous marauding bull. She sent him a cattlechasing gadfly; and the bull, pricked continually all over by the sharp sting, galloped away like a horse through pathless tracts. [It threw the boy and gorged him to death.]"
^Humphreys, S. C.The Strangeness of Gods: Historical perspectives on the interpretation of Athenian religion. Oxford University Press. 2004. pp. 264–265.ISBN978-0199269235
^Beecroft, Alexander J. "Nine Fragments in Search of an Author: Poetic Lines Attributed to Terpander."The Classical Journal 103, no. 3 (2008): 225–41.http://www.jstor.org/stable/30037959.
^Strabo,10.3.13, quotes the non-extant playPalamedes which seems to refer to Thysa, a daughter of Dionysus, and her (?) mother as participants of the Bacchic rites on Mount Ida, but the quoted passage is corrupt.
^Csapo, Eric (1997). "Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual, and Gender-Role De/Construction".Phoenix.51 (3/4):256–257,253–295.doi:10.2307/1192539.JSTOR1192539.
^Kerenyi, K.,Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life (Princeton/Bollingen, 1976).
^Jeanmaire, H. Dionysus: histoire du culte de Bacchus, (pp. 106ff) Payot, (1951)
^Johnson, R. A. 'Ecstasy; Understanding the Psychology of Joy' HarperColling (1987)
^Hillman, J. 'Dionysus Reimagined' in The Myth of Analysis (pp. 271–281) HarperCollins (1972); Hillman, J. 'Dionysus in Jung's Writings' in Facing The Gods, Spring Publications (1980)
^abMoles, John (2006). "Jesus and Dionysus in "The Acts Of The Apostles" and early Christianity".Hermathena.180 (180). Trinity College Dublin:65–104.JSTOR23041662.
^Powell, Barry B.,Classical Myth. Second ed. With new translations of ancient texts by Herbert M. Howe. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998.
^Dalby, Andrew (2005).The Story of Bacchus. London: British Museum Press.
^E. Kessler,Dionysian Monotheism in Nea Paphos, Cyprus. Symposium onPagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire, Exeter, 17–20 July 2006AbstractArchived 21 April 2008 at theWayback Machine)
^According to Hesiod,Theogony927–929, Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
^According to Hesiod,Theogony886–890, of Zeus's children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
^According to Hesiod,Theogony183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus's severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
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