Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion i...
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Greek God of Wine & the Grape Harvest
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, religious ecstasy and theatre. He may have been worshipped as early as 1500-100BC by Mycenean Greeks according to very old scripts inscribed with his name. Earlier images and descriptions of Dionysus depict him as a mature male, bearded and robed holding a fennel staff tipped with a pine-cone. However, in later images the god is show to be a beardless, sensuous, naked or semi-naked androgynous youth. He is described in literature as womanly or “man-womanish”. He was the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele, making Dionysus semi-device or a hero.
Facts about Dionysus Dionysus was primarily known as the God of the Vine. He was also referred to as Bacchus. Dionysus and Demeter, the Goddess of the Corn, were the supreme deities of the earth. Unlike the immortal gods, who were often hostile toward human beings, Dionysus and Demeter were benevolent toward mankind. Dionysus was the younger of the two, and little is known about how he came to take his place beside Demeter to be worshipped. Dionysus and Demeter were worshipped at Eleusis, a little town near Athens. Dionysus was a happy god during the harvest, but during the winter he languished along with the rest of the Earth. Dionysus was the last god to enter Olympus. Dionysus was the son of Zeus and the Theban princess Semele. He was the only god who had a mortal parent. He was born in Thebes. He was born of fire and nursed by rain. His birth corresponds to the development of grapes: heat ripens the fruit and water keeps it alive. Upon reaching adulthood, Dionysus wandered the Earth, teaching men the culture of the vine. Many festivals were held in honor of Dionysus: the Lesser or Rural Dionysia, the Greater or City Dionysia, the Anthesteria, and the Lenaea. Dionysus was variously represented in art as a full-grown bearded man, as a beast, and as a slight youth. Dionysus was insulted by Lycurgus, one of the kings in Thrace. Dionysus initially retreated and took refuge in the sea, but later he imprisoned Lycurgus for opposing his worship. Performances of tragedy and comedy were a part of the festivals thrown in his honor. Dionysus was also honored in lyric poetry. Dionysus was once captured by pirates because he looked like the son of a king. They kidnapped him, envisioning the ransom his parents would pay upon his return. Aboard the ship, the pirates were unable to confine him; the ropes fell apart when they touched Dionysus. Dionysus rescued the princess of Crete, Ariadne, and subsequently fell in love with her. Upon her death, Dionysus placed the crown he had given her among the stars. Though Dionysus was mostly a kind and generous deity, he could be cruel when necessary. Pentheus, a king of Thebes, tried to stop the frenzied worship of Dionysus. He attempted to imprison the God of Wine, while hurling insults and accusations at him. Dionysus explained his own eminence calmly, but Pentheus was unreceptive. Dionysus caused the Theban women to go mad so that they thought Pentheus a wild beast. They tore Pentheus limb from limb.
god of : Wine, theater, ecstasy, fertility and madness Symbols: Grapevine, leopard skin, leopard, panther, tiger Sacred animals: Leopard, Goat, Donkey Parents: Zeus and Semele Consort: Ariadne Children: Priapus, Oenopion, many others
Birth Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Semele. Zeus came to Semele in the night, invisible, felt only as a divine presence. Semele was pleased to be a lover of a god, even though she did not know which one. Word soon got around and Hera quickly assumed who was responsible. Coming to Semele in disguise, Hera convinced her she should see her lover as he really was. When Zeus next came to her she made him show his true form. As mortals are incapable to see the 'true' and divine forms of the gods, she was burnt to ashes.
Childhood According to the myth, Zeus gave the infant Dionysus into the charge of Hermes. One version of the story is that Hermes took the boy to King Athamas and his wife Ino, Dionysus' aunt. Hermes bade the couple raise the boy as a girl, to hide him from Hera's wrath. Another version is that Dionysus was taken to the rain-nymphs of Nysa, who nourished his infancy and childhood, and for their care Zeus rewarded them by placing them as the Hyades among the stars (see Hyades star cluster). Other versions have Zeus giving him to Rhea, or to Persephone to raise in the Underworld, away from Hera. Alternatively, he was raised by Maro. 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. The Homeric hymn to Dionysus places it "far from Phoenicia, near to the Egyptian stream." Others placed it in Anatolia, or in Libya ('away in the west beside a great ocean'), in Ethiopia (Herodotus), or Arabia (Diodorus Siculus).
Later Life When Dionysus grew up, he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice; but Hera struck him with madness, and drove him forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth. In Phrygia the goddess Cybele, 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 to India, which is said to have lasted several years. According to a legend, when Alexander the Great reached a city called Nysa near the Indus river, the locals said that their city was founded by Dionysus in the distant past and their city was dedicated to the god Dionysus. Returning in triumph he undertook to introduce his worship into Greece, but was opposed by some princes who dreaded its introduction on account of the disorders and madness it brought with it (e.g. Pentheus or Lycurgus).Dionysus was exceptionally attractive. One of the Homeric hymns recounts how, while disguised as a mortal sitting beside the seashore, a few sailors spotted him, believing he was a prince. They attempted to kidnap him and sail him far away to sell for ransom or into slavery. They tried to bind him with ropes, yet no rope could hold him. Dionysus turned into a fierce lion and unleashed a bear on board, killing those he came into contact with. Those who jumped off the 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. In a similar story, Dionysus desired to sail from Icaria to Naxos. He then hired a Tyrrhenian pirate ship. However, when the god was on board, they sailed not to Naxos but to Asia, intending to sell him as a slave. So Dionysos 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.
Pentheus Pentheus was the king of Thebes at the time of Dionysos' worship. During his reign, no one in Thebes was allowed to worship Dionysos. Pentheus doubted Dionysos' divinity. He thought the person he was dealing with was not a god. So Dionysos made him pay: in disguise, he led Pentheus onto a mountain where a religious cermony was taking place and had him watch from up on a tree. Dionysus' followers mistook Pentheus for a wild animal and Pentheus was torn to pieces as part of their ritual. When Dionysos was satisfied that Pentheus was gone, he brought his followers back to their senses.
The Giant War Despite merely being the god of wine, Dionysus fought in the Giant War. While Eurytos was the only one of the Gigantes Dionysus killed (which he did with his thyrsos) he did wound some of them and kill several of their allies such as the Gegenees (Earthborn). Dionysus also slowed down other Gigantes.
