According to Joseph Campbell,
author of The Hero With a
Thousand Faces...
• “Mythology is the song of
the universe: music so
deeply embedded in our
collective unconscious that
we dance to it even when
we don't know the tune.”
Dionysus
Targets: You should be able to:
Interpret the symbolic importance
of Dionysus.
Recognize and interpret allusions to
this character in literature, art, and
everyday life: cultural literacy.
Synthesize the symbolic elements
of the stories to draw the bigger
picture, a.k.a.: thematic importance
of the stories of Dionysus.
Targets, cont.
You should be able to articulate
the above understandings in
essay format on an
assessment item such as:
“Explain a theme you
understand from a study of
Dionysus that could benefit
today's society.”
Questions to Consider...
Why is Dionysus considered a
giver of the good gifts of
earth?
Explain the position of
Dionysus as a suffering god?
Why does this bring them
closer to humanity?
Explain the dual role of
Dionysus as the god of joy
and the god of savagery?
More Questions to Consider...
Explain Dionysus as a
symbol of resurrection.
What is the connection
between Dionysus and the
development of the Greek
Theater?
In what ways are the
lessons of Dionysus still
applicable in our culture
today?
Dionysus/Bacchus
One of the most celebrated gods by the
Greeks—eventually supplanted Hestia
as one of the twelve Olympians
The only god with a mortal parent
God of irrationality, intoxication, and
frenzy
God of fertility
He is literally the vine: wine
Promoter of civilization, lawgiver, and
lover of peace
Terms relevant to the study of
Dionysus
Dionysia—Greek festival in his
honor
Bacchanalia—Roman festival in his
honor
Maenads—female
followers:worshiped in the wild—
forests, etc.
Satyrs—half men/half goats that
traveled/reveled with Dionysus
Dionysians—followers of Dionysus
God of Complex Duality
Twice-Born
Both man and animal (can appear as a
bull or goat)
Both male and female qualities
Both young and old (can appear as a boy)
Both the social and beneficent influences
of wine and the violent and unpredictable
properties as well
Freedom and ecstatic joy and savage
brutality
Man's blessing and his ruin
Who Said?
Unmentioned by Homer or
Hesiod
Appeared in Greek Culture
around 1250 BCE
Transplant from ancient Near
East (Well...maybe?)
Most of what we know about the
Dionysus mythology comes from
Euripedes' The Bacchae (c. 407
BCE)
“Mankind...possesses
two
Euripides said what?
supreme blessings. First
of these is the goddess
Demeter, or Earth—
whichever name you
choose to call her by. It
was she who gave to man
his nourishment of
grain....
But after her there came the
sonEuripides
of Semele,said
who what?
matched
her present by inventing
liquid wine as his gift to man.
For filled with that good gift,
suffering mankind forgets its
grief; from it comes sleep
with it oblivion of the
troubles of the day. There is
no other medicine for mercy.”
Please recognize the symbolic
value
of
Wine?
the duality of the personality of
Dionysus/Wine
Both, in the right person/situation
were considered enjoyable in the
Greek culture
However, in the wrong situation, in the
wrong person it can be HIGHLY
destructive—destroying lives, families,
careers, friendships, etc. Agreed?
Also, the “escapism” properties—
remember Poe? Has it changed?
Dionysus: The Birth
Zeus came to the mortal Semele
disguised in the cover of
darkness
She became pregnant knowing
only that her baby was fathered
by a god
Hera Found out Zeus, madly in
love, had offered Semele
anything she wanted (start to
take note of madness in any
form, and think about it)
Dionysus: The Birth
Hera was jealous of pregnant Semele, so
she approached her in disguise as her aged
nurse Beroë (Noticing a symbolic trend? The
powerful disguising themselves and
manipulating the poor/naïve...my how times
have changed!)
Tricked Semele into asking Zeus (who must
not break a promise especially when he has
sworn on the river Styx) to reveal himself to
her in his true form (knowing that no mortal
can view an immortal in his/her true state)
Dionysus: The Birth
Zeus reluctantly agrees, and she
instantly burned to a crisp!
Dionysus was born of fire—think
about that.
Hermes quickly rescues Dionysus
from his dying mother and Zeus
stitches him into his own thigh
until he is ready to be born just
moments later!
Hence, “twice-born” (but it
comes up again—get it?)
Dionysus: The Birth
As with Hercules, Hera was not finished
messin’ with Zeus’ baby
Zeus knows his wife—he dresses the baby
as a girl (gender duality )to throw her off of
the trail—it doesn't work...
She sent the Titans to rip baby Dionysus to
7 pieces, cook and eat him.
Never fear, grandma-ma Rhea to the
rescue: she put him back together,
nay...resurrected him...more to follow
Plus, he WAS an immortal, right?
Dionysus: The Birth
After Hera's stunt, sent him to
live with his mortal aunt and
uncle.
Not good enough—Hera makes
them go mad: they kill their
children and themselves: filicide
& suicide
Zeus saves him and turns him
into a goat
Dionysus: The Birth
Most stories indicate Zeus arranged
to have him sent away to be raised
by mountain Nysæan nymphs
(recognize the story)
Some believe they were the Hyades
whom Zeus afterward placed in the
sky as stars, the stars which bring
rain when they near the horizon
So Dionysus born of fire, nursed by
rain much like the heat that ripens
the grape and the water that
nurtures it
Well look at him go…
Dionysus never knew Semele,
but he felt for her
He went to Hades, faced down
Thanatos, Death himself, and
made his mother the only
mortal to be brought
successfully out of Hades and
delivered to Olympus
Hera's torture continues...
When Dionysus is returned to human
form, Hera made him go mad
He wandered the Eastern world until
he met a goddess named Cybele
(some stories Rhea), a mother
goddess from Asia Minor (Phrygia)
Cybele cured Dionysus of his
madness and introduced him to all of
her secret rites
Finally coming into his own...
Not much is known about
Dionysus' young adulthood
(sound familiar?)
It is written that he wandered all
over Asia teaching men the
culture of the vine and the
mysteries of his worship
He was readily accepted and
followed until...
He returns home to Greece
First poor fella was
kidnapped, as he napped, by
some greedy sailors who
thought he was a lovely son
of a rich man or a king
Only one, Acetes, recognized
in him traits of an immortal
He begged them not to take
Dionysus, but “so blind is the
lust of gain...”
He returns home to Greece
Dionysus quickly requested that
the ship take him to his favorite
island, Naxos
He promised wealth and gratitude
for their service
The abductors had other plans
Sell him as a slave in Egypt
They should have guessed there
was a problem when their bonds
couldn't hold him...I'll let you
He returns home to Greece
Suddenly the ship stalls in the water,
engulfed in grape vines
They notice tiger, lynxes, and
panthers playing around Dionysus'
feet (in some versions he
himself<what type of pronoun is
himself?> turns into a lion)
He is holding a spear wreathed in ivy
And they all started turning into...
DOLPHINS!
He returns home to Greece
King Lycurgus was another fool
who insulted Dionysus on his way
through Thrace
Dionysus retreated temporarily in
the sea (read symbolism)
But later returned, overpowered
him and punished him for his
wickedness(read disrespect)
He returns home to Greece
He imprisoned him in a rocky cave
until his rage turned into
understanding what he had done
wrong—an immortal version of a
time-out.
Not enough you say... Zeus struck
him blind and he died soon after
Moral of the story? What happens
when you disrespect the powerful?
Message received?
He returns home to Greece
•
Romantic Time-Out
Theseus, who you'll read about
soon, had recently abandoned a
Cretan princess, Ariadne
She was in his favorite city,
Naxos
She was beautiful and needy
Dionysus took pity on her and
grew to love her.
He returns home to Greece
•
When Ariadne died,
Dionysus took her crown and
placed it among the stars—
still known as Corona
Borealis
He returns home to Greece
Dionysus arrives in Thebes to
establish his worship there
As was his tradition, a train of
singing, dancing, scantily clad
women mad with joy, accompanied
him
King Pentheus had no idea that the
man bringing all of this chaos to his
city was in fact his cousin—
everyone figured any child of
Semele's was toast along with her
Thebes...the drama continues
Prudish Pentheus didn't approve
of all of the reveling of the
Maenads and Dionysus
He ordered all of the revelers
arrested, especially the leader
Enter the paradoxical seeing blind
man...none other than the world
famous Teiresias, the holy man of
Thebes...
Thebes...the drama continues
Teiresias warned Pentheus of
Dionysus' identity
But because Teiresias was
dressed like a Dionysian, he
scoffed and blind (did you notice all
of the references to sight in this
chapter?) with anger spoke
harshly with Dionysus—denying
his immortal status
Thebian prison couldn't hold
Thebes...the
drama
continues
him—duh
He escaped and attempted once
again to convince Pentheus to
come to his way of thinking
No good, Pentheus was dead-set
(pardon the pun)
Pentheus went to hunt down the
women he objected to—they
were chillin' in the hills
(unbeknownst to him, his own
mother and sisters were among
the wild women)
The
most
heartless,
beastial,
and
Thebes...the
drama
continues
destructive forces of Dionysus are
unleashed in this revenge plot
The women, blinded in their worship,
see Pentheus and believe him to be a
wild animal—a mountain lion, and
they rushed on him, tore him limb
from limb
Pentheus, as he was attacked, is
reported to have understood his crime
Only after Pentheus was dead did the
women see what they had done—
moral of the story?
If Dionysus is in fact
the vine, then
Communion...
whenever man took to the cup, he
was in fact taking Dionysus in, and
therefore borrowing the divinity of
the god: his courage, merriment,
lack of fear of consequence, etc.
Unlike any other god, he was not
only outside of them—he was “in”
them and the divinity as well
Freeing men through drunkenness
led to freeing men through
inspiration, which led to...
The Festival of Dionysus
It happened for six days in the
Spring? Symbolic?
It was open to all the world; no
one was imprisoned, and
prisoners were released
No other festival in Greece
could compare: they were days
of perfect peace and
enjoyment
The location for such joy:
The
Festivalwasn't
of Dionysus
The ceremony
humble or
pious, it was the performance of
plays! But they were still sacred
acts of worship
The greatest poetry in Greece and
the world was written for Dionysus
who was assumed to be present—
his priest had the seat of honor
This notion of Dionysus as a muse
for great creativity and art solidified
his position as a most important
immortal
Some comedic plays were written
The
Festival
of
Dionysus
for him, but more importantly...
The first tragic plays were written
for Dionysus
Dionysus suffered great pain—as
the vine, he is torn apart after each
harvest, left alone through the
winter, but...
Just as he did when Hera had him
torn apart soon after birth, he rises
again in the spring
All of this pain and harm done to
him solidifies him as the tragic god.
The Greeks read hope of life after
The
Festival of Dionysus
suffering
They saw Dionysus' resurrection as
evidence that the soul lives on after
the body dies—kind of a human
perennial
Since, unlike Persephone, Dionysus'
only forray into the underworld was
to face-down death and retrieve his
mother, his resurrection was more
powerful in the Eleusinian Mysteries
as hope of life after death:
immortality
One last thought about Dionysus
and the theater...
If Dionysus' followers are
“possessed by him”
“not themselves at all”
Doesn't it make sense that
he would be the patron god
of an art form where actors
don “masks” or wear the
“faces of others”?
He’s kind of a big deal…
Dionysus was one of the most
important gods to the Greeks in
everyday life for several reasons
The first of which is his ability, shared
only by Demeter, to suffer
This suffering he endures year after
year gave the Greeks a sympathy for
him and made them feel that he,
unlike most immortals, could
understand how hard life was
You’re
darn right they’re all
Things to
Consider…
important!
Twice born…important?
Ripped to pieces and devoured like
the wine and vines at
harvest…important?
Resurrected…important?
Sent away as a baby to be raised into
manhood for his own
protection…important?
Lost years?
Child of deception and resentment?
Works Consulted
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces. New York: MJF Books,
1949. 26,81,130n, 142.
Davis, Kenneth C., Don't Know Much about Mythology. New York: Harper
Collins, 2005. 206-209
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1942. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998.
53-76.
The Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable. New York: Macmillan,
1997. 41-42, 120-124.
Vandiver, Elizabeth. “Hermes and Dionysos.” Classical Mythology Part I. The
Teaching Company. Course 241.