Dionysos
• "Dionysos, who is in fact a god, the most
terrible and yet most mild to men." Euripides, Bacchae 863
• "Fragrant in hair with golden curls, having
in his eyes the wine-dark graces of
Aphrodite." - Euripides, Bacchae 230
Semele
• "And Semele, daughter of Kadmos ...
[bare] Dionysos, - a mortal woman an
immortal son. And now they both are
gods." - Hesiod, Theogony 940
• "He [Dionysos] retrieved his mother from
Hades’ realm, gave her the name Thyone,
and escorted her up to the sky." Apollodorus, The Library 3.38
Proto-Apulian Red-figure volute krater from Ceglie del Campo,
Late 5th - Early 4th c. BCE. Museo Nazionale, Taranto.
Attic Red-figure bell krater by the Altamura Painter, c. 460 BCE. Ferrara.
(relief decoration of scaenae frons of Roman theater in Perge,
Asia Minor) mid-2nd cent. C.E.
Hermes and Dionysus ca 330 BC
Roman copy after a statue attributed to Lysippos, original ca 310-300 BC
Dionysos (Pella, Macedonia, c. 300BCE)
Delos. House of Dionysos
Michelangelo's
Dyonisos
1497
Leader of coral dance
• The Orphic Hymn 46 invokes the god with
this words:
• “Oh, thou leader of the choral dance of
the fire-breathing stars, lord of the songs
of the night, child sprung from Zeus,
appear, sovereign, with the women who
attend thee, their king Iakchos!”.
Appear!
• "In the mountains ... the leader of the dance is
Bromios, euhoi! The plain flows with milk, it
flows with wine, it flows with the nectar of bees.
Bakkheus, raising the flaming torch of pine on
his thyrsos, like the smoke of Syrian incense,
darts about, arousing the wanderers with his
racing and dancing, agitating them with his
shouts, casting his rich locks into the air. And
among the Mainades cries his voice rings deep."
• - Euripides, Bacchae 135
With Thyrus – Thyrsus 5th century BC
Attic Red-figure kylix by Makron, c. 480 BCE. Charlottenburg, Berlin.
The wine
• "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 grapeclusters - the god thus being considered
as having been born once from the
earth and again from the vine." Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 3.62.5
The wine
• "Let us be merry and drink wine and sing of
Bakkhos [Dionysos] , the inventor of the choral
dance, the lover of all songs,
• leading the same life as the Erotes (Loves), the
darling of Kythere [Aphrodite as goddess of
pleasure]; thanks to him Methe (Drunkeness)
was brought forth, the Kharis (Grace) was born,
Lupa (Pain) takes rest and Ania (Trouble) goes
to sleep." –
• Greek Lyric II The Anacreontea, Frag 38
Ikarius
• "When Father Liber [Dionysos] went out to visit men in order to
demonstrate the sweetness and pleasantness of his fruit, he came
to the generous hospitality of Icarius and Erigone. To them he
gave a skin full of wine as a gift and bade them spread the use
of it in all the other lands. Loading a wagon, Icarius with his
daughter Erigone and a dog Maera came to shepherds in the land of
Attica, and showed them the kind of sweetness wine had. The
shepherds, made drunk by drinking immoderately, collapsed,
and thinking that Icarius had given them some bad medicine,
killed him with clubs. The dog Maera, howling over the body of the
slain Icarius, showed Erigone where her father lay unburied. When
she came there, she killed herself by hanging in a tree over the
body of her father. Because of this, Father Liber [Dionysos]
afflicted the daughters of the Athenians with alike punishment.
They asked an oracular response from Apollo concerning this, and
he told them they had neglected he deaths of Icarius and Erigone.
At this reply they exacted punishment from the shepherds, and in
honour of Erigone instituted a festival day of swinging ." Hyginus Fabulae 130
Tree God
• Plutarch wrote that Dionysus is "the tree
god”. We know of a “tree-Dionisus”, of
whom Plutarch says he was worshipped
almost everywhere in Greece. In Boetia he
is called “he who lives and works in the
tree”. The “work” of Dionysus is expressed
in a fragment out of Pindar: ”May
Dionysus, rich in joys, make the tree to
prosper with the holy splendour of ripe
fruit”.
Wine: from health to madness
•
•
•
•
•
"Mnesitheus [Greek physician] said that the gods had revealed wine to
mortals, to be the greatest blessing for those who use it aright, but for
those who use it without measure, the reverse.
For it gives food to them that take it, and strength in mind and body. In
medicine it is most beneficial; it can be mixed with liquid drugs and it brings
aid to the wounded. In daily intercourse, to those who mix and drink it
moderately, it gives good cheer; but if you overstep the bounds, it
brings violence. Mix it half and half, and you get madness; unmixed,
bodily collapse.
The Delphic priestess, too, has directed certain persons to call Dionysos
Hygiates (Health-Giver). Euboulos makes Dionysos say: ‘Three bowls only
do I mix for the temperate – one toe health, which they empty first, the
second to love and pleasure, the third to sleep. When this is drunk up
wise guests go home.
The fourth bowl is our no longer, but belongs to violence the fifth to uproar,
the sixth to drunken revel, the seventh to black eyes. The eight is the
policeman’s, the ninth belongs to biliousness, and the tenth to madness
and hurling the furniture.
Too much wine, poured into one little vessel, easily knocks the legs
from under the drinkers." - Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 2.36a-b
The drunk wild beast
• ”they who have indulged too freely are
prone to violence … There are some
drinkers who become full of rage like a
bull … Some, also, become like wild
beasts in their desire to fight, whence the
likeness to a panther."
• Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 2.38e
Tree God
• Plutarch wrote that Dionysus is "the tree
god”. We know of a “tree-Dionisus”, of
whom Plutarch says he was worshipped
almost everywhere in Greece. In Boetia he
is called “he who lives and works in the
tree”. The “work” of Dionysus is expressed
in a fragment out of Pindar: ”May
Dionysus, rich in joys, make the tree to
prosper with the holy splendour of ripe
fruit”.
Dionysos and Ariadne on couch, with satyr. Archaic
Female nature
• Dionysus, warrior and hero, has something
female in his nature. Aeschylus call him “the
womanly one”, Euripides, “the womanly
stranger”.
• The Anacreon’s song reveal also his relation
with Aphrodite:
• “Oh Lord, whose playfellows are the mighty
Eros, and the dark-eyed nymphs and violet
Aphrodite!”.
Ariadne
• "[Theseus] carried off Ariadne [from Krete] and sailed
out unobserved during the night, after which he put in at
the island which at that time was called Dia, but is now
called Naxos. At this same time, the myths relate,
Dionysos showed himself on the island, and because of
the beauty of Ariadne he took the maiden away from
Theseus and kept her as his lawful wife, loving her
exceedingly. Indeed, after her death he considered
her worthy of immortal honours because of the
affection he had for her, and placed among the stars of
heaven the Crown of Ariadne." Source: Diodorus
Siculus, The Library of History 4.61.5
Dionysos persuing Ariadne. Late Archaic
Lykourgos
• King Lykourgos of Thrake attacked
Dionysos and his followers with a cattlewhip, driving them to seek refuge with
Thetis in the sea. Dionysos returned and
drove him to madness, dismembering his
own son, and eventually being slain by
wild beasts on Mt Pangaios.
Pentheus
• “They say that Pentheus [king of Thebes]
treated Dionysos spitefully, his crowning outrage
being that he went to Kithairon, to spy upon the
women, and climbing up a tree beheld what
was done.
• When the women detected Pentheus, they
immediately dragged him down, and joined in
tearing him, living as he was, limb from limb.
Afterwards ... the Pythian priestess
commanded them by an oracle to discover
that tree and to worship it equally with the
god." Source: Pausanias 2.2.6-"
Death of Pentheus
Attic Red-figure kylix, attributed to Douris, c. 480 BCE (from Athens).
Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth.
The Pirates
• “But soon strange things were seen among them. First
of all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming throughout all
the black ship … then ... the god changed into a
dreadful lion there on the ship, in the bows, and roared
loudly ... he showed his wonders and created a shaggy
bear which stood up ravening … suddenly the lion
sprang upon the master and seized him; and when
the sailors saw it they leapt out overboard one and all
into the bright sea, escaping from a miserable fate,
and were changed into dolphins."
• Source: Homeric Hymn 7 to Dionysus
Attic Black-figure kylix by Exekias, c. 540-535 BCE.
cup attributed to Exekias