Dionysus is the god of wine, vegetation, celebration, ecstasy and theatre. He stands for the power of nature reborn and release from everyday rules. To the Romans he was Bacchus, hence the word bacchanal.
Twice-born
His mother was Semele, a mortal princess of Thebes loved by Zeus. Jealous Hera persuaded her to ask Zeus to appear in all his divine splendour: Zeus came with his thunderbolts and Semele was burned to ashes. Zeus saved the unborn child and sewed him into his own thigh, from which he was born at the right time. That is why Dionysus is called "the twice-born". He was raised by nymphs on Mount Nysa and by old Silenus.
Journey and return
As a young man Dionysus travelled as far as Egypt, Syria and India, spreading the cultivation of the vine. He returned to Greece followed by a joyful procession of Maenads, or Bacchae, women possessed by the god, and Satyrs, half men and half goats, carrying the thyrsus, a staff decorated with ivy and pine cones.
Main myths
- The Tyrrhenian pirates: pirates kidnapped him thinking he was a prince they could sell. Vines and ivy grew over the ship, Dionysus became a lion, and the terrified pirates leapt into the sea and were turned into dolphins.
- Pentheus: the king of Thebes refused to recognise him as a god. Dionysus led him to spy on the Bacchae on the mountain, where the frenzied women tore him to pieces, thinking he was an animal. This is the plot of Euripides's Bacchae.
- Ariadne: abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos, the Cretan princess was found by Dionysus, who married her and gave her a crown later turned into the constellation of the Northern Crown.
- King Midas: to thank him for sheltering Silenus, Dionysus granted Midas a wish. The king asked that everything he touched turn to gold, but soon he could neither eat nor drink, and had to bathe in the river Pactolus to be rid of the gift.
Dionysus and theatre
In Athens, during the spring City Dionysia, contests of tragedies and comedies were held in the theatre of Dionysus, at the foot of the Acropolis: Western theatre grew from these rites. Actors' masks were a symbol of the god.
See also the twelve Olympians and Greek wine.