Dionysus or Dionysos (Ancient Greek: Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman Liber), the Greek god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficial influences. He was also known as BacchusIn Greek "both votary and god are called Bacchus." (Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985:162, noting, for the initiate, Euripides, ''Bacchantes''.491, for the god, who alone is ''Dionysus'', Sophocles ''Oedipus the King''.211 and Euripides ''Hippolytus''.560. and the frenzy he induces, ''bakcheia''. ''Bacchus'' is "manifestly non-Greek," Burkert asserts (1985:163). He is viewed as the promoter of civilization, a lawgiver, and lover of skeptic — as well as the patron deity of agriculture and the theatre. He was also known as the Liberator (''Eleutherios''), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine.Sutton, p.2, mentions Dionysus as The Liberator in relation to the City Dionysia festivals. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry.Fox, p.221, "The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the flute and to bring surcease to care"; Fox then cites Euripides as a direct source for this statement. Euripedes, ''Bacchae'', Choral II, lines 379-381: "370 Holiness, queen of the gods, Holiness, who bear your golden wings along the earth, do you hear these words from Pentheus? Do you hear his unholy 375 insolence against Bromius, the child of Semele, the first deity of the gods at the banquets where guests wear beautiful garlands? 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 385 the goblet sheds sleep over men." http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Eur.+Ba.+370 There is also an aspect of Dionysus on his relationship to the "cult of the souls", and the scholar Xavier Riu writes that Dionysus presided over communication between the living and the dead.Riu, Xavier, ''Dionysism and Comedy'', Chapter 4, Happiness and the Dead, p.105, "Dionysus presides over communications with the Dead".

In Greek mythology Dionysus is made to be the son of Zeus and Semele; other versions of the story contend that he is the son of Zeus and Persephone. He is described as being womanly or "man-womanish".

The name ''Dionysos'' is of uncertain significance; its ''-nysos'' element may well be non-Greek in origin, but its ''dio-'' element has been associated since antiquity with Zeus (genitive ''Dios''). Nysa, for Greek writers, is either the nymph who nursed him, or the mountain where he was attended by several nymphs (the Nysiads), who fed him and made him immortal as directed by Hermes. Or both.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".

The retinue of Dionysus was called the Thiasus and comprised chiefly Maenads.

Worship

The above contradictions suggest to some that we are dealing not with the historical memory of a cult that is foreign, but with a god in whom foreignness is inherent. And indeed, Dionysus's name is found on Mycenean Linear B tablets as "DI-WO-NI-SO-JO",Adams, John Paul. Professor of Classics, California State University, Northridge, 2005, ''Dionysos'' website. http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/dionysos.html and KerenyiKerenyi 1976. traces him to Minoan Crete, where his Minoan name is unknown but his characteristic presence is recognizable. Clearly, Dionysus had been with the Greeks and their predecessors a long time, and yet always retained the feel of something alien.

The bull, the serpent, the ivy and wine are the signs of the characteristic Dionysian atmosphere, infused with the unquenchable life of the god. Their numinous presence signifies that the god is near. (Kerenyi 1976). Dionysus is strongly associated with the satyrs, centaurs, and the sileni. Dionysus is often shown riding a leopard, wearing a leopard skin, or in a chariot drawn by panthers and has been called the god of cats and savagery.He may be recognized by the thyrsus he carries. Besides the grapevine and its wild barren alter-ego, the toxic ivy plant, both sacred to him, the fig was also his. The pinecone that tipped his thyrsus linked him to Cybele, and the pomegranate linked him to Demeter. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus. Initiates worshipped him in the Dionysian Mysteries, which were comparable to and linked with the Orphic Mysteries, and may have influenced Gnosticism.

Bacchanalia

:''Main article: Bacchanalia''

Introduced into Rome (c. 200 BC) from the Greek culture of lower Italy or by way of Greek-influenced Etruria, the bacchanalia were held in secret and attended by women only, on three days in the year in the grove of Simila near the Aventine Hill, on March 16 and 17. Subsequently, admission to the rites were extended to men and celebrations took place five times a month. The notoriety of these festivals, where many kinds of crimes and political conspiracies were supposed to be planned, led in 186 BC to a decree of the Senate — the so-called ''Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus'', inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Calabria (1640), now at Vienna — by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the Senate. In spite of the severe punishment inflicted on those found in violation of this decree, the Bacchanalia were not stamped out, at any rate in the south of Italy, for a very long time.
(See: Further Reading below for an ancient description of the banned Bacchanalia)

Dionysus is equated with both Bacchus and Liber (also Liber Pater). Liber ("the free one") was a god of fertility and growth, married to Libera. His festival was the Liberalia, celebrated on March 17, but in some myths the festival was also held on March 5.

Appellations

Dionysus sometimes has the epithet Acratophorus, by which he was designated as the giver of unmixed wine, and worshipped at Phigaleia in Arcadia.Pausanias, viii. 39. § 4{{Citation
| last = Schmitz
| first = Leonhard
| author-link = Leonhard Schmitz
| contribution = Acratophorus
| editor-last = Smith
| editor-first = William
| title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
| volume = 1
| pages = 14
| publisher =
| place = Boston, MA
| year = 1867
| contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0023.html }} In Sicyon he was worshiped by the name Acroreites.Stephanus of Byzantium, ''s.v.'' As Bacchus, he carried the Latin epithet Adoneus, "Ruler".Ausonius, ''Epigr.'' xxix. 6 Aegobolus, "goat killer", was the name under which he was worshiped at Potniae in Boeotia.Pausanias, ix. 8. § 1. Another epithet was Bromios, "the thunderer" or "he of the loud shout". As Dendrites, "he of the trees", he is a powerful fertility god. Dithyrambos ("he of the double door") is sometimes used to refer to him or to solemn songs sung to him at festivals; the name refers to his premature birth. Eleutherios ("the liberator") was an epithet for both Dionysus and Eros. Other forms of the god as that of fertility include the epithet in Samos and Lesbos Enorches ("with balls"Kerenyi 1976:286. or perhaps "in the testicles" in reference to Zeus' sewing the babe Dionysus into his thigh, i.e., his testicles).Jameson 1993, 53. Cf.n16 for suggestions of Devereux on "Enorkhes". Evius is an epithet of his used prominently in ''The Bacchae''. Iacchus, possibly an epithet of Dionysus, is associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; in Eleusis, he is known as a son of Zeus and Demeter. The name "Iacchus" may come from the iakchos, a hymn sung in honor of Dionysus. With the epithet Liknites ("he of the winnowing fan") he is a fertility god connected with the mystery religions. A winnowing fan was similar to a shovel and was used to separate the chaff from the grain. In addition, Dionysus is known as Lyaeus ("he who releases") as a god of relaxation and freedom from worry. As Oeneus, he is the god of the wine-press.

In the Greek pantheon, Dionysus (along with Zeus) absorbs the role of Sabazios, a Phrygian deity, whose name means "shatterer" and to whom shattered pottery was sacrificed (probably to prevent other pottery from being broken during firing). In the Roman pantheon, Sabazius became an alternate name for Bacchus.

Birth

Dionysus had an unusual birth. That evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was Semele (daughter of Cadmus), a mortal woman, and his father Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus's wife, Hera, a jealous and vain goddess, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant. Appearing as an old crone (in other stories a nurse), Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her husband was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he agreed. Mortals, however, cannot look upon a god without dying. He came to her wreathed in bolts of lightning and she perished in the ensuing blaze. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus, however, by sewing him into his thigh (referred as his testicles). A few months later, Dionysus was born. In this version, Dionysus is borne by two mothers (Semele and Zeus) before his birth, hence the epithet ''dimetor'' (two mothers) associated with "twice-born".

In another version of the same story, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Persephone, the queen of the underworld. A jealous Hera again attempted to kill the child, this time by sending Titans to rip Dionysus to pieces after luring the baby with toys. Zeus drove the Titans away with his thunderbolts, but only after the Titans ate everything but the heart, which was saved, variously, by Athena, Rhea, or Demeter. Zeus used the heart to recreate him in the womb of Semele, hence he was again "the twice-born". Sometimes people said that he gave Semele the heart to eat to impregnate her. The rebirth in both versions of the story is the primary reason he was worshipped in mystery religions, as his death and rebirth were events of mystical reverence. This narrative was apparently used in certain Greek and Roman mystery religions. Variants of it are found in Callimachus and Nonnus, who refer to this Dionysus under the title Zagreus, and also in several fragmentary poems attributed to Orpheus.

Early life

The legend goes that Zeus gave the infant Dionysus into the charge of Hermes. One version of the story is that Hermes took the boy 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.Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes. ISBN 0674991354, ISBN 0674991362 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.

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. 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. (See King Pentheus or Lycurgus.)

As a young man, Dionysus was exceptionally attractive. Once, 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, but no type of rope could hold him. Dionysus turned into a fierce lion and unleashed a bear onboard, 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. But when the god was on board, they sailed not to Naxos but to Asia, intending to sell him as a slave. So Dionysus 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. Others say that Dionysus came on board after these sailors, having leapt ashore, captured him, stripped him of his possessions, and tied him with ropes they had almost succeeded.

Pentheus

Euripides wrote a tale concerning the destructive nature of Dionysus in his play entitled ''The Bacchae''. Since Euripides wrote this play while in the court of King Archelaus of Macedon, some scholars believe that the cult of Dionysus was malicious in Macedon but benign in Athens. In the play, Dionysus returns to his birthplace, Thebes, ruled by his cousin, Pentheus. He wanted to exact revenge on the women of Thebes, his aunts Agave, Ino and Autonoe and his cousin Pentheus, for not believing his mother Semele when she said she had been impregnated by Zeus, and for denying that Dionysus was a god and therefore not worshipping him. The female worshippers of Dionysus were known as Maenads, who often experienced divine ecstasy. Pentheus was slowly driven mad by the compelling Dionysus, and lured to the woods of Mount Cithaeron to see the Maenads. When the women spied Pentheus, they tore him to pieces like they did earlier in the play to a herd of cattle. Brutally, his head was torn off by his mother Agave as he begged for his life.

Prosymnus

A better-known story is that of his descent to Hades to rescue his mother Semele. He made the descent from a reputedly bottomless pool on the coast of the Argolid near the prehistoric site of Lerna. He was guided by Prosymnus or Polymnus, who requested, as his reward, to be Dionysus' lover. Prosymnus died before Dionysus could honor his pledge, so in order to satisfy the shade of his Erastes the god fashioned a phallus from an olive branch and sat on it at Prosymnus' tomb.Clement of Alexandria, ''Protreptikos,'' II-30 3-5 This tradition was widely known but treated as a secret not to be divulged to those not privy to the god's mysteries. It was the source of the custom of parading wooden phalloi at the god's festivities. Whitney Davis, "Wax Tokens of Libido: William Hamilton, Richard Payne Knight, and the Phalli of Isernia," in Roberta Panzanelli, ed., ''Waxing Bodies: Wax Images in the
History of Art'' (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, forthcoming)This story is told in full only in Christian sources (whose aim was to discredit pagan mythology). It appears to have served as an explanation of the secret objects that were revealed in the Dionysian Mysteries. Hyginus, ''Astronomy'' 2.5; Arnobius, ''Against the Gentiles'' 5.28

Parallels with Christianity

Dionysian mythology had a strong influence on the gospel, as Martin Hengel points out: "Dionysus had been at home in Palestine for a long time". But it was most likely not simply a "borrowed story", but rather a reaction to the commonly known Dionysian culture. There are especially many parallels between Dionysus and Jesus; both were born by a virgin mortal (although ''virgo'' was initially a social status, not a biological one),but fathered by the king of heaven, to have returned from the dead, to have transformed water into wine(the wine in antiquity was thicker than today, and usually mixed with water, otherwise it was as thick as blood; the parallels to are eg. Ovidius, Met. 3.690-691,and 6.488: "et Bacchus in auro ponitur" where the god is made identical with the wine) and to have been liberator of mankind. The modern scholar Barry Powell also argues that Christian notions of eating and drinking "the flesh" and "blood" of Jesus were influenced by the cult of Dionysus. Dionysus was also distinct among Greek gods, as a deity commonly felt ''within'' individual followers. In a less benign example of possible influence on Christianity, Dionysus' followers, as well as another god, Pan, are said to have had the most influence on the modern view of Satan as animal-like and horned.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. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the story of Jesus turning water into wine is only found in the Gospel of John, which differs on many points from the other Synoptic Gospels. That very passage, a Bible commentator suggests, was incorporated into the Gospel from an earlier source focusing on Jesus' miracles.''The HarperCollins Study Bible.'' New Revised Standard Version. With the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. London, UK: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1993. John might also have referred in the marriage of Kana to Dionysus on purpose, in order to emphasize the legitimacy of Jesus, eg. by saying that Jesus could turn water into wine, which Dionysus never did (who, however, had invented wine pressing in the first place).

Modern views

In his book ''The Birth of Tragedy'', the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche contrasted Dionysus with the god Apollo as a symbol of the fundamental, unrestrained aesthetic principle of force, music, and intoxication versus the one of sight, reason, form, and beauty represented by the latter. The two remain intrinsically related and dependent upon one another in an endless state of conflict.

The Canadian rock band Rush also highlight a confrontation between Dionysus and Apollo in the Cygnus X-1 duology. The song details a people who are ruled alternately by the truth-seeking Apollo, who advocates reason and the passion-seeking Dionysus, who advocates love and liberty. The population suffers when following the sole doctrine of either god.

The Russian poet and philosopher Vyacheslav Ivanov elaborated the theory of Dionysianism, which traces the roots of literary art in general and the art of tragedy in particular to ancient Dionysian mysteries. His views were expressed in the treatises ''The Hellenic Religion of the Suffering God'' (1904), and ''Dionysus and Early Dionysianism'' (1921).

Inspired by James Frazer, some have labeled Dionysus a life-death-rebirth deity. The mythographer Karl Kerenyi devoted much energy to Dionysus over his long career; he summed up his thoughts in ''Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' (Bollingen, Princeton) 1976.

Dionysus is the main character of Aristophanes' play ''The Frogs'', later updated to a modern version by Stephen Sondheim ("The time is the present; The place is ancient Greece"). In the play, Dionysus and his slave Xanthius venture to Hades to bring a famed writer back from the dead, with the hopes that the writer's presence in the world will fix all nature of earthly problems. In Aristophanes' play, Euripides competes against Aeschylus to be recovered from the underworld; In Sondheim's, George Bernard Shaw faces William Shakespeare.

Rock star Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, often compared himself to (and was compared to by others) Dionysus. It was Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek who made the comparison first, and in turn Jim called Ray Apollo. Similarities between Morrison and Dionysus include love of song, wine, women, and a sense of poetry. Dionysus ended up becoming one of Morrison's nicknames.

In the foreword, Grant Morrison says that the myth of Dionysus provides the inspiration for his violent and explicit graphic novel ''Kill Your Boyfriend'', about a young girl who is seduced by an older boy into killing her boyfriend and running away to Blackpool.

A nomadic cricket team in London, England is called the Bacchanalians Dricket and Crinking Club, in honour of Dionysus, or Bacchus.

The first Walt Disney portrayal of Dionysus was in the "Pastoral" segment of Walt Disney's 3rd classic ''Fantasia''. He is portrayed as an overweight drunk man who rides a drunken unicorn; wears a tunic and cloak, and grape leaves on his head; and carries a goblet of wine. He is friends with the fauns and centaurs, and is shown celebrating a harvest festival.

Dionysus appeared in both the Disney movie and spin-off TV series of Hercules. He was depicted as an overweight drunkard as opposed to his youthful descriptions in myths. He has bright pink skin and rosey red cheeks hinting at his problems with alcoholism. He always carries either a bottle or glass of wine in his hand, and like in the myths, wears a wreath of grape leaves upon his head. He is known by his roman name in the series 'Bacchus', and in one episode headlines his own festival known as the 'Bacchanal'.

In the MMORPG ''Runescape'', the true name of the elusive Wise Old Man is thought to be Dionysus. This is discovered by the player during the Swan Song quest in which the player must recruit the Wise Old Man to help rescue a fishing colony. During this quest, a book may be retrieved from the desk of the leader of the fishing colony which details the exploits of Dionysus, which the fishing colony leader has been reading in search of aid. Also, in certain letters to the Wise Old Man in the monthly newsletter, the Postbag From The Hedge, the Wise Old Man signs his name as D. which could indicate Dionysus is his true name.

Dionysius (together with Demeter) was used as an archetype for the character Tori by contemporary artist Tori Amos in her 2007 album ''American Doll Posse''. Amos created five personalities for the album, each representing a different Greek god or goddess.

In Rick Riordan's series of books ''Percy Jackson & The Olympians'', Dionysus apears as a uncaring, childish and spoilt god who as a punishment has to work in Camp Half-Blood.

In Fred Saberhagen's 2001 novel, ''God of the Golden Fleece,'' a young man in a post-apocalyptic world picks up an ancient piece of technology shaped in the likeness of the Dionysus. The technology gives him the appearance and powers of the ancient god, including his ability to summon a chariot harnessed to leopards, create a bacchanalia, and heal. Dionysus is depicted as a relatively weak god in the novel, but a subversive one whose powers are able to undermine the authority of tyrants.

References

(US ISBN 0-89236-742-3)

Farnell, Lewis Richard, ''The Cults of the Greek States'', 1896. Volume V, cf. Chapter IV, ''Cults of Dionysos''; Chapter V, ''Dionysiac Ritual''; Chapter VI, ''Cult-Monuments of Dionysos''; Chapter VII, ''Ideal Dionysiac Types''.

Fox, William Sherwood, ''The Mythology of All Races'', v.1, ''Greek and Roman'', 1916, General editor, Louis Herbert Gray.

Jameson, Michael. "The Asexuality of Dionysus." ''Masks of Dionysus''. Ed. Thomas H. Carpenter and Christopher A. Faraone. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1993. ISBN 0-8014-8062-0. 44-64.

Kerényi, Karl, ''Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'', (Princeton: Bollingen) 1976.

Pickard-Cambridge, Arthur, ''The Theatre of Dionysus at Athens'', 1946.

Powell, Barry B., "Classical Myth," 5th edition, 2007. ISBN

Ridgeway, William, ''Origin of Tragedy'', 1910. Kessinger Publishing (June 2003). ISBN 0-7661-6221-4.

Ridgeway, William, ''The Dramas and Dramatic Dances of non-European Races in special reference to the origin of Greek Tragedy, with an appendix on the origin of Greek Comedy'', 1915.

Riu, Xavier, ''Dionysism and Comedy'', Rowman and Littlefield Publishers (1999). ISBN 0-8476-9442-9. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2000/2000-06-13.html

Smith, William, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', 1870, article on Dionysus, http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1052.html

Sutton, Dana F., ''Ancient Comedy'', Twayne Publishers (August 1993). ISBN 0-8057-0957-6.