Alyssa Amonitti

Ancient Greece

1 December 2016

Dionysus

Dionysus, also referred to as Bacchus in Rome, was an Olympian God known as

the God of the Vine, meaning grape harvest. He was a symbol of many things including,

winemaking and wine, ritual madness, pleasure, religious ecstasy and theatre. Dionysus

was the son of Zeus and Semele, a daughter of the King of Thebes. He was worshipped

by the Mycenaean Greeks as early as 1500 - 100 BC, his name has been found on a

Linear B tablets found from this time. Overall he was seen as a nature God of

fruitfulness and vegetation, which would be extremely important in ancient times to

sustain a successful community. Depictions of the God vary from a bearded old man to

a man with long flowing hair, no facial hair and more feminine features.

The legend of Dionysus is an interesting one. Hera was never fond of her

husband, Zeus infidelity and would often find a way to punish the other woman. In this

case, she ordered Semele to stand in front of Zeus in his full glory. His lighting bolts

rained down upon her, killing her while she was pregnant with Dionysus. Zeus

recovered the child from the body of his dead mother and sewed him into his thigh in

order to carry him to full term himself.

Eventually, Hera found out that the child was still alive and when she found the

location of Dionysus she ordered Titans to kill him. They ripped him apart but he was

brought back to life by Rhea. Dionysus was born from Zeus thigh, he was entrusted
with the care of Seilenos and the nymphs of Mount Nysa. He was raised safely in Nysa

which was very far away from Olympus and wandered the Earth while spreading the

influence of his cult once he grew. Most gods have temples, but Dionysus was

worshiped in the woods by his followers, which is appropriate because he is the god of

vegetation and fruitfulness. The worshipers would go into a state of madness and

sometimes rip apart wild animals and eat them raw.

Eventually, Dionysus grew into a man and no longer need constant protection.

He wandered the Earth beyond the walls of Greece and began to understand the

influence of wine. He taught people how to grow and foster grape vines and brought

them into his cult. In his cult, he was also worshiped as a fertility god. Phallic

processions were often used to celebrate Dionysus. Dionysus had a number of lovers in

his lifetime, and each story is different. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty had a

brief love affair with Dionysus which resulted in her giving birth to an ugly child because

Hera cursed her for her infidelity.

Aura, the virgin Titan goddess of the breeze was raped by Dionysus after she

was made very intoxicated. She was impregnated with twins, she ate one out of anger

and the other child was saved by the gods. Dionysus is recorded for raping one other

woman, named Nikaia, a Nymph.Dionysus loved a number of mortal woman. One of his

great loves was named Althaia. She was the queen of Kalydon in Aitolia which is

located in central Greece. He willingly seduced her with her husband knowing and gave

her a daughter. Ariadne, also know as Dionysus immortal wife gave him many sons.

Demeter, the Goddess of the Corn, agriculture and motherly love roamed the

Earth with Dionysus as deities of the Earth, which is ironic because they were often very
hostile towards humans. Together, they were the Gods of the Earth and each of them

represented vegetation and growing prosperity. They are both known for being

emotional and having human emotions. Demeter had one daughter named Persephone.

She was a very happy child that enjoyed walking through flowers and glowed with a

radiant beauty like no other. She was so stunning that even Hades, the God of the

Underworld noticed her astonishing features. As the goddess of motherly love, Demeter

loved Persephone more than anything.

One day, Persephone was gracefully walking through a field of flowers away

from her mother. Hades saw this as an opportunity and opened a hole in the field that

dragged Persephone down into the underworld. Her screams alerted her mother but it

was too late to rescue her from the grasp of Hades. Demeter was filled with rage and

sadness, as her most prized possession was taken from her and sent to a very literal

Hell. Out of of grief for her lost daughter, she made nothing grow and traveled the Earth

to ask gods if they saw anything the day her Persephone disappeared. The Sun God,

Helios, witnessed Hades dragging Persephone down to the Underworld and informed

Demeter of the tragedy upon her arrival.

She heard the news and was immediately furious with Zeus, her brother, for not

doing anything. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, traveled to the Underworld to

rescue Persephone. He was successful and brought her back to Olympus safely. It was

soon discovered that while Persephone was in the Underworld, she ate six

pomegranate seed which meant she would be ordered to stay in the Underworld for six

months of the year. While Persephone is safely in Olympus, Demeter is filled with joy

and the world flourishes with crops and vegetation and while Persephone is in the
Underworld, nothing grows. This myth was used to explain the four seasons. Together

Dionysus and Demeter were the gods of the Earth.

Eventually, Dionysus was invited to Olympus to be a god. Hera and her perpetual

jealousy was furious and resistant. Zeus commanded her to be silent and allowed

Dionysus into Olympus as a god. Hestia, the goddess of the heart gave up her throne

for Dionysus to have a spot in Olympus. Even once Dionysus had a throne in Olympus

he did not live there, but continued to endlessly travel the Earth. The Greek God of

Wine and Madness is an interesting one and his story even more so.

http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/DionysosLoves.html
http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/The_Wanderings_of_Dionysu

s/the_wanderings_of_dionysus.html
http://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Dionysus/dionysus.html
http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/things/holidays/thanksgiving/twogreat.htm