Dionysus

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Dionysus

Name Dionysus

God of Vine, Grape Harvest, Winemaking,

Wine, Ritual Madness, Religious
Ecstasy, Theaters, Drunkenness and
Fertility. Patron of Arts
Abode Mount Olympus

Symbol Thyrsus, Grapevine, Leopard Skin,

Panther, Tiger, Cheetah
Parents Zeus and Semele
Hades and Persephone (Zagreus)
 Zeus and Persephone (Orphic-
Dionysus)
Zeus and Demeter
Zeus and (Unnamed woman) (MYC-
Dionysus)
Ammon and Amaltheia (First
dionysus)
Siblings Hebe, Eileithyia, Ares, Enyo,
and Hephaistos and Aphrodite
Roman Bacchus, Liber
Name/s
Consort Ariadne

Children Thaos (Tauri

King), Staphylus, Priapus, Hyman
(God), Deianira
Oinopion

Dionysus is the god of the vine, grape harvest, winemaking, wine and ritual madness, religious ecstasy,
theaters and fertility. He is known as the patron of arts and is the son of Zeus and Semele, although in
some versions he is son of Hades (or Zeus) and Persephone, who also in some versions is his sister.

Contents
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Birth
Dionysus had an unusual birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon, as
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.
Although Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he eventually agreed. Mortals however
cannot look upon a god without dying and she perished. Zeus found an unborn Dionysus, and decided to
sew him in his thigh. A few months later Dionysus was born.
As Orphic-Dionysus/Zagreus
In another version of the same story Dionysus was a son of Zeus and Persephone the king of the
olympians and queen of the underworld, zeus disguised himself as a serpent and raped persephone which
led her being pregnant with orphic-dionysus, then dionysus was taken in to mount ida to be raised by the
dancing curetes. Zeus was planning on making orphic-dionysus in becoming king of olympus, but hera
heard about this and as livid as she is sent the titans to kill (Dismember) orphic-dionysus, while orphic-
dionysus was distracted with toys (and a mirror) the titans dismembered him, meanwhile in the process
the titans roasted, boiled and ate him raw of every body part of baby orphic-dionysus, however athena
managed to save the heart of orphic-dionysus then zeus gave the heart to semele so she can consume it
and give birth again to orphic-dionysus (He is seen sporting horns).
As Zagreus
In another version of the same story Dionysus was the son of Hades and persephone, there was not much
of zagreus' birth but it was stated that he had some relations to gaia (Possibly romantic/sexual) and being
the god of all gods (ONCE, possibly)
As Mycenaean Dionysus
Mycenaean Dionysus was the son of zeus and another woman (Not persephone or semele), MYC-
Dionysus was born but he was abandoned by civilization then raised by nature (which explains his wine
relations), in portrayal he is seen being much older and sporting a beard (Possibly horns).

Ariadne and Dionysus

In Minos and Theseus
Minos attacked athens because of the death of his son, the athenians decided to ask if they could
sacrifice seven young men and women to the minotaur (Ariadne's half-sibling) every seven (or nine)
years. One year when the sacrifice happened theseus decided and planned to kill the minotaur which
made ariadne fall head over heals for theseus, so ariadne decided to give theseus a sword and a ball of
thread (ariadne's thread) so he can find his way out of the minotaur's labyrinth, so in the meanwhile she
joined theseus on his journey but (in homer's) "theseus had no affection for her" Artemis hurt her in
seagirt Dia because she saw dionysus. (In odyssey) But other accounts stated that she was left behind in
an island by theseus or she was wounded by perseus but OCD (oxford classical dictionary) thought that
she was already married to dionysus while running away with theseus.

Naxos
Theseus abandoned Ariadne in naxos while she was asleep that was when dionysus found her and
married her (possibly because of her beauty) or Dionysus told theseus while they were sailing to crete to
abandon ariadne and marry her to himself which was possibly a common theme in Athenian culture (or
was a trope), to abandon ariadne while she's asleep, or theseus getting led by Athena to find the sleeping
ariadne.

Wedding
Depending on what version you chose of the story, dionysus married ariadne in constellation
called corona borealis. But then she bore their famous children, Oenopion, Staphylus and Thoas.
Death
Ariadne remained faithful to dionysus until she was killed by perseus in the argos (Or hanged herself in
other myths) but dionysus was determined to bring back his wife from the underworld, dionysus
descended to the underworld to find his wife but in the process saw his mother, (with the permission of
hades of course) he decided to take both his mother semele and wife to olympus and become goddesses
with him.