Dionysus

Dionysus is the god of wine. His Roman name is Bacchus. He was a promoter of civilization, a lawgiver, and lover of peace. His mission was to bring an end to care and worry and to let the flute be heard.

There are two different stories told of how Dionysus was born. Sometimes he is referred to as "twice born".
1. Zeus and Semele, a mortal heroine, were the mother and father to Dionysus. Zeus kills Semele with his lightning bold. Dionysus is still in his mothers womb when this takes place. Zeus rescues Dionysus and puts him in his thigh so he can finish developing. After he is born Zeus gives Dionysus to nymphs to be raised.
2. In the other version of the story, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. Hera gets the Titans to lure the baby with toys and ends up ripping him to shreds eating everything but his heart. Zeus remakes his son from the heart and then places him in Semele.

When Dionysus was grown he discovered wine. Hera made him go mad and he ended up wandering through the earth. In Phrygia the goddess Cybele helped him by teaching him religious rites. Once he was cured of his maddness; he went throughout Asia teaching the people how to make wine. During this time he was also spreading the cult he created and those who accepted him were rewarded with ecstasy and those who refused him were stricken with madness.

The worship of Dionysus was in our opinion crazy! His followers participated in orgia in which live animals would be torn apart and they would then eat the raw animals. The animals they used were usually a spotted fawn, goat, ox, or bull. The followers would wear animal skins and masks. The name of this is called the Omophagia and it was believed Dionysus would enter into the festival.

Dionysus is also believed to have rescued his mother Semele from the underworld. It is said that he took er to Olympus where she was called Thycne and she was worshipped there after.

Dionysus was an attractive man when he was young. There is a story told that says one day Dionysus disguised himself as a mortal and some sailors saw him and thought he was a prince. They figured they would capture him and sell him for ransom or if they could not do that then they could sell him into slavery. When they tried to tie him with ropes they found that no rope could hold him. he then turned into a lion and unleashed a bear onto the ship. Those that jumped overboard were turned into dolphins. The rest of the men were killed except Acoetes because he recognized Dionysus from the start and he had tried to talk the other sailors out of the idea of capturing him from the beginning.

Dionysus was married to Aricidne and they had many children. He fell in love with her when he saw her in the island of Naxos crying because Theseus left her.

Dionysus is not mentioned hardly at all in the Homeric epics; however, when he actually is it is with some hostility.

"The ram, the dolphin, the serpent, the tiger, the lion, the lynx, the panther, the ox, the goat and the ass are sacred to Dionysus; and his symbols were the phallus, the bull and the thyrsus. According to Forlong, the Greek letters I.H.S. were carved over his shrine".

We thought that Dionysus was very interesting and exciting to learn about. We found his rituals of worship quite disgusting and very wrong.

Stacy Therrell

Cheryl Jordan

Erica Gillie

Information from the following websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus

http://www.mythweb.com/gods/Dionysus_easy.html

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/dionysus.html

http://www.hermetic.com/sabazius/dionysus.htm