Dionysus

* Regular
* Orphic
* Mycenaean
* OSPR1
* OSPR2
* OSPR3

In Greek mythology **Dionysus** (Ancient Greek Διόνυσος, *Diónysos*, the Dio- part meaning "of Zeus") is the Greek god of the grape harvest, wine making and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theater and religious ecstasy.

His Roman counterpart is the god Liber, often called Bacchus after himself.

## Miscellaneous Myths

### God of Wine and Rebirth

Dionysus is known to be the son of Zeus and Semele. Zeus came to Semele in the night, invisible, felt only as a divine presence. Semele was pleased to be a lover of a god, even though she did not know which one. Word soon got around, and Hera quickly assumed who was responsible. Coming to Semele in disguise, Hera convinced her she should see her lover as he really was. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted, and he agreed. Therefore, he came to her wreathed in bolts of lightning; mortals, however, could not look upon an undisguised god without dying, and she perished in the ensuing blaze. Zeus rescued the unborn Dionysus by sewing him into his thigh.

However, when he was born, Dionysus was unsafe on Olympus on account of Hera so Zeus decided to hide him in the mortal world. When Dionysus grew up, he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice, being the first to do so; but Hera struck him with madness, and drove him forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth. Although the goddess 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.

Another legend that details a part of his story is where he disguised as a mortal sitting beside the seashore, and 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, yet no rope could hold him. Dionysus turned into a fierce lion, turning the mast and ores into snakes, and filling the ship with ivy and the sound of flutes, while killing those he came into contact with. The sailors that survived were frightened or maddened by the spectacle and those who jumped off the ship were mercifully turned into dolphins.

### Bacchae

In the Bacchae, Dionysus is portrayed in a more cold-hearted light. Upon returning to Greece, Dionysus returns to his birthplace, Thebes, which is ruled by his cousin Pentheus. Pentheus, as well as his mother Agave and his aunts Ino and Autonoe, disbelieve Dionysus' divine birth. Despite the warnings of the blind prophet Tiresias, they deny him worship and denounce him for inspiring the women of Thebes to madness.

Dionysus uses his divine powers to drive Pentheus insane, then invites him to spy on the ecstatic rituals of the Maenads, in the woods of Mount Cithaeron. Pentheus, hoping to witness a sexual orgy, hides himself in a tree. The Maenads spot him; maddened by Dionysus, they take him to be a mountain-dwelling lion and attack him with their bare hands. Pentheus' aunts and his mother Agave are among them, and they rip him limb from limb. Agave mounts his head on a pike and takes the trophy to her father Cadmus. The madness passes. Dionysus arrives in his true, divine form, banishes Agave and her sisters, and transforms Cadmus and his wife Harmonia into serpents. Only Tiresias is spared.

### Aphrodite’s Affair

In the video, Dionysus is briefly seen telling Artemis and Athena that he thinks Hephaestus wants them to look at Ares’ butt.

## Gallery

* Mycenean Dionysus
* Horned Dionysus
* Zagreus, a deity that DIonysus absorbed
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