Dionysus

**Dionysus** is the Greek god of the vine, grape-harvest, wine-making, wine, fertility, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.

## Overview

Dionysus was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and Semele, the daughter Cadmus and Harmonia. Hera, the wife of Zeus, noticed the pregnant mortal and traveled to her in the guise of an old woman, asking whether it was true that her lover was the king of the gods and proposed that if Zeus wanted to prove himself, he should reveal his divine form to her. When Semele later asked Zeus to do this, he agreed, but in the process also incinerated to death. Luckily the foetus of Dionysus survived and Zeus decided to sow it to his own thigh in order to grow.

Despite this, Hera was still angry at the situation and the soon-born Dionysus would have to be smuggled across the ancient world in order to keep him safe from her wrath. He was first raised by Semele's sister Ino and her husband Athamas, but both were driven into madness and death by Hera for raising the young god. He then traveled across the Mediterranean, until Etruscan pirates kidnapped him and wanted to sell him into slavery. Dionysus answered this by freeing himself and using his powers to summon grapevines to tackle the ship, after which the pirates jumped into the sea and were turned into dolphins. He would eventually arrive on the island of Naxos and find the cretan princess Ariadne, who had been abandoned by the hero Theseus, whom he would then also marry.

Dionysus would eventually return to the Greek world, demanding to be worshipped as a god again, but many kings, including Lycurgus of Thrace and Pentheus of Thebes (Semele's brother), refused to acknowledge this and were punished harshly. Dionysus caused Lycurgus to go insane and kill his family and them himself, while he seduced all the women of Thebes and took them into the nearby forrest. When Pentheus followed them, the women turned on him and tore the king to pieces.

Eventually Dionysus would return to the presence of the gods, and generally replaced Hestia in the council of the twelve Olympians, which likely corresponded to the cultural development that Dionysus became a more accepted deity in Greek society. Besides alcohol, he also became associated with the arts and even held a role in oracular duties, such as the oracle of Delphi, which was usually controlled by his brother Apollo. He would also become a prominent figure among the satyrs, the goat-men of Greek mythology.

At some Midas, king of Phrygia, saved one of Dionysus' satyr-followers and in return the god agreed to grant the king's wish that anything he touched would turn into gold. This gift for the king turned quickly into a blessing, as anything he touched was turned into gold, which included food and other people. Eventually Midas begged the god to remove this ability, to which Dionysus agreed and ordered the man to bath in the river Pactolus, which would remove the golden touch. This event would also explain why the river had gold in it's sediments.

### Appearance & Symbols

* Dionysus was described as either, a young, beautiful and feminine man, or a middle-aged and overweight one.
* His important symbols were the ivy-wreath, thyrsus-staff, grapevine and cup.
* Among his most important followers were the satyrs and maenads.