Dionysus - god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture, winemaking
A deity of eastern (Thracian and Lydian-Phrygian) origin, which spread to Greece relatively late and established itself there with great difficulty. Although the name Dionysus appears on the Cretan Linear B tablets back in the 14th century. BC, the spread and establishment of the cult of Dionysus in Greece dates back to the 8th-7th centuries. BC. and is associated with the growth of city-states (polises) and the development of polis democracy.
During this period, the cult of Dionysus began to supplant the cults of local gods and heroes. Dionysus, as the deity of the agricultural circle, associated with the elemental forces of the earth, was constantly contrasted with Apollo - as primarily the deity of the tribal aristocracy. The folk basis of the cult of Dionysus was reflected in the myths about the illegal birth of the god, his struggle for the right to become one of the Olympian gods and for the widespread establishment of his cult.
Note: the authors and titles of the paintings pop up when you hover over them.
France. Fine art of the 1st century. BC e. - 17th century F. Girardon. “Apollo and the Nymphs” (decorative group in the grotto of the park at Versailles), Marble. 1662-72.
There are myths about various ancient incarnations of Dionysus, as if preparing for his coming. The archaic hypostases of Dionysus are known: Zagreus, son of Zeus of Crete and Persephone; Iacchus, associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Demeter (Diod. III 62, 2 - 28). According to the main myth, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus Semele.
At the instigation of the jealous Hera, Semele asked Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness, and he, appearing in a flash of lightning, incinerated the mortal Semele and her tower with fire. Zeus snatched Dionysus, who was born prematurely, from the flames and sewed him into his thigh. In due time, Zeus gave birth to Dionysus, unraveling the sutures in his thigh (Hes. Theog. 940-942; Eur. Bacch. 1-9, 88-98, 286-297), and then gave Dionysus through Hermes to be raised by the Nisean nymphs (Eur. Bacch. 556-569) or Semele's sister Ino (Apollod. III 4, 3).
The boy born three months later was the god Dionysus, who, having reached maturity, found his mother in the underworld, after which Semele was transferred to Olympus. Semele's envious sisters interpreted her death as a punishment sent by Zeus for giving herself to a mortal. Subsequently, Zeus took revenge on Semele's sisters by sending all kinds of disasters to their sons.
The name Semele is of Phrygian origin, meaning "earth"; Semele was probably a Phrygian-Thracian earth deity. The myth of the birth of Dionysus from Zeus was supposed to ensure the introduction into the Olympian pantheon of a god who initially did not belong to it.
Dionysus found a vine and taught people how to make wine.
Hera instilled madness in him, and he, wandering around Egypt and Syria, came to Phrygia, where the goddess Cybele-Rhea healed him and introduced him to her orgiastic mysteries.
After this, Dionysus went to India through Thrace (Apollod. III 5, 1). From the eastern lands (from India or from Lydia and Phrygia) he returns to Greece, to Thebes. While sailing from the island of Ikaria to the island of Naxos, Dionysus is kidnapped by sea robbers - the Tyrrhenians (Apollod. III 5, 3). The robbers are horrified at the sight of the amazing transformations of Dionysus. They chained Dionysus to sell him into slavery, but the chains themselves fell from Dionysus's hands; entwining the mast and sails of the ship with vines and ivy, Dionysus appeared in the form of a bear and a lion. The pirates themselves, who threw themselves into the sea out of fear, turned into dolphins (Hymn. Nom. VII).
This myth reflected the archaic plant-zoomorphic origin of Dionysus. The plant past of this god is confirmed by his epithets: Evius (“ivy”, “ivy”), “bunch of grapes”, etc. (Eur. Bacch. 105, 534, 566, 608). The zoomorphic past of Dionysus is reflected in his werewolfism and the ideas of Dionysus the bull (618 920-923) and Dionysus the goat. The symbol of Dionysus as the god of the fruitful forces of the earth was the phallus.
On the island of Naxos, Dionysus met his beloved Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus, kidnapped her and married her on the island of Lemnos; from him she gave birth to Oenopion, Foant and others (Apollod. epit. I 9). Wherever Dionysus appears, he establishes his cult; everywhere along his path he teaches people viticulture and winemaking. 
The procession of Dionysus, which was of an ecstatic nature, was attended by bacchantes, satyrs, maenads or bassarides (one of the nicknames of Dionysus - Bassarei) with thyrsus (rods) entwined with ivy. Belted with snakes, they crushed everything in their path, seized by sacred madness. 
With cries of "Bacchus, Evoe" they praised Dionysus - Bromius ("stormy", "noisy"), beat the tympanums, reveled in the blood of torn wild animals, carved honey and milk from the ground with their thyrses, uprooted trees and carried crowds with them women and men (Eur. Bacch. 135-167, 680 - 770). 
Dionysus is famous as Liaeus (“liberator”), he frees people from worldly worries, removes the shackles of a measured life from them, breaks the shackles with which his enemies are trying to entangle him, and crushes walls (616-626). He sends madness to his enemies and punishes them terribly; This is what he did with his cousin, the Theban king Pentheus, who wanted to prohibit Bacchic rampages. Pentheus was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes under the leadership of his mother Agave, who in a state of ecstasy mistook her son for an animal (Apollod. III 5, 2; Eur. Bacch. 1061 - 1152).
God sent madness to Lycurgus, the son of the king of the Aedons, who opposed the cult of Dionysus, and then Lycurgus was torn to pieces by his own horses (Apollod. III 5, 1)
Dionysus entered the list of the 12 Olympian gods late. In Delphi he began to be revered along with Apollo. On Parnassus, orgies were held every two years in honor of Dionysus, in which the fiads - bacchantes from Attica (Paus. X 4, 3) participated. In Athens, solemn processions were organized in honor of Dionysus and the sacred marriage of the god with the wife of the archon basileus was played out (Aristot. Rep. Athen. III 3). 
An ancient Greek tragedy arose from religious and cult rites dedicated to Dionysus (Greek tragodia, lit. “song of the goat” or “song of the goats,” that is, goat-footed satyrs - companions of Dionysus). In Attica, the Great, or Urban, Dionysias were dedicated to Dionysus, which included solemn processions in honor of the god, competitions of tragic and comic poets, as well as choirs singing dithyrambs (held in March - April); Leneys, which included the performance of new comedies (in January - February); Small, or Rural, Dionysia, preserving the remnants of agrarian magic (in December - January), when dramas already played in the city were repeated. 
In Hellenistic times, the cult of Dionysus merged with the cult of the Phrygian god Sabazius (Sabasius became the permanent nickname of Dionysus). In Rome, Dionysus was revered under the name Bacchus (hence the bacchantes, bacchanalia) or Bacchus. Identified with Osiris, Serapis, Mithras, Adonis, Amun, Liber. 
Maenads (M a i n a d e z, “mad ones”), bacchantes, bassarides · companions of Dionysus. Following the thias (crowds) behind Dionysus, the maenads, decorated with vine leaves and ivy, crush everything in their path with thyrses, also entwined with ivy. Half-naked, in the skins of sika deer, with matted hair, often belted with strangled snakes, they in mad delight call on Dionysus Bromius ("Noisy") or Dionysus Ivy, exclaiming "Bacchus, Evoe." 
They tear apart wild animals in the forests and mountains and drink their blood, as if communing with the torn deity. With thyrses, maenads beat milk and honey out of rocks and earth, and human sacrifices are not uncommon. They attract women with them, introducing them to the service of Dionysus. 
The source of myths about maenads is the tragedy of Euripides “The Bacchae”, but already in Homer Andromache, who learned about the death of Hector, is called “a maenad with a strongly beating heart” (Homer “Iliad”, XXII 460 seq.).
Bacchanalia - this is what the Romans called the orgical and mystical festivals in honor of the god Bacchus (Dionysus), which came from the East and spread first across the south of Italy and Etruria, and by the 2nd century. BC e. - throughout Italy and Rome. 
The Bacchanalia was held in secret, attended only by women who gathered in the grove of Similia near the Aventine Hill on March 16th and 17th. Later, men began to come to the ceremony, and celebrations began to be held five times a month. 
The notoriety of these festivals, at which many different crimes and political conspiracies were planned, which was partly spread by the Senate - the so-called Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus (an inscription on a bronze tablet found in Calabria in 1640) - contributed to the prohibition of the Bacchanalia throughout Italy , except for certain special cases that had to be approved directly by the Senate. 
Despite the heavy punishment imposed on violators of this decree, Bacchanalia was not eradicated, at least in the south of Italy, for a very long time. In addition to Dionysus, Bacchus is equated with Liber (as well as Liber Pater). Liber ("free") was the god of fertility, wine and growth, he was married to Liber. The holiday in his honor was called Liberalia, it was celebrated on March 17, but according to some myths, the holiday was also celebrated on March 5. 
These festivities were combined with a wild, frenzied revelry of the lowest animal passions and were often accompanied by violence and murder. In 186, the Senate took the most severe measures against them (Senatusconsultum de Bacchanalibus has come down to us on a bronze plaque, now kept in Vienna). The consuls carried out searches throughout Italy, which resulted in many executions, exiles and imprisonments (Livy, 29, 8-18). However, it was not possible to completely eradicate these immoral mysteries, and their name remained for a long time to designate noisy drinking bouts, and in this sense it is also used in Russia. 
There are many sources of information, including: http://www.greekroman.ru, http://mythology.sgu.ru, http://myfhology.narod.ru, http://ru.wikipedia.org
Dionysus Dionysus , Bacchus or Bacchus (Dionysus, Bacchus, Διόνυσος, Βάκχος). God of wine and winemaking, son of Zeus and Semele, daughter of Cadmus. Shortly before his birth, the jealous Hera advised Semele to beg Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness; Zeus really came to her with lightning and thunder, but she, like a mere mortal, could not bear to see him and died, giving birth to a baby prematurely. Zeus sewed the child into his thigh, where he carried him to term. Accompanied by a crowd of his attendants, maenads and bacchantes, as well as sileni and satyrs with staffs (thyrses) entwined with grapes, Dionysus walked through Hellas, Syria and Asia as far as India and returned to Europe through Thrace. On his way, he taught people everywhere about winemaking and the first beginnings of civilization. Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos, was considered the wife of Dionysus. The cult of Dionysus, which at first had a cheerful character, little by little became more and more intemperate and turned into frantic orgies, or bacchanalia. Hence the name of Dionysus - Bacchus, i.e. noisy. A special role in these celebrations was played by the priestesses of Dionysus - ecstatic women known as maenads, bacchantes, etc. Grapes, ivy, panther, lynx, tiger, donkey, dolphin and goat were dedicated to Dionysus. The Greek Dionysus corresponded to the Roman god Bacchus. (Source: “A Brief Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities.” M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.)
(Διόνυσος), Bacchus, Bacchus, in Greek mythology, the god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture, winemaking. A deity of eastern (Thracian and Lydian-Phrygian) origin, which spread to Greece relatively late and established itself there with great difficulty. Although the name D. is found on the tablets of the Cretan linear letter “B” back in the 14th century. BC e., the spread and establishment of the cult of D. in Greece dates back to the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. and is associated with the growth of city-states (polises) and the development of polis democracy. During this period, the cult of D. began to supplant the cults of local gods and heroes. D., as a deity of the agricultural circle, associated with the elemental forces of the earth, was constantly opposed Apollo - as primarily the deity of the tribal aristocracy. The folk basis of the cult of D. was reflected in the myths about the illegal birth of the god, his struggle for the right to become one of the Olympian gods and for the widespread establishment of his cult. Many monuments of ancient art have been preserved, embodying the image of D. and the plots of myths about him (D.’s love for Ariadne, etc.) in plastic (statues and reliefs) and vase painting. Scenes of the procession of D. and his companions and bacchanalia were widespread (especially in vase paintings); These stories are reflected in the reliefs of sarcophagi. D. was depicted among the Olympians (reliefs of the eastern frieze of the Parthenon) and in scenes of gigantomachy, as well as sailing on the sea (Kylix Exekias “D. in a boat”, etc.) and fighting with the Tyrrhenians (relief of the monument to Lysicrates in Athens, c. 335 BC . e.). In medieval book illustrations, D. was usually depicted as the personification of autumn - the time of harvest (sometimes only in October). During the Renaissance, the theme of life in art was associated with the affirmation of the joy of being; became widespread from the 15th century. scenes of bacchanalia (the beginning of their depiction was laid by A. Mantegna; the plot was addressed by A. Dürer, A. Altdorfer, H. Baldung Green, Titian, Giulio Romano, Pietro da Cortona, Annibale Carracci, P. P. Rubens, J. Jordaens, N . Poussin). The same symbolism permeates the plots of “Bacchus, Venus and Ceres” and “Bacchus and Ceres” (see article Demeter), especially popular in Baroque painting. In the 15th-18th centuries. Scenes depicting the meeting of D. and Ariadne, their wedding and triumphal procession were popular in painting. Among the works of plastic art are the reliefs “Bacchus turns the Tyrrhenians into dolphins” by A. Filarete (on the bronze doors of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome), “The Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne” by Donatello, the statues “Bacchus” by Michelangelo, J. Sansovino, etc. D. occupies a special place place among other ancient characters in Baroque garden sculpture. The most significant works of the 18th - early. 19th centuries - statues of “Bacchus” by I. G. Danneker and B. Thorwaldsen. Among musical works of the 19th and 20th centuries. on the plots of the myth: the opera-ballet by A. S. Dargomyzhsky “The Triumph of Bacchus”, the divertimento by C. Debussy “The Triumph of Bacchus” and his opera “D.”, the opera by J. Massenet “Bacchus”, etc.
There are myths about various ancient incarnations of D., as if preparing for his arrival. Archaic hypostases of D. are known: Zagreus, son of Zeus of Crete and Persephone; Iacchus, associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; D. - son of Zeus and Demeter (Diod. Ill 62, 2-28). According to the main myth, D. is the son of Zeus and the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus Semely. At the instigation of the jealous Hera, Semele asked Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness, and he, appearing in a flash of lightning, incinerated the mortal Semele and her tower with fire. Zeus snatched D., who was born prematurely, from the flames and sewed him into his thigh. In due time, Zeus gave birth to D., unraveling the sutures on the thigh (Hes. Theog. 940-942; Eur. Bacch. 1-9, 88-98, 286-297), and then gave D. through Hermes to be raised by the Nisean nymphs ( Eur. Bacch. 556-559) or Semele's sister Ino (Apollod. III 4, 3). D. found a grapevine. Hera instilled madness in him, and he, wandering around Egypt and Syria, came to Phrygia, where the goddess Cybele-Rhea healed him and introduced him to her orgiastic mysteries. After this, D. went to India through Thrace (Apollod. III 5, 1). From the eastern lands (from India or from Lydia and Phrygia) he returns to Greece, to Thebes. While sailing from the island of Ikaria to the island of Naxos, D. is kidnapped by Tyrrhenian sea robbers (Apollod. III 5, 3). The robbers are horrified at the sight of D.'s amazing transformations. They chained D. in chains to sell him into slavery, but the chains themselves fell from D.'s hands; entwining the mast and sails of the ship with vines and ivy, D. appeared in the form of a bear and a lion. The pirates themselves, who threw themselves into the sea out of fear, turned into dolphins (Hymn. Hom. VII). This myth reflected the archaic plant-zoomorphic origin of D. The plant past of this god is confirmed by his epithets: Evius (“ivy”, “ivy”), “bunch of grapes”, etc. (Eur. Bacch. 105, 534, 566, 608). D.'s zoomorphic past is reflected in his werewolfism and ideas about D. the bull (618, 920-923) and D. the goat. The symbol of D. as the god of the fruit-bearing forces of the earth was the phallus.
On the island of Naxos D. met his beloved Ariadna, abandoned by Theseus, kidnapped her and married her on the island of Lemnos; from him she gave birth to Oenopion, Foant and others (Apollod. epit. I 9). Wherever D. appears, he establishes his cult; everywhere along his path he teaches people viticulture and winemaking. D.'s procession, which was ecstatic in nature, was attended by bacchantes, satyrs, maenads or bassarides (one of D.'s nicknames - Bassarei) with thyrsus (staffs) entwined with ivy. Girdled with snakes, they crushed everything in their path, seized by sacred madness. With cries of “Bacchus, Evoe,” they glorified D.-Bromius (“stormy”, “noisy”), beat the tympanums, reveling in the blood of torn wild animals, carving honey and milk from the ground with their thyrsi, uprooting trees and dragging them along with them. crowds of women and men (Eur. Bacch. 135-167, 680-770). D. is famous as Liey (“liberator”), he frees people from worldly worries, removes the shackles of a measured life from them, breaks the shackles with which his enemies are trying to entangle him, and breaks down walls (616-626). He sends madness to his enemies and punishes them terribly; This is what he did with his cousin, the Theban king Pentheus, who wanted to ban Bacchic rampages. Pentheus was torn to pieces by the Bacchae led by his mother. Agaves, who, in a state of ecstasy, mistook her son for an animal (Apollod. III 5, 2; Eur. Bacch. 1061-1152). God sent madness to Lycurgus, the son of the king of the Aedons, who opposed the cult of D., and then Lycurgus was torn to pieces by his own horses (Apollod. III 5, 1).
D. entered the number of the 12 Olympian gods late. In Delphi he began to be revered along with Apollo. On Parnassus, every two years orgies were held in honor of D., in which the fiads - bacchantes from Attica (Paus. X 4, 3) participated. In Athens, solemn processions were organized in honor of D. and the sacred marriage of the god with the wife of the archon basileus was played out (Aristot. Rep. Athen. III 3). An ancient Greek tragedy arose from the religious and cult rites dedicated to D. (Greek tragodia, lit. “song of the goat” or “song of the goats,” that is, the goat-footed satyrs - companions of D.). In Attica, D., the Great, or Urban, Dionysius was dedicated, which included solemn processions in honor of God, competitions of tragic and comic poets, as well as choirs singing dithyrambs (held in March - April); Leneys, which included the performance of new comedies (in January - February); Small, or Rural, Dionysia, preserving the remnants of agrarian magic (in December - January), when dramas already played in the city were repeated.
In Hellenistic times, the cult of D. merges with the cult of the Phrygian god Sabazia(Sabaziy became D.'s permanent nickname). In Rome, D. was revered under the name Bacchus (hence the bacchantes, bacchanalia) or Bacchus. Identified with Osiris, Serapis, Mithras, Adonis, Amon, Liber.
Lit.: Losev A.F., Ancient mythology in its historical development, M., 1957, p. 142-82; Nietzsche F., The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, Complete. collection soch., vol. 1, [M.], 1912; Otto W. P., Dionysos. Mythos und Kultus, 2 Aufl.. Fr./M.. 1939; Jünger F. G., Griechische Götter. Apollon, Pan, Dionysos. Fr./M., 1943; Meautis G., Dionysos ou Ie pouvoir de fascination, in his book: Mythes inconnus de la Greece antique. P., , p.33-63; Jeanmaire N., Dionysos. Histoire du culte de Bacchus, P., 1951.
A. F. Losev.
(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)
Dionysus(Bacchus, Bacchus) - the god of viticulture and winemaking, the son of Zeus and Hera (according to other sources, Zeus and the Theban princess and goddess Semele, according to other sources, Zeus and Persephone). In honor of Dionysus, festivals were celebrated - Dionysia and Bacchanalia.
// Adolphe-William BOOGREAU: The Childhood of Bacchus // Nicolas POUSSIN: Midas and Bacchus // Franz von STUCK: Boy Bacchus riding a panther // TITIAN: Bacchus and Ariadne // Apollo Nikolaevich MAYKOV: Bacchus // Konstantinos CAVAFY: Retinue of Dionysus / / Dmitry OLERON: Heraion. Hermes and Bacchus of Praxiteles. Bacchus // A.S. PUSHKIN: The Triumph of Bacchus // N.A. Kuhn: DIONYSUS // N.A. Kuhn: THE BIRTH AND UPBRINGING OF DIONYSUS // N.A. Kuhn: DIONYSUS AND HIS PEACE // N.A. Kuhn: LYCURG // N.A. Kuhn: DAUGHTERS OF MINIA // N.A. Kuhn: TYRRENIAN SEA ROBBEERS // N.A. Kuhn: ICARIUS // N.A. Kuhn: MIDAS
(Source: “Myths of Ancient Greece. Dictionary-reference book.” EdwART, 2009.)
DIONYSUSin Greek mythology of Zeus and Themele, the god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture and winemaking.
(Source: “Dictionary of spirits and gods of German-Scandinavian, Egyptian, Greek, Irish, Japanese, Mayan and Aztec mythologies.”)
Synonyms:
See what “Dionysus” is in other dictionaries:
- (ancient Greek Διόνυσος) ... Wikipedia
- (Bacchus) Greek deity, the embodiment of life force. The most ancient forms of the cult of D. were preserved in Thrace, where they had an “orgiastic” character: cult participants, dressed in animal skins, worked themselves into a frenzy (ecstasy) in mass celebrations... Literary encyclopedia
And husband. Borrowing Report: Dionisovich, Dionisovna; decomposition Dionysich.Origin: (In ancient mythology: Dionysus is the god of the vital forces of nature, the god of wine.) Name day: (see Denis) Dictionary of personal names. Dionysus See Denis... Dictionary of personal names
- (Greek Dionisos). Greek name for the god Bacchus or Bacchus. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. DIONYSUS in the ancients. Greeks the same as Bacchus, another name for the god of wine and fun; the Romans have Bacchus. Complete dictionary... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Dionysus, Greek Bacchus, lat. Bacchus is the son of Zeus and Semele, the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus, the god of wine, winemaking, and viticulture.
He was born in Thebes, but at the same time Naxos, Crete, Elis, Theos and Eleftheria were considered his place of birth. The fact is that his birth took place in a rather complicated way. On the eve of the birth of Dionysus, the jealous wife of Zeus decided to destroy the child. Under the guise of an old nanny, she visited Semele and persuaded her to ask Zeus to appear before her in all his power and glory. Zeus could not refuse Semele, since he had previously sworn to her with the waters of the Styx (the most unbreakable oath) that he would fulfill any of her wishes. Moreover, this request flattered his male vanity, and he appeared to her in thunder and lightning. What Hera was waiting for happened: lightning set fire to the royal palace and incinerated the earthly body of the mortal Semele. Dying, she managed to give birth to a premature baby. Zeus left his beloved to her fate, but protected the child from fire with a wall of thick ivy that grew around him by the will of God. When the fire subsided, Zeus took his son out of hiding and sewed him into his thigh to carry him. In due time (three months later), Dionysus was “born again” and was given into the care of Zeus (see also the article “Semele”).
Hermes was not married and, as a messenger of the gods, was constantly away from home, so there was no question of seriously raising little Dionysus. Therefore, Hermes gave Dionysus to Semele's sister Ino, the wife of the Orkhomen king. Having learned about this, Hera sent madness to Athamas, hoping that he would kill Dionysus. But he killed only his own sons and wife, since Hermes intervened in time and saved Dionysus. Then he delivered Dionysus to the Nisaean valley and entrusted him to the nymphs, who hid the boy in deep cave overgrown with vines, and raised, despite all the machinations of Hera. There Dionysus first tasted wine, of which Zeus made him the god. From there, Dionysus brought the first vine seedling to present it to the Athenian shepherd Icarius in gratitude for the warm welcome. Dionysus taught Icarius to grow grapes and make wine from them, but this gift did not bring happiness to the shepherd.
People received the news of the birth of Dionysus and his intoxicating drink with mixed feelings. Some immediately began to indulge in his cult with delight, others were afraid that something might come of it, and others resolutely opposed him. (You can read about this in the articles “Lycurgus”, “Pentheus”, “Minias”.) On the way, Dionysus also encountered random ill-wishers, such as Tyrrhenian pirates, who kidnapped him, mistaking him for the king’s son and counting on a rich ransom. On the ship, Dionysus threw off his shackles, entwined the entire ship with vines, and himself turned into a lion. The pirates, in fear, rushed into the sea and turned into dolphins (with the exception of the helmsman, who persuaded the robbers to let Dionysus go). Gradually, people still recognized the divine power of Dionysus and still pay tribute to his gift - wine (sometimes even more than it is good for health).
Justice requires noting that for the Greeks Dionysus was not only the god of wine, winemaking and viticulture, but also the patron of fruit trees and bushes, the fruits of which he filled with juice, and ultimately they saw him as the god of the fruit-bearing forces of the earth. Since viticulture and gardening require diligence, thoroughness and patience, Dionysus was revered as the giver of these precious qualities and the wealth that comes to the diligent and skillful. As the god of wine, Dionysus was revered primarily because he relieved people of worries (one of his names was Liei, i.e. “liberator”) and gave them the joy of life. With his gifts, Dionysus refreshed the spirit and body, promoted sociability and fun, ignited love and stimulated the creative powers of artists. There was and is no price for these gifts - but only if the fans of Dionysus adhere to the old wise rule: “meden agan” - “nothing in excess.”
By origin, Dionysus is not a Greek god, but, most likely, a Thracian or Asia Minor god; his middle name is of Lydian-Phrygian origin. Already in ancient times, his cult spread throughout the Greek (and then Greco-Roman) world, although myths indicate that this cult did not develop unhindered everywhere. The name Dionysus appears on Cretan Linear B tablets from the 14th century. BC BC, found in Knossos. However, Homer does not yet name Dionysus among the main gods. According to Hesiod, Dionysus' wife was , whom he recaptured from Theseus when he stopped on the island of Naxos on the way from Crete. From the connection of Dionysus with Aphrodite, Priapus, the god of fertility, was born (see also “Zagreus” and “Iacchus”).
The cult of Dionysus in Greece, writes Plutarch, “was at first simple but cheerful, but later its festivities became more noisy and unbridled.” (One of the epithets of Dionysus: “Bromium”, i.e. “noisy”, “stormy”.) Under the influence of Eastern cults, in some places they turned into genuine vacancies.
Chanalia in the current sense of the word, their participants were seized by ecstasy, that is, frenzy (of the spirit from the body). Particularly unbridled were the night festivities, in which women participated in the costumes of Dionysus’ companions (bacchantes, maenads, bassarides, fiads). In Boeotia and Phocis, these admirers of his even pounced on the bodies of sacrificial animals and devoured raw meat, believing that by doing so they were partaking of the body and blood of God himself. His cult developed in a similar way among the Romans, who adopted it at the end of the 5th century. BC e. In 186 BC. e. a special resolution of the Senate was even adopted against excesses and revelry on these holidays.
In Athens (and in general among the Ionians), the original character of the Dionysian festivals was preserved for the longest time. They were held several times a year, the most significant (Great Dionysia) - at the end of March. The history of culture is primarily marked by their final performances, during which a choir of singers dressed in goat skins performed songs accompanied by dance - the so-called dithyrambs. Over time, Greek tragedy developed from these dithyrambs - one of the most valuable contributions of the Greeks to human culture. Actually, “tragedy” means “song of the goat” or “song of the goats,” and the singers in goat skins portrayed the goat-footed companions of Dionysus - the satyrs. Greek comedy developed from comic songs on village Dionysia. Many works by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, which still do not leave the stage, were first played at the Athenian Dionysia. Under the southeastern slope of the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionysus, built in the 6th century, still remains. BC e., where these games took place for more than half a millennium.
Greek artists often depicted Dionysus, and in two forms: as a serious, mature man with thick hair and a beard, or as a young man. On one of the best ancient statues - “Hermes with Dionysus” by Praxiteles (c. 340 BC) Dionysus is depicted as a child. Many images of Dionysus have been preserved on vases and reliefs - separately, with satyrs or bacchantes, with Ariadne, with Tyrrhenian robbers, etc.
European artists depicted Dionysus with no less sympathy than the ancient ones. Of the statues, the most notable are Michelangelo's Bacchus (1496-1497), Poggini's Bacchus (1554) and Thorvaldsen's Bacchus (c. 1800). Among the paintings - “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian (1523), two paintings by Caravaggio: “Bacchus” (1592-1593) and “Young Bacchus” (created a little later), “Bacchus” by Rubens (1635-1640, located in St. Petersburg , in the Hermitage).
Of the numerous sculptures, paintings, and frescoes in art galleries and castles in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we note Romano’s drawing “The Procession of Bacchus” in the Moravian Gallery in Brno and “Bacchus with the Vine and Cupid” by De Vries in the Wallenstein Garden in Prague (a cast copy of the original taken to 1648 by the Swedes).
Dionysus, whose statue stood on the stage of every ancient theater, has again appeared on the stage in modern times, mainly through the merits of composers. In 1848, the opera-ballet “The Triumph of Bacchus” was written by Dargomyzhsky, in 1904, “The Triumph of Bacchus” - by Debussy, in 1909, the opera “Bacchus” - by Massenet.
In modern language, Dionysus (Bacchus) allegorically means wine and the fun associated with it:
“Roll out, bacchanalian choruses!”
- A. S. Pushkin, “Bacchic Song” (1825).
According to legend, Dionysus owes his appearance to the warlike Hera, who was fiercely, although not unreasonably, jealous of her husband Zeus. She prompted Semele to ask him to appear before her in his warlike form: on a chariot with fire-breathing horses, surrounded by flames. Zeus gave the go-ahead and soon appeared in front of Cadmus, the palace of the girl’s father. Lightning, wrapping around the chariot, flew towards the formations and burned them. Semele herself also suffered from the fire; during the fire she gave birth to a premature baby, Dionysus, and she herself passed into the world of the dead.
However, the child of Zeus did not die in the flames; he was protected by ivy. Seeing the child, God sewed him into his thigh, where he completed his development and later came into the world at the right time. Little Dionysus was handed over to be raised by Semele’s sister, Ino, and his brother-in-law, Athamas; Hera doomed the latter to madness.
According to another version, Dionysus and his mother Semele were imprisoned in a barrel by father Cadmus, where they spent several days, after which they crashed against the rocks, and only the child survived.
The path of education and growing up
In order to protect the young God from the wrath of Hera, his adoptive parents began to raise him as a girl. However, as mentioned above, the father fell ill with a mental disorder (with the help of Zeus’s wife, of course) and began to kill his own children, and even attempted to kill Dionysus.
Then the future patron of winemakers ended up in the caves of Nisa - Hermes himself brought him there, transformed into a kid. The nymphs hid the child from Hera and contributed to his upbringing. However, Silenus played the greatest role in the development of Dionysus as God: the mentor taught the young man the business of winegrowers and instilled in him a love of agriculture.
After reaching adulthood, the ruler of Olympus decided to thank the nymphs of Nysus and raised them to heaven.
Madness of Dionysus
Inducing madness is the most insidious and most frequent revenge of Hera; this punishment did not escape Dionysus. Under the influence of her spell, he goes on a long journey through Asia and Africa. Its presence in different countries brought with it both positive influence and negative consequences. He taught the inhabitants of Egypt, Syria, India and Asia Minor aspects of agriculture, revealing to them the secrets of productive cultivation of various crops. Along with the useful skills with which the patron of vegetation enriched the lives of the owners of the fields, those who did not believe in his abilities had a hard time.
According to legends, the embittered God of Fertility could send madness to his victim or even kill him. According to other sources, Hera led Dionysus through the deserts, and she surrounded him with madmen. The worst thing was for young mothers with babies who were sent to the mountains, where they happily ate raw meat.
Why do they offer “three-year sacrifices” to Dionysus?
The fact is that God traveled throughout India for three years. His initial motives were confrontation, battle, and a small number of sources even speak of his death during a duel and burial without honors.
The number 3, as it were, marks Dionysus, so it is customary to organize bacchanalia for him every 3 years and collect donations for a three-year period.
Among the significant events in the life of the patron of agriculture, one can also highlight a visit to the Kingdom of Hades, from where he brought his mother and subsequently made her the Goddess Fiona.
Tyrrhenian pirates
The Tyrrhenian pirates, namely two of their company - Acetus and Alcimedon, attacked the trireme of Dionysus on the way to Naxos. They captured the God of winemaking, tied him up, shackled his hands and feet, their plan was to transfer God to Asia, where, in turn, to sell him for a huge sum.
Alas, the plans of the Tyrrhenian pirates did not coincide with the vision of the future patron of agriculture. In an instant, the chains fell from his arms and legs, the masts and oars turned into fierce snakes and wrapped themselves around the invaders. The entire ship was covered by a vine, and Aket and Alkimedon jumped into the ocean in flight. According to one legend, they turned into dolphins.
Love of Dionysus
God married Ariadne, a Cretan beauty, the daughter of King Minos, although initially the girl was not intended for him. Her husband was supposed to be Theseus, whom she led out of the labyrinth with the help of a ball of magic threads. However, the young man turned out to be not particularly honest and abandoned Ariadne on the way to Athens. Dionysus immediately noticed the young lady of unearthly beauty and took her with him.
There is also an alternative version, where the patron of winegrowers was sent a legend that Ariadne would become his wife and he personally challenged Theseus to battle in order to win back the beauty.
We are accustomed to seeing this God as a person who would be completely absorbed in agriculture and the creation of tart wines, but there are less common, but more exciting reports of his existence:
- Beer is also a creation of Dionysus
- The mountain in Messenia is called Eve, because it was this cry that the girls surrounding God reproduced while at its foot.
- Thanks to Dionysus, the donkey is considered a sacred animal. The story is this: he and Hephaestus went to fight the Giants, sitting on donkeys. The animals let out a terrible roar, which frightened even the huge creatures, thereby driving them away.
- To please his wife Hera and divert her attention from the real patron of agriculture, Zeus gave her a ghost in the guise of Dionysus.
- It is believed that he invented the first plow and plowed the land with it himself.
Dionysus is the last of the twelve main Olympian Gods, however, it is in his honor that the most vibrant and cheerful festivals are held. There is a competition between comic and tragic poetry and theatrical performances. There is always a lot of wine and snacks on the tables. During the bacchanalia period, many weddings take place and everything around is filled with an atmosphere of fun.
Vina Dionysus has always been distinguished by his extraordinary eccentricity. When modern researchers studied his cult in detail, they were sincerely surprised that the Hellenes, with their sober worldview, could tolerate such a celestial being with his frantic dancing, exciting music and immoderate drunkenness. Even the barbarians who lived nearby suspected that he had come from their lands. However, the Greeks had to recognize him as their brother and agree that Dionysus is the god of anything, but not boredom and despondency.
Illegitimate son of the Thunderer
Even with the story of his birth, he stands out from the general mass of dark-skinned and loud-mouthed babies born on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is known that his father, Zeus, in secret from his legal wife Hera, had a secret passion for a young goddess named Semele. Having learned about this, the legal half, filled with anger, decided to destroy her rival and, with the help of magic, instilled in her the crazy idea of asking Zeus to hug her the way he does with her - his legal wife.
Semele chose the moment when Zeus was ready for any promises, and whispered her wish to him. The poor thing didn't know what she was asking for. No wonder he earned the reputation of a thunderer. When he pressed his beloved to his chest, he was immediately engulfed in fire and illuminated by lightning. Hera, the wife, may have liked it, but poor Semele could not bear such passion and instantly burned out. An overly ardent lover managed to snatch the premature fetus from her womb and, placing it in his own thigh, carried out the remaining term. This is how the baby Dionysus was born in an unusual way.
New intrigues of Hera
Such a happy event took place, according to various sources, either on the island of Naxos, or on Crete; now no one remembers for sure, but it is known that the first educators of the young deity were nymphs, of whom a great many lived in those places. So young Dionysus would have frolicked between them, but suddenly the matter was complicated by the fact that Zeus learned about Hera’s desire to destroy his illegitimate son. To stop her, he gives the young man to his mother’s sister Ino and her husband Athamas.
But Zeus underestimated his jealous wife. Hera found out the whereabouts of Dionysus and sent madness to Athaman, wanting him to kill the child she hated in a fit of violence. But it turned out differently: his own son became the victim of the unfortunate madman, and the future god of wine safely escaped by jumping into the sea with Ino, where they were accepted into their arms by the Nereids - the Greek sisters of the mermaids well known to us.
The Satyr's Apprentice
In order to further protect his son from his evil wife, Zeus turned him into a kid and in this guise, he handed him over to kind and caring nymphs from Nysa, a city in the territory of present-day Israel. The legend says that they hid their ward in a cave, hiding the entrance with branches. But it just so happened that one old, but very frivolous satyr - a demon, a student of the drunkard Bacchus - chose this same place as his home. It was he who taught Dionysus the first lessons in winemaking and introduced him to immoderate libations.
So from a harmless-looking kid, the god of wine turned out. Further, disagreements begin in the legends - either Hera instilled madness in him, or alcohol had that effect, but Dionysus scattered the branches that hid the entrance to his shelter and went wherever his eyes led him. He was seen idly wandering around in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and even in India. And everywhere he taught people how to make wine. But the strange thing is that wherever he held celebrations, they always ended in madness and violence. It was as if there was something demonic in the juicy grapes.
The further life of Dionysus was full of adventures. He spent three years on a military campaign against India, and in memory of this, the ancient Greeks established a noisy Bacchic holiday. It was he, the god of wine and fun, who built the first bridge across the great Euphrates River, using a rope made of grapevine and ivy to make it. After this, Dionysus descended into the kingdom of the dead and safely brought out his mother, Semele, who entered later mythology under the name Fiona.
There is also a story about how the god of wine was once captured by pirates. Sea robbers captured him during one of his sea voyages. But apparently they had little idea who they were dealing with. The shackles naturally fell from his hands, and Dionysus turned the masts of the ship into snakes. To top it all off, he appeared on deck in the form of a bear, causing the frightened pirates to jump into the sea, turning into dolphins.
Marriage of Dionysus and Ariadne
Before finally settling on Olympus, the god of wine got married. His chosen one was Ariadne, the same daughter of the Cretan who, with the help of her thread, managed to help the legendary Theseus get out of the labyrinth. But the fact is that, once he was safe, the scoundrel treacherously abandoned the girl, which is why she was ready to commit suicide. Dionysus saved her, and the grateful Ariadne agreed to become his wife. To celebrate, her new father-in-law, Zeus, granted her immortality and a rightful place on Olympus. Many other adventures of this hero are described in Greek legends, because Dionysus is the god of what? Wine, but you just have to taste it, and all sorts of things will happen...
