D is for Dionysus

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

If you’d rather check out my book review for today, go here.

Known as the easy-going son of Zeus who loves to drink and party, he has an interesting backstory before becoming a god.

Folklore

The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology [1844] by William Smith

DIONYSOS, the youthful, beautiful, but effeminate god of wine. He is also called both by Greeks and Romans Bacchus (Bakchos), that is, the noisy or riotous god, which was originally a mere epithet or surname of Dionysus, but does not occur till after the time of Herodotus.

According to the common tradition, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus of Thebes (Hom. Hymn. vi. 56; Eurip. Bacch. init.; Apollod. iii. 4. § 3); whereas others describe him as a son of Zeus by Demeter, Io, Dione, or Arge. (Diod. iii. 62, 74; Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iii. 177; Plut. de Flum. 16.) 

The common story, which makes Dionysus a son of Semele by Zeus, runs as follows: Hera, jealous of Semele, visited her in the disguise of a friend, or an old woman, and persuaded her to request Zeus to appear to her in the same glory and majesty in which he was accustomed to approach his own wife Hera. When all entreaties to desist from this request were fruitless, Zeus at length complied, and appeared to her in thunder and lightning. Semele was terrified and overpowered by the sight, and being seized by the fire, she gave premature birth to a child. Zeus, or according to others, Hermes (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1137) saved the child from the flames: it was sewed up in the thigh of Zeus, and thus came to maturity. Various epithets which are given to the god refer to that occurrence, such as purigenês, mêrorraphês, mêrotraphês and ianigena. (Strab. xiii. p. 628; Diod. iv. 5; Eurip. Bacch. 295; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 310; Ov. Met. iv. 11.)

After the birth of Dionysus, Zeus entrusted him to Hermes, or, according to others, to Persephone or Rhea (Orph. Hymn. xlv. 6; Steph. Byz. s. v. Mastaura), who took the child to Ino and Athamas at Orchomenos, and persuaded them to bring him up as a girl. Hera was now urged on by her jealousy to throw Ino and Athamas into a state of madness, and Zeus, in order to save his child, changed him into a ram, and carried him to the nymphs of mount Nysa, who brought him up in a cave, and were afterwards rewarded for it by Zeus, by being placed as Hyades among the stars. (Hygin. Fab. 182; Theon, ad Arat. Phaen. 177; comp. Hyades.)

Mount Nysa, from which the god was believed to have derived his name, was not only in Thrace and Libya, but mountains of the same name are found in different parts of the ancient world where he was worshipped, and where he was believed to have introduced the cultivation of the vine. Hermes, however, is mixed up with most of the stories about the infancy of Dionysus, and he was often represented in works of art, in connexion with the infant god. (Comp. Paus. iii. 18. § 7.)

When Dionysus had grown up, Hera threw him also into a state of madness, in which he wandered about through many countries of the earth. A tradition in Hyginus (Poet. Astr. ii. 23) makes him go first to the oracle of Dodona, but on his way thither he came to a lake, which prevented his proceeding any further. One of two asses he met there carried him across the water, and the grateful god placed both animals among the stars, and asses henceforth remained sacred to Dionysus.

After then proceeding through Thrace without meeting with any further resistance, he returned to Thebes, where he compelled the women to quit their houses, and to celebrate Bacchic festivals on mount Cithaeron, or Parnassus. Pentheus, who then ruled at Thebes, endeavoured to check the riotous proceedings, and went out to the mountains to seek the Bacchic women; but his own mother, Agave, in her Bacchic fury, mistook him for an animal, and tore him to pieces. (Theocrit. Id. xxvi.; Eurip. Bacch. 1142; Ov. Met. iii. 714, &c.)

We may, however, remark at once, that all traditions which have reference to a mystic worship of Dionysus, are of a comparatively late origin, that is, they belong to the period subsequent to that in which the Homeric poems were composed; for in those poems Dionysus does not appear as one of the great divinities, and the story of his birth by Zeus and the Bacchic orgies are not alluded to in any way : Dionysus is there simply described as the god who teaches man the preparation of wine, whence he is called the “drunken god ” (mainomenos), and the sober king Lycurgus will not, for this reason, tolerate him in his kingdom. (Hom. Il. vi. 132, &c., Od. xviii. 406, comp. xi. 325.) As the cultivation of the vine spread in Greece, the worship of Dionysus likewise spread further; the mystic worship was developed by the Orphici, though it probably originated in the transfer of Phrygian and Lydian modes of worship to that of Dionysus. After the time of Alexander’s expedition to India, the celebration of the Bacchic festivals assumed more and more their wild and dissolute character.

Dionysus is the productive, overflowing and intoxicating power of nature, which carries man away from his usual quiet and sober mode of living. Wine is the most natural and appropriate symbol of that power, and it is therefore called “the fruit of Dionysus.” (Dionusou karpos; Pind. Fragm. 89, ed. Böckh.) Dionysus is, therefore, the god of wine, the inventor and teacher of its cultivation, the giver of joy, and the disperser of grief and sorrow. (Bacchyl. ap. Athen. ii. p. 40; Pind. Fragm. 5; Eurip. Bacch. 772.)

The temples and statues of Dionysus were very numerous in the ancient world. Among the sacrifices which were offered to him in the earliest times, human sacrifices are also mentioned. (Paus. vii. 21. § 1; Porphyr. de Abstin. ii. 55.) Subsequently, however, this barbarous custom was softened down into a symbolic scourging, or animals were substituted for men, as at Potniae. (Paus. viii. 23. § 1, ix. 8. § 1.)

The Greek Myths by Robert Graves

At Hera’s orders the Titans seized Zeus’s newly-born son Dionysus, a horned child crowned with serpents and, despite his transformations, tore him into shreds. These they boiled in a cauldron, while a pomegranate-tree sprouted from the soil where his blood had fallen; but, rescued and reconstituted by his grandmother Rhea, he came to life again. Persephone, now entrusted with his charge by Zeus, brought him to King Athamas of Orchomenus and his wife Ino, whom she persuaded to rear the child in the women’s quarters, disguised as a girl. But Hera could not be deceived, and punished the royal pair with madness, so that Athamas killed their son Learches, mistaking him for a stag.

Then, on Zeus’s instructions, Hermes temporarily transformed Dionysus into a kid or a ram, and presented him to the nymphs Macris, Nysa, Erato, Bromie, and Bacche, of Heliconian Mount Nysa. They tended Dionysus in a cave, cosseted him, and fed him on honey, for which service Zeus subsequently placed their images among the stars, naming them the Hyades. It was on Mount Nysa that Dionysus invented wine, for which he is chiefly celebrated.

*More can be read in the book.

The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism by Raymond Buckland

It was not unusual for deities to be thought of as androgynous. One of Dionysus’s titles was Diphues, or “double-sexed.” Mithras was sometimes so presented. The Syrian god Baal was also sometimes presented as androgynous.

*More can be read in the book.

The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21^st Century Bestiary by Caspar Henderson

Apollo, the god of harmony, order and reason, was said to have taken the form of a dolphin when he travelled from Crete to the mainland to establish the seat of the oracle at Delphi (itself named for the dolphin). When, in winter, Apollo left Delphi for Hyperborea, he would leave the oracle in the care of his brother Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy, who had the power to turn people into dolphins.

*More can be read in the book.

Further Reading:

• Dionysus
• Dionysus (Dionysos)
• Dionysus
• Dionysus in Greek Mythology: Myths, Powers, and Symbols
• Dionysus
• How Dionysus Became God Of Wine – Greek Mythology
• Dionysus :: Greek God of fertility and wine
• Maenad

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

Hera’s jealousy over her husband’s infidelity caused Semele, a mortal lover of Zeus, to be tricked into being killed by her lover when he revealed his true form. Zeus saved the baby who wasn’t ready to be born, and he was stitched into Zeus’s thigh until he was really ready to be born. He was born immortal, a Greek god. Hera’s jealousy reared its ugly head again and arranged for the new-born Dionysus to be torn to shreds by Titans. Rhea, Zeus’s mother, took pity on him and reconstituted him so he came back to life. Persephone then took him to a mortal royal couple to rear him a their own. Of course, Hera being Hera, caused madness in the royal family and Dionysus had to be removed for his own safety. Hermes turned him into a lamb or a kid and gave him to nymphs in Mount Nysa to take care of. It is here that he learned about viticulture and created wine.

Hera cursed Dionysus with madness once he was grown. He travelled the world, bringing grape vines and the cultivation of wine where he went, and persuaded women to party with him. Because of how he acted and because of the wine, he was called the “drunken god”. Many temples celebrating him were found in the ancient world. Revels were held in his honour. And sometimes, human sacrifices were made in his temples.

Dionysus were followed around by maenads, female followers who danced and were intoxicated – and raving mad. They were known to be violent in their devotion to Dionysus, even going so far as committing murder. Those in his cult went wild during their revels in the woods, ripping to shreds any animal they came across and eating it raw.

It’s not clear when – or if – he regained his sanity. At some point he came across Ariadne after Theseus abandoned her (she sacrificed everything to help him kill the Minotaur), and Dionysus and Ariadne fell in love and got married. They had many famous children together.

He was either depicted as an older, bearded god or an effeminate, long-haired youth. He was usually accompanied by maenads and satyrs, seen wearing an ivy crown or fruiting grapevines, holding a drinking cup and riding a panther.

His Roman counterpart is Bacchus. He is known as the god of wine, viticulture, the grape vine, vegetation, fertility, intoxication, ritual madness, merriment, festivals and more. His main mission was to bring an end to care and worry through drink and merriment.

Whatever he’s called, women love him and men wish they were him.

Dionysus in Modern Culture

In the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan.

Dionysus, also known as Mr. D, is the Greek god of grape-harvest, wine, orchards, fertility, madness, parties, religious ecstasy, and theater. He also serves as the camp director of Camp Half-Blood, having been placed there by his father Zeus as punishment for chasing after an off-limits nymph. His Roman counterpart is Bacchus. Dionysus is portrayed by Luke Camilleri in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and by Stanley Tucci in the film Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

Learn more here.

In Arrowverse (Legends of Tomorrow TV Series).

Dionysus, better known by his nickname “Dion“, is the Greek God of wine, ecstasy, and partying. He is a close friend of Clotho, good friend of Nate Heywood, and the lover of Ariadne.

Dionysus left Olympus at some point to pursue an everlasting life of partying in college fraternities at Hudson University for years sometime later after Clotho had broken the Loom of Fate. He kept his Chalice nearby so that he could grant powers to those “Greeks” he deemed worthy.

Read more here.

In Grimm TV series.

An Ataktos Fuse (uh-TAHK-tohs FOO-see; Gr. “mischievous nature”), also known as a Bestia Festiva (bes-TEE-uh FES-tee-vuh; Lat. “party animal”), is a cicada-like Wesen that appeared in “The Seven Year Itch“. They were the inspiration for the Greek God, Dionysus.

Read more here.

Dionysus in My Writing

This guy loves to party. He looks like he’s university age (maybe 22?) and is quite attractive. He’s charming, persuasive and the kind of guy everyone likes. He can look older if he wants to, but has found that young people have more stamina to party all the time.
He’s the god of wine and ecstasy. Maenads still follow him around after all this time – some have become immortal in a way.
Dionysus stays away from Olympus and his stepmother who still hates his guts. He has a good relationship with his siblings, especially Apollo.
Whenever Dionysus is at a party, it is sure to be a rager.

There are a lot of songs that fits him, but I thought this one might be the best fit where it comes to drinking while partying.

See this immortal in action in my writing:

Smoke on the Water (Irascible Immortals Complete Collection with Extra Short Stories)

A blaze of light brought everything to a stop – even the ABBA remix by Cher blazing over the speakers. Isis held Thor and Horus away from Apollo with an invisible wall while dragging the Greek by his ear to another room where Dionysus and others were happily drinking wine from the red plastic cups provided for the party.

‘You are ruining Ra’s birthday party! Stop messing around or I’ll hand you over to Hera’s tender mercies.’

Apollo bowed his head and then looked up at the goddess through his fringe. ‘How ‘bout a reconciliatory kiss?’

‘Argh!’ she flung him from her and stalked away.

Apollo grinned puckishly and whipped his bow and an arrow out from nowhere and shot a cup of wine off Dionysus’ head. Wine splattered everywhere. The cream walls dripped as with blood. Bast, in her cat-form, came streaking out from beneath a table – soaked in wine.

Blaze of Glory, Smoke on the Water, Irascible Immortals by Ronel Janse van Vuuren

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