Dionysus is a Roman name. Dionysus - the god of vegetation, winemaking, inspiration and the productive forces of nature: photos, pictures description of the cult of Dionysus
Dionysus - god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture, winemakingA 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 if 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 the sister of Semele 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, reveling in the blood of torn wild animals, carving honey and milk from the ground with their thyrses, uprooting trees and dragging 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 number of 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, which preserved 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”), 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 in 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
Among the countless number of gods that have replaced each other throughout the history of mankind, there is one whom people never tire of worshiping, and to whom they pay tribute with special pleasure - this is the god of wine and fun. And it doesn’t matter how exactly he was called in one era or another - Bacchus, Dionysus or something else, but he always knew how to disperse boredom and despondency.
The bastard son of the Thunderer
His birth was as unusual as his entire subsequent life. The celestials who inhabited Olympus in ancient times told for a long time how his father Zeus, secretly from his wife Hera, got into the habit of going to the young and very frivolous goddess Semele, who very soon felt herself, as they say, in an interesting position.
In the arms of the thunderer
When the neighboring goddesses reported this to Hera, she, wishing to pour out her jealousy not on her fornicator husband, but on his passion, through witchcraft instilled in her a crazy fantasy of asking her lover to hug her as frantically as he was used to doing with her, his lawful wife. .
Seizing one of those moments when men are generous with promises, Semele whispered her wish to him. The poor thing did not take into account only one thing - she asked for crazy hugs from the Thunderer himself, and, having received them, she immediately burned, engulfed in the fire of his unbridled passion.
Deity born from the thigh
However, we must pay tribute to Zeus, even at such a critical moment he did not lose his presence of mind. Having managed to remove the barely developed fetus from the womb of his burning girlfriend, he placed it in his own thigh, after which he safely delivered it and, in due time, was born into a dark-skinned, loud-mouthed baby. This is exactly how, according to legend, the Greek god of wine and fun, Dionysus, was born.
Over the years, it is difficult to remember where exactly the events described above took place - some claim that on Crete, others point to the island of Naxos, but it is known for certain that Zeus entrusted the upbringing of his child to the nymphs who lived in those parts since time immemorial. One can only guess what these frivolous creatures taught him, since he turned out not to be a sedate and sensible husband, but an eccentric god of wine and winemaking, full of inexhaustible fun.
New machinations of Hera
How long the young god of wine Dionysus spent in their company is also unknown, but only anxiety sank into the soul of Zeus - knowing the character of his wife Hera, he did not believe that she would come to terms with the presence of his bastard son in the world. To prevent her possible intrigues, the Thunderer sent his young man to one close relative - the goddess of retribution Ino.
But alas, women's cunning is sometimes limitless. Having learned where Dionysus was hiding, Hera sent madness to Ino’s husband, King Athamas, hoping that in a fit of rage he would kill the boy she hated. Fortunately, this did not happen, and the young but already experienced god of wine escaped into the sea waves, where the Nereids, the closest relatives of our mermaids, took him into their arms. As for the victim of the insane Athamas, it was his own son, who very inopportunely turned up under his father’s arm.
Science taught by a satyr
Fairly believing that his wife would continue to try to destroy Dionysus, Zeus took a last resort - he turned him into a kid (albeit with horns, but alive), and sent him to his familiar nymphs, who safely hid him in one of the caves. These mythical creatures lived in a remote area located on the territory of modern Israel.
And it must happen that this seemingly uninhabited refuge was chosen as his home by one old satyr - a demon and the closest friend of the drunkard Bacchus. It was from him that the young and still inexperienced Dionysus learned the secrets of winemaking. And having learned to create this wonderful drink, he became addicted to drinking it, having no idea about any “moderate doses” that were supposedly beneficial to health.
Very soon his soul, overflowing with wine fumes, demanded space, and, scattering the branches that hid the entrance to the cave, the young, but not entirely sober god stepped into the world. It is difficult to say where he initially directed his unsteady feet, since today’s archaeologists find traces of his presence during excavations of the ancient cities of Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria and even India, where he helped local yogis plunge into nirvana.
Life is full of adventures
As Greek mythology testifies, the subsequent life of Dionysus was full of the most incredible adventures, which, however, is not surprising, given his inclinations. They say, for example, that once during a sea voyage he was captured by pirates who had no idea who they were dealing with. Imagine their amazement when the shackles suddenly fell from his hands by themselves, and the masts of the ship turned into snakes. To complete the nightmare, their captive took the form of a bear and growled menacingly. The pirates jumped overboard in horror and then turned into dolphins.
The story of how the reckless god of wine undertook to build the first bridge in history across the great Euphrates River also remained in the memory of the Greeks. He completed the work on time, and was very pleased with himself, but, unfortunately, he wove it from ivy and a vine that was dear to his heart. However, he soon made up for this mistake with great feats, taking part in the Greek campaign against India. They say that a special Bacchic holiday was even established in honor of this.
And the story of how, having descended into the kingdom of the dead, Dionysus brought out his mother Semele, who then changed her name to Fiona and received immortality, like the other inhabitants of Olympus, may seem completely incredible.
Marriage of Dionysius
But there is also another known feat with which the God of wine and fun adorned himself. In ancient Roman mythology, there is a story about how the daughter of the Cretan king Minos, Ariadne, used a thread to lead her beloved Theseus out of the labyrinth. It so happened that, once free, the ungrateful hero abandoned her, causing the unfortunate girl to fall into complete despair.
It was then that Dionysius appeared in her life, although he was a drinker, but a very noble man - often, even in our time, these qualities are combined in people in the most amazing way. Far from bourgeois prejudices, he took an abandoned girl as his wife, and his father Zeus granted her immortality. Since then, Ariadne has found her rightful place among the other celestial inhabitants of Olympus.
Conclusion
Whether all this really happened or was just imagined by overzealous admirers of the drunken deity, it’s hard to say, because more than two thousand years have passed since then. And what difference does it make, the main thing is that stories in which the main character is the eccentric and cheerful god of wine still amuse our imagination. In antiquity, people saw the world through the prism of their incomparable imagination, the imprint of which was conveyed to us by the legends they created.
There are gods who are losers, gods who are marginalized. Their time is up, their names are forgotten, and their cults fade away. And there are “successful” gods. They come to us for a long time, quickly conquer our hearts and rule over us for thousands of years.
The founder of winemaking, Dionysus (Bacchus, Bacchus) is a successful and lucky god! It is believed that it has eastern (Thracian and Lydian-Phrygian) roots. In Greece, the spread and establishment of his cult dates back to the 8th-7th centuries. BC e., although the name of God is found on tablets of Cretan Linear writing much earlier - in the 14th century. BC e.
In a historically short period of time, the alien makes an enviable “career” - first he displaces in the competitive struggle numerous spirits, demons and deities who inhabited the territories of the ancient world, and then ascends to the heights of Olympus, becoming part of the brilliant Parnassian “elite”. Later his power extended to the “barbarian” tribes.
The victorious march of Dionysus across the lands of Hellas begins with the growth of cities and the development of polis democracy. In Delphi he is revered no less than Apollo. In Athens, the entire city flocks to the solemn processions, where the sacred marriage between the god of the vine and the wife of the archon basileus takes place. On Parnassus, orgies rage every two years, for which the Bacchantes are sent from Attica, and in Attica itself, tragic and comic poets compete in the glory of Bacchus, choirs sing praises, actors perform new comedies. By the way, thanks to Dionysus, the genre of tragedy also arose (the Greek word tragodia literally means “song of the goat” or “song of the goats,” that is, goat-footed satyrs - the companions of God).
Dionysus-Bacchus competed not only with Apollo. He also penetrated into the “zone of influence” of his grandmother Aphrodite, taking under his patronage such an important sphere of human life as carnal love. The symbol of the Parnassian winegrower is the sacred phallus, meaning continuation of life and fertility.
The vine found by Bacchus quickly grew and over time embraced the whole world. She turned a meal into a feast, and life into a celebration. Those who drank the wine acquired the eloquence of poets and the wisdom of the gods, “died” to earthly life and joined the “eternal” life. The god of the vine became a faithful lover for each of his adherents.
Meanwhile, the origins of Bacchus are dark and dubious. His mother was either Persephone (the goddess of the kingdom of the dead), or Demeter (the deity of fertility), or an “ordinary” woman - Semele, the daughter of the Theban king Kad-ma (who, however, descended on the maternal side from Aphrodite). The latest version is most widespread, although it casts doubt on the right of Dionysus to the Olympic rank. Semele was not a goddess after all, and as for her father...
The princess claimed that she conceived a child from Zeus, the head of the ancient pantheon, but her sisters did not believe her. Be that as it may, the beauty literally “burned with love.” One day she begged Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness. The visit took place, but was extremely short-lived.
The Thunderer incinerated his beloved with fire, and snatched the child, who was born premature, from the flames and sewed it into his thigh. (Did Dionysus inherit a fiery nature and a certain unbridled character from his father?..)
Having given birth to a son, Zeus instructed Hermes to give him to be raised by the Nisean nymphs. It is curious that even today the guardian does not part with his ward - Hermes and Dionysus “meet” in every bottle of good wine! After all, the “hermetic” packaging is named after Hermes because he was a master at sealing vessels, so that the wine did not spoil during long-term storage.
Having found the vine, Bacchus walked along the ground surrounded by a very colorful retinue, about which we can rightfully say that it “did not dry out.” Satyrs and bacchantes, entwined with ivy, armed with thyrses (staffs), seized with sacred ecstasy and girded with snakes, crushed everything in their path, uprooted trees, reveled in the blood of torn wild animals and with cries of “Bacchus, Evoe!” they praised Dionysus. The wine flowed like a river, drawing thousands of men and women into its streams.
How can one explain the irresistible appeal of the “wine god”? Why did this half-breed god, an upstart god (as his aunts would say), win the right to stand on a par with the inhabitants of Olympus? What did Bacchus offer humanity and why did people so highly value the drink, which, from a chemist’s point of view, is nothing more than fermented grape juice?
Perhaps the reason is that the vine gave freedom, unlimited freedom. One of the epithets of Dionysus is “Liberator” (“LiEy”). He breaks the shackles of everyday life, removes civilizational restrictions, liberates desires.
Bacchus embodies the idea of pleasure, but at the same time the idea of disastrous delight, leading to madness and death. The threats lurking in Dionysianism were recognized already at the time of its first heyday. In Rome, people under 35 were not allowed to drink wine. And the Danube Scevos even introduced a “prohibition law”, prohibiting not only but even the import of it into their territory.
Dionysus was loved and feared. People were fascinated and frightened by the mystery of transforming harmless grape juice into an intoxicating drink. They said that Bacchus mastered Thessalian witchcraft and was able to turn river water into intoxicating poison. A number of myths contain traces of an ancient taboo that prohibited wine under threat of death. It is believed that initially it was used “legally” only by representatives of the priestly nobility. Wine played the role of a conductor between the earthly and other worlds, shortening the period of entering a trance, thanks to which the cult minister could communicate with supernatural forces and the world of shadows.
As viticulture spread, the ancient taboo died out, and the opportunity to enter into intercourse with spirits (or, at least, to enjoy the subtle taste of the drink) became generally available.
Happy tasting!
Dionysus (Διώνυσος) - God of wine and fun, son of Zeus.
In Greek mythology, Dionysus was born from the thigh of his father, his mother Semele was the daughter of the king of Thebes, Cadmus. Dionysus is the most cheerful of the gods, he visited many countries and cities to teach people how to cultivate the vine and make wine from the fruit. And, of course, as the god of joy and fun, he did not travel alone. He was always accompanied by a noisy crowd of maenads, satyrs, centaurs and sileni.
The wonderful wine that Dionysus treated lifted people's spirits, they forgot their troubles, and a smile appeared on their faces. Where Dionysus appeared with his retinue, a feast began to the cheerful sounds of musical instruments, accompanied by dancing and cheerful songs.
Birth of Dionysus or "twice born"
Having learned about Zeus's new love affair, Hera thought about it and decided that only by cunning could she return her husband; Semele was very beautiful and young. Blinded by jealousy and wanting revenge, Hera decided to take on the guise of an old woman, Semele’s nurse, in order to be closer to her husband’s pregnant mistress and gain her trust.
Hera made Semele doubt that it was Zeus who spent the nights with her and advised him to demonstrate all his attire of the Thunder God. The main god of Olympus had no choice but to dispel doubts and appear before the girl with all the attributes - thunder, lightning. But lightning immediately set Cadmus’s palace on fire, and Semele died in the fire, having already given birth.
The child was so small that Zeus had to carry him to term himself. With the help of Hermes, they sew the boy into his thigh. Three months later, Dionysus is safely born for the second time, from his father's thigh.
When Hera learned about the existence of the child, her anger shifted to the newborn. The father had to give the baby to be raised by Semele’s sister and her husband. To hide the baby from the jealous eyes, he was dressed in girl’s clothes, and even his father turns him into a kid (that’s why Dionysus is often depicted with horns). But Hera overtook the baby here too, instilling madness in Semele’s sister and husband. Then the baby was sent to the nymphs, to Mount Nisa, to the ends of the earth, where Dionysus grew up. Soon he married the daughter of the Cretan king, Ariadne (the one who helped Theseus get out of the labyrinth).
Dionysus is considered the patron saint of wanderers, male power, plants, and theater.
Attributes of Dionysus: thyrsus, vine, cup, ivy, mask, bull, snake, dolphin.
Dionysus - patron of the theater
The cheerful Dionysius was loved by the ancient Greeks, his cult spread throughout Hellas. In autumn and spring, large official festivals are established throughout the Greek world, in the depths of which the main form of Greek art - theater - is born. Greek poems take the form of theatrical plays, which are performed in places dedicated to Dionysus. They talk about the life and exploits of the god Dionysus and other heroes accompanying the god. At the same time, people change clothes, wear masks and drink wine. The festivals were called the Great Dionysia.
"Twice Born" Dionysus appeared on Olympus later than other gods. He was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman - the beautiful Theban princess Semele. Zeus swore to her to fulfill any request - and so, at the instigation of Hera, Semele asked that Zeus appear before her in all the majesty of the thunder god. This request was thoughtless: when Zeus appeared in the roar of thunder and the flash of lightning, fire engulfed the palace and Semele, who lived in it. A curious woman died, but she was soon to have a child, but could Zeus allow the death of his unborn son? He snatched the child from the fire, and since the baby was too small and weak to live on his own, Zeus sewed it into his thigh. Dionysus grew stronger in the body of his father and was then born a second time from the thigh of the thunderer Zeus. Therefore, Dionysus was called “twice-born.”
Dionysus brings his mother to Olympus. As for Semele, Dionysus, of course, could not come to terms with the fact that his mother was in the kingdom of Hades. When he received a place on Olympus, he made his descent into the world of the dead. There he found Semele and brought her to Olympus, where she became a goddess and was worshiped under the name Tiona. Therefore, Dionysus himself was sometimes called Tionian - son of Tione.
Dionysus is hidden from Hera. After his new birth, Dionysus was handed over to be raised by King Athamas and his wife Ino, Semele’s sister, with whom he lived for some time, disguised as a girl. However, even changing clothes could not hide him from Hera, who was not satisfied with the death of Semele and transferred her hatred to her child. Hoping that Athamas would kill Dionysus, she sent him mad. However, he only killed his son, mistaking him for a deer, and Hermes carried Dionysus away from danger.
Wanting to better shelter Dionysus from persecution by Hera, Hermes took him to the nymphs on Mount Nysa (at the same time, so that Hera would not notice him, Dionysus was turned into a kid by Zeus). The Nisean nymphs settled Dionysus in a cool mountain grotto, looked after him, and fed him honey. For this care of his son, Zeus later placed the Nisean nymphs in the sky among the stars, where they can be seen to this day in the form of the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus. And the child of Zeus, in memory of his stay on Nisa, received a name that consists of the name of his father (Diy, that is, Zeus) and the name of the place where he was raised; This is how his name came about.
Dionysus makes drinks. It was on Nisa that Dionysus made his most important discovery - he learned to make a soul-merrying drink from grape juice. That is why, when he grew up, he became the cheerful, powerful god of wine, giving people strength and joy. Wanting to bestow his discovery on people, Dionysus walked around almost the entire inhabited earth, teaching everywhere to grow grapes and make wine from them; and in those countries where grapes do not grow, Dionysus taught people to make another, no less fragrant, drink from barley - beer. [For this, in many countries where God made life more pleasant, he was awarded the highest honors.]
The first tragedy because of wines. The first person whom Dionysus treated to wine and taught how to make it was a farmer from Attica named Icarius. He liked the drink and decided to introduce it to other people. That's when the first tragedy happened. The shepherds to whom Icarius brought the wine were delighted - they had never drunk anything like this, and therefore drank too much of the unusual drink.
After getting drunk, they felt bad and thought that Icarius had poisoned them. They attacked him furiously and killed him. Icarius had a daughter named Erigone. When her father did not return home, the girl went to look for him and, with the help of a faithful dog, found him - but dead. Erigone's grief was so great that she hanged herself from a tree above her father's body.
But Dionysus, who treated Icarius well, did not leave his death without revenge. He sent madness to the Athenian girls, and they began to commit suicide, as Erigone did. The inhabitants of Athens asked Apollo why the gods were angry with them, and received the answer that the reason for this was the murder of Icarius. Then the Athenians punished the murderous shepherds, and in memory of Erigone, at the festival in honor of Dionysus, Athenian girls began to arrange swings in the trees and swing on them. And the gods placed the dead Icarius and Erigone in the sky, and he became the constellation Arcturus, and she became the constellation Virgo. There was also a place in the sky for the faithful dog who helped Erigone in search of her father - this is now the star Sirius.
Bacchae. On his travels, Dionysus was accompanied by a crowd of admirers, not only men, but also women. Wearing a crown of grapes, he walked or rode on a panther, and behind him and around him in a riotous dance rushed maenads (they are also called bacchantes, because one of the names of Dionysus was the name Bacchus) - women who devoted themselves to serving Dionysus. In their hands were thyrsi - wands entwined with ivy, the same as those of Dionysus himself; they were dressed in deer skins and girded with strangled snakes. In a holy frenzy they crushed everything that came their way. With exclamations of “Bacchus, Evoe!” they beat the tympanums, tore into pieces the wild animals they came across with their hands, carved milk and honey out of the ground and rocks with their thyrsi, and uprooted the trees they encountered. Their violent procession carried away all the people they met and was dedicated to Dionysus Bromius, that is, the “Noisy One.”
Satires. In addition to the maenads, Dionysus was accompanied everywhere by satyrs - creatures similar to humans, but with bodies covered with wool, goat legs, horns and horse tails. They were mischievous, crafty, always cheerful, often drunk; in life, except for wine and beautiful nymphs, they were not interested in anything. Accompanying Dionysus, they performed simple melodies on pipes and flutes, and the piercing sounds of this music echoed throughout the surrounding area, announcing the approach of the cheerful god.
Old Man Silenus. In this noisy procession, which was called fias, the old man Silenus, the teacher of Dionysus, also rides on a donkey. He is quite funny to look at - bald, pot-bellied, snub-nosed, and always sits on a donkey. Silenus likes the drink invented by his pupil so much that no one has seen Silenus sober for a long time. However, he did not drink away his mind, and sometimes, in a completely sober voice, he utters words full of wisdom. Dionysus loves his teacher very much; at his command, he is constantly watched and looked after by satyrs.
Midas. Despite these precautions, one day Silenus disappeared. When a forest hummock fell under the donkey’s feet and he stumbled, Silenus fell from him and remained lying in the roadside bushes. No one noticed this, and Silenus himself slept peacefully in the place where he fell off the donkey.
In the morning he was found by the servants of King Midas and taken to the palace. The king immediately realized who was in front of him, and therefore surrounded him with all honor, let him sleep it off, and then helped him return to Dionysus. For this, God suggested that Midas ask for any reward. He, not distinguished by any particular intelligence or imagination, asked to make everything he touched turn into gold. “I’m sorry, Midas, that you didn’t come up with anything better, but have it your way!” - With these words, Dionysus sent Midas home.
The king was beside himself with happiness. Still would! He will now become the richest man on earth! He broke a branch from a tree - and the branch in his hands became golden. He picked up a stone from the ground - and the stone turned to gold. But now it’s time for the king to have dinner. He took bread from the table - and it also became golden. Only now did Midas understand how terrible the gift of Dionysus was: all food turned into gold in his hands, and he was now in danger of starvation. Then Midas prayed to Dionysus, asking him to take his gift back, and Dionysus, without bearing any grudge against him, agreed. He ordered him to go to the Tmol River and swim in it, wash off the magical power. Midas did just that, and after bathing he could safely touch anything - he no longer turned it into gold. And since then, people began to find golden sand in the Tmol River.
The incident in Thebes. Dionysus is beautiful and eternally young; long, wavy blue-black hair falls onto his shoulders, his dark blue eyes shine. To the sound of flutes and pipes, his fias procession moves from one country to another, and everywhere Dionysus teaches people to grow grapes and make wine from their heavy, ripe bunches. Not everyone and not everywhere liked it; sometimes they did not want to consider Dionysus a god, and then he brought down terrible punishments on the wicked. This is what happened, for example, in Thebes, the homeland of Semele, the mother of Dionysus.
Semele had a sister, Agave. When she died, incinerated by the lightning of Zeus, Agave began to say that Semele died deservedly: she spread rumors that Zeus himself had honored her with marital intercourse, and as punishment he destroyed her. The son of Agave, Pentheus, who became the Theban king, said the same thing: there is no god Dionysus, all these are inventions of idle people. Then Dionysus himself decided to stand up for the honor of his mother. Taking the form of a beautiful youth, he appeared in Thebes and there infected Agave and other Theban women with a bacchanalian frenzy. With wild cries of “Bacchus, Evoe!” they rushed to the mountains and there began to lead the life of frantic maenads.
Dionysus before Pentheus. The angry Pentheus ordered that the stranger who caused this disaster be brought to him. And now Dionysus, chained in chains, stands before the king. He smiles, watching how Pentheus rages, how, wanting to bind his captive even more tightly, he binds with strong bonds a bull, which seems to him to be Dionysus. Suddenly the whole palace shook, the columns began to shake, and in the place where Semele had once died, a pillar of fire appeared, illuminating the entire palace with its radiance. Pentheus, overcome by madness, thought that the palace was on fire and ordered water to be carried to extinguish the fire, and rushed at Dionysus, so that he would not escape his vengeance, with a drawn sword. It seemed to him that he had dealt a mortal blow to the stranger, but when he ran out of the palace, he again saw him, surrounded by a crowd of bacchantes.
God Dionysus
Pentheus falls victim to madness. Pentheus becomes increasingly mad. When a shepherd came from the mountains and told about the way of life that the bacchantes lead there, the king ordered the army to prepare for a campaign - all the bacchantes would be captured by force and killed! The king himself decided, disguised as a woman, to personally look at them in the forest. However, when he came to the forest, the women noticed him.
Dionysus made it so that they did not understand that there was a man in front of them, deciding that they were seeing a wild beast. The whole crowd attacked the unfortunate man and tore him to pieces. Agave, having planted the head of Pentheus on her staff, entered the city with this booty, calling everyone to look at the head of the fierce lion that she had killed. When the madness passed and she realized what crime she had committed, Agave left her hometown and died in a foreign land, and all the Thebans from now on had no doubt that Dionysus was a real god, and Semele was the wife of Zeus.
Dionysia.
Since Dionysus was associated with the cultivation of grapes, it is natural that the holidays in his honor were largely associated with work in the vineyards. This work was completed in December; At this time the holiday of the Lesser Dionysia fell. It was a joyful holiday in honor of the god of wine and fun, full of fun and jokes. On this day, noisy processions walked through the Greek villages, in which everyone participated - both men and women, both free and slaves. Those participating in these processions carried sacred objects and symbols of Dionysus - grape branches and vessels of wine. At the temple of Dionysus, sacrifices were made, and then feasts and entertainment began. It was on this day that Icarius and Erigone were honored, on this day the youth indulged in a fun and noisy game: they had to hold on to an inflated leather bag, lubricated with oil, on one leg. The winner received the same bag as a reward, but already filled with wine.
In February, another holiday was celebrated - Lenaia, and soon after them - Anthesteria. According to tradition, it was customary to taste young wine on the days of this holiday. At this time, vessels with wine were decorated with garlands of the first spring flowers; Children were also decorated with flowers, to whom it was customary to buy and give various toys on this day. During this holiday, adults held wine drinking competitions. The winner was the one who drank his cup faster.
But the main holiday in honor of Dionysus was the Great Dionysia, which was celebrated in late March - early April. It lasted a whole week and was celebrated with great pomp. But, perhaps, what is more important for us is not this pomp, but the fact that the birth of the theater is connected with this holiday. Tragedy and comedy later arose from the skits performed by the costumed participants in the Dionysian processions. On the Great Dionysia, tragedies were played in theaters for four days, and on Lenaia, comedies were staged in theaters of ancient Greece.
