Greek Myths Codexery

Dionysus

God of wine, theatre, and ecstatic liberation.

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The Greeks referred to him as Bacchus, a name the Romans later adopted, which is linked to the frenzy called baccheia that he is said to cause.[1] A sceptre made from a fennel stem, sometimes encircled by ivy and dripping with honey, is his thyrsus; it functions as a beneficial wand and also as a tool to attack those who resist his worship.[1]

Key facts and history

The earliest written records of Dionysus worship come from Mycenaean Greece, dated to around 1300 BC.[2] Evidence from Linear B tablets found at Pylos includes the spelling di-wo-nu-so, which indicates his worship occurred early.[3][4] According to most narratives, his birthplace was Thrace, he journeyed to foreign lands, and then entered Greece as an outsider.[5] Iacchus, who is identified as either the son or the husband of Demeter in the Eleusinian Mysteries, is equated with Dionysus.[5]

In the religious practices of his cult, wine held a central position and was viewed as the physical embodiment of the god.[6] The performance of sacred dramas that reenacted his stories was a component of Dionysus's festivals, and this practice was the original impetus for the emergence of theatre in Western civilization.[6] A dinos created by the Attic potter Sophilos around 570 BC bears the oldest confirmed depiction of Dionysus, which includes his name.[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Dionysus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hedreen, Guy Michael. Silens in Attic Black-figure Vase-painting: Myth and Performance. University of Michigan Press. 1992. . p. 1; James, Edwin Oliver. The Tree of Life: An Archaeological Study. Brill Publications. 1966. p. 234.; In Greek "both votary and god are called Bacchus". Burkert, p. 162. For the initiate as Bacchus, see Euripides, Bacchae 491. For the god, who alone is Dionysus,; Csapo, "Theologies of Ancient Greek Religion", Cambridge University Press, 3 August 2016, p. 118; Olszewski, E. (2019). Dionysus’s enigmatic thyrsus. Procee en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Dionysus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Isler-Kerényi, "Dionysos in Archaic Greece", Brill, 2007, p. 5–16; Kerényi, Karl. 1976. Dionysus. Trans. Ralph Manheim, Princeton University Press. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Dionysus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Beekes 2009, p. 337; Palaima, Thomas G. University of Texas at Austin, 1998; Beekes 2009, p. 337; John Chadwick, The Mycenaean World, Cambridge University Press, 1976, pp. 99ff: "But Dionysos surprisingly appears twice at Pylos, in the form Diwonusos, both t; "The Linear B word di-wo-nu-so", Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages; Raymoure, "KH 5 Gq (1)", Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B, 2 November 2012 }} {{cite web; "The Linear B word di-wo", Palaeolexicon; Beekes 2009, p. 337; Fox, p. 217, "The word Dionysos is divisible i en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Dionysus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram, Sophocles: an interpretation, Cambridge University Press, 1980, p. 109 Google Books preview; Zofia H. Archibald, in Gocha R. Tsetskhladze (Ed.) Ancient Greeks west and east, Brill, 1999, pp. 429 ff.Google Books preview; Thomas McEvilley, The Shape of Ancient Thought, Allsworth press, 2002, pp. 118–121. Google Books preview (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Dionysus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rosemarie Taylor-Perry, 2003. The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revisited. Algora Press. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Dionysus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Julian, trans. by Emily Wilmer Cave Wright. To the Cynic Heracleios. The Works of the Emperor Julian, volume II (1913) Loeb Classical Library.; Isler-Kerényi, "Dionysos in Archaic Greece", Brill, 2007, p. 5–16; Brockett, Oscar Gross (1968). History of the Theatre. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. pp. 18–26.; Riu, "Dionysism and Comedy", Rowman and Littlefield, 1999, p. 105; Corrente, Paola. 2012. Dioniso y los Dying gods: paralelos metodológicos. Tesis doctoral, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Dionysus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Isler-Kerényi, "Dionysos in Archaic Greece", Brill, 2007, p. 5–16; "dinos", The British Museum (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dionysus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Ancient Greek religion

More in Greek Myths

DemeterPersephonePrometheusHeraclesPerseusMedusaThe MinotaurOdysseusThe Trojan WarMount OlympusThe TitansThetis

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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