Zeus had a reputation for being a seducer of women. One day he lay with a mortal – Semele, the daughter of the king of Thebes. Their son Dionysos was brought up by nymphs. One day he discovered the vine, and decided to travel the world teaching mankind the art of making wine out of it.
Dionysus loved singing and dancing and dressing like a woman. Staff wound with ivy topped by pinecone. Dionysus was always accompanied by a procession. Dionysys didn’t fit it. Nickname he who roars or wild one.
Dionysus was the son of Zeus, chief deity of the ancient Greek pantheon, and Semele, a daughter of Cadmus (king of Thebes).Jul 18, 2022 A mortal cannot set eyes on a god unless he transforms himself as an ordinary man. Again, Hera was angry. Hera took on the appearance of Semele’s nursemaid. Because Hera as nursemaind told her to do so, Semele demanded to see Zeus as god. The entire palace bursts into flames, and semele was 6 months pregnant, but semele’s baby was saved. Hermes cut open zeus thigh and plants baby there for 3 months until time for him to be born. To try to fool Hera, Zeus ordered that Dionysus be dressed like girl. Hermes carried Dionysys to nymphs who raised him They nursed him and fed him with fruits.
In Greek mythology, the Nysiads or Nysiades (Ancient Greek: Νυσιάδες) were Okeanid nymphs of mythical Mount Nysa. Zeus entrusted the infant god Dionysus[1] to their care, and the Nysiads raised him with the assistance of the old satyr-god Seilenos. When Dionysus was grown the Nysiads joined his company as the first of the Bakkhantes.
The names of the nymphs include:[2]
- Ambrosia
- Arsinoe
- Bromia or Bromis
- Cisseis
- Coronis
- Erato
- Eriphia
- Nysa[3][4]
- Pedile
- Polymno or Polyhymno
Dionysus became the wandering god. Dionysus spotted a snake biting into the grapes on a vine. This prompted Dionysus to squeeze the graphes. Astonished by the amount of juice, he came up with the idea of growing grapes for juice and wine. He set about on a mission to share his discovery with mortals and the laud and raucous nymphs accompanied him. Theold satyr-god Seilenos joined them. Satyrs have constantly erect penises. The satyr was wise but he stayed drunk. The procession passed through Syria, Egypt. In Egypt he taught King Proteus about the wine. After Egypt, the procession went to Thrace.
LYKOURGOS (Lycurgus) was an impious king of the Edonians of Thrake. He attacked Dionysos when the god was travelling through his land instructing men in the art of winemaking or–in another version of the tale–when the god was a child in the care of the Nymphs of Mount Nysa. As the divine troupe fled his assault, Lykourgos struck down Dionysos’ nurse Ambrosia with an axe The rest of the company dived into the sea where they were given refuge by the goddess Thetis.
As punishment for his crime, Lykourgos was inflicted with madness and in this crazed state slew his wife and sons. His own death followed soon after:–some say he chopped off his own feet with an axe before killing himself; others that he was struck blind and being scorned by all died in destitution; or that he was torn apart by his own horses, devoured by the panthers of the god, or wrapped in strangling vines and sent to Haides for eternal torment.
Lykourgos’ fate was not unique–Pentheus, Orpheus, the Proitides and the Minyades also suffered severe punishment for scorning the god.
The grandmother of Dionysus Rhea? came and punished the King. She also released the Nymphs.
After Thrace, Dionysus went to India. Zeus wanted Dionysys to annihilate the Indian gods.
Joyous processions for Dionysus in India.
The City of Thebes remained to be conquered. Thebes was ruled by King Pentheus
Thebes was a major force in Greek history prior to its destruction by Alexander the Great in 335 BC, and was the most dominant city-state at the time of the Macedonian conquest of Greece. During the Byzantine period, the city was famous for its silks.
Pentheus liked order and he disliked the wild procession of the half-naked nymphs. Dionysus’s own aunts turned on Dionysus, who was driven out of town under siege of arrows.
Originally Dionysus was the Greek god of fertility. Later, he came to be known chiefly as the god of wine and pleasure. The Romans called him Bacchus. Dionysus was the son of the supreme god Zeus and Semele, the daughter of a king.
Pentheus had banned the worship of the god Dionysus, who was the son of his aunt Semele, and forbade the women of Cadmeia to partake in his rites. An angered Dionysus caused Pentheus’ mother Agave and his aunts Ino and Autonoë, along with all the other women of Thebes, to rush to Mount Cithaeron in a Bacchic frenzy. Accordingly, Pentheus imprisoned Dionysus, thinking the man simply a follower, but his chains fell off and the jail doors opened for him.
Dionysus lured Pentheus, disguised as a woman, out to spy on the Bacchic rites, where Pentheus expected to see sexual activities. The daughters of Cadmus saw him in a tree and thought him to be a wild animal. They pulled Pentheus down and tore him limb from limb (as part of a ritual known as the sparagmos). When his true identity was later discovered, officials exiled the women from Thebes. Some say that his own mother was the first to attack him, tearing his arm off and then tearing off his head. She placed the head on a stick and took it back to Thebes, but only realized whose head it was after meeting her father Cadmus.
The name “Pentheus”, as Dionysus and Tiresias both point out, means “Man of Sorrows” and derives from πένθος, pénthos, sorrow or grief, especially the grief caused by the death of a loved one. His name appeared to mark him for tragedy. Pentheus was succeeded by his uncle Polydorus.
Before or possibly after Pentheus was killed, his wife gave birth to a son named Menoeceus, who became the father of Creon and Jocasta. He became the grandfather of Oedipus.
The story of Pentheus is also discussed by Ovid in his Metamorphoses (3. 511–733). Ovid’s version diverges from Euripides’ work in several areas. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, King Pentheus is warned by the blind seer Tiresias to welcome Bacchus or else “Your blood [shall be] poured out and defile the woods and your mother and her sisters…” Pentheus dismisses Tiresias and ignores his warnings. As Thebes succumbs to the “dementia and the delirium of the new god”, Pentheus laments the fall of his kingdom and demands the arrest of Bacchus. His guards instead arrest Acoetes of Maeonia, a sailor who confirms the divinity of Bacchus and tells how the crew of his ship ended up being turned into dolphins after trying to kidnap the young god.
Pentheus, convinced that Acoetes is lying, tries to throw him in jail, but when the guards try to shackle Acoetes, the chains fall off. In a rage, Pentheus ran to deal with Bacchus himself. He charged through the woods straight into a Bacchanalia. Driven to a frenzy the participants thought Pentheus was a boar and attacked him. His mother was the first one to spear him and then the group tore his flesh apart with their bare hands.
Dionysus encourages the citizens of Thebes to relax and accept their wilder selves. Folly is wanting a completely virtuous, rational city. Welcome the unpredictable along with the rational.
Dionysus continued his travel to naxos and saw weeping ariadne. Thesus had abandoned her. Dionysus took ariadne to mount olympus. Dionysys had earned right to live with gods. Dionysys worship spread. This gave rise to Greek art form Theater.
Boys played roles of women. Characters wore masks.