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DIONYSOS GOD ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ

GENERAL INFO

I) What was Dionysos the god of?

II) What were his symbols, attributes,
sacred plants and animals?

III) Who were the family & attendants of Dionysos?

IV) Where and how was he worshipped?

V) What were some of the popular myths about Dionysos?

PICTURES

I) Depictions of Dionysos in Greek Vase Painting

These images of Dionysos come from Ancient Greek Vases, painted approximately
2,500 years ago. NB Click on thumbnails to view full-size images.

II) Other Classical Depictions of Dionysos

Dionysos was also depicted in classical statues, stone reliefs, frescoes and coins.

SELECTED MYTHS (short versions)

I) The Birth of Dionysos

"Zeus fell in love with Semele and slept with her, promising her anything she wanted, and keeping it all from Hera. But Semele was deceived by Hera into asking Zeus to come to her as he came to Hera during their courtship. So Zeus, unable to refuse, arrived in her bridal chamber in a chariot with lightning flashes and thunder, and sent a thunderbolt at her. Semele died of fright, and Zeus grabbed from the fire her six-month aborted baby, which he sewed into his thigh. After Semele’s death the remaining daughters of Kadmos circulated the story that she had slept with a mortal, thereafter accusing Zeus, and because of this had been killed by a thunderbolt.
At the proper time Zeus loosened the stitches and gave birth to Dionysos, whom he entrusted to Hermes. Hermes took him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to bring him up as a girl. Incensed, Hera inflicted madness on them, so that that Athamas stalked and slew his elder son Learkhos on the conviction that he was a dear, while Ino threw Melikertes into a basin of boiling water, and then, carrying both the basin and the corpse of the boy, she jumped to the bottom of the sea ... As for Zeus, he escaped Hera’s anger by changing Dionysos into a baby goat. Hermes took him to the Nymphai of Asian Nysa, whom Zeus in later times places among the stars and named the Hyades." Source:  Apollodorus, The Library 3.26-29

II) Dionysos & the Death of Pentheus

"They say that Pentheus [king of Thebes] treated Dionysos spitefully, his crowning outrage being that he went to Kithairon, to spy upon the women, and climbing up a tree beheld what was done. When the women detected Pentheus, they immediately dragged him down, and joined in tearing him, living as he was, limb from limb. Afterwards ... the Pythian priestess commanded them by an oracle to discover that tree and to worship it equally with the god." Source: Pausanias 2.2.6-

III) Dionysos & the Impiety of Lykourgos

"The son of Dryas, Lykourgos the powerful, did not live long; he who tried to fight with the gods of the bright sky, who once drove the fosterers of rapturous Dionysos headlong down the sacred Nyseian hill, and all of them shed and scattered their wands on the ground, stricken with an ox-goad by murderous Lykourgos, while Dionysos in terror dived into the salt surf, and Thetis took him to her bosom, frightened, with the strong shivers upon him at the man’s blustering. But the gods who live at their ease were angered with Lykourgos and the son of Kronos [Zeus] struck him to blindness, nor did he live long afterwards, since he was hated by all the immortals." Source: Homer, The Iliad 6.129

IV) Dionysos & the Wine of Ikarios

"When Father Liber [Dionysos] went out to visit men in order to demonstrate the sweetness and pleasantness of his fruit, he came to the generous hospitality of Icarius and Erigone. To them he gave a skin full of wine as a gift and bade them spread the use of it in all the other lands. Loading a wagon, Icarius with his daughter Erigone and a dog Maera came to shepherds in the land of Attica, and showed them the kind of sweetness wine had. The shepherds, made drunk by drinking immoderately, collapsed, and thinking that Icarius had given them some bad medicine, killed him with clubs. The dog Maera, howling over the body of the slain Icarius, showed Erigone where her father lay unburied. When she came there, she killed herself by hanging in a tree over the body of her father. Because of this, Father Liber [Dionysos] afflicted the daughters of the Athenians with alike punishment. They asked an oracular response from Apollo concerning this, and he told them they had neglected he deaths of Icarius and Erigone. At this reply they exacted punishment from the shepherds, and in honour of Erigone instituted a festival day of swinging ." -Hyginus Fabulae 130

V) Dionysos & the Tyrrhenian Pirates

"Dionysos appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea, seeming like a stripling in the first flush of manhood: his rich, dark hair was waving about him, and on his strong shoulders he wore a purple robe. Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenoi pirates on a well- decked ship - a miserable doom led them on. When they saw him they made signs to one another and sprang out quickly, and seizing him straightway, put him on board their ship exultingly; for they thought him the son of heaven-nurtured kings. They sought to bind him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold him, and the withes fell far away from his hands and feet: and he sat with a smile in his dark eyes. Then the helmsman understood all and cried out at once to his fellows and said: `Madmen! What god is this whom you have taken and bind, strong that he is? Not even the well-built ship can carry him. Surely this is either Zeus or Apollon who has the silver bow, or Poseidon, for he looks not like mortal men but like the gods who dwell on Olympos. Come, then, let us set him free upon the dark shore at once: do not lay hands on him, lest he grow angry and stir up dangerous winds and heavy squalls.'
So said he: but the captain chided him ... He had mast and sail hoisted on the ship, and the wind filled the sail and the crew hauled taut the sheets on either side. But soon strange things were seen among them. First of all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming throughout all the black ship and a heavenly smell arose, so that all the seamen were seized with amazement when they saw it. And all at once a vine spread out both ways along the top of the sail with many clusters hanging down from it, and a dark ivy-plant twined about the mast, blossoming with flowers, and with rich berries growing on it; and all the thole-pins were covered with garlands. When the pirates saw all this, then at last they bade the helmsman to put the ship to land. But the god changed into a dreadful lion there on the ship, in the bows, and roared loudly: amidships also he showed his wonders and created a shaggy bear which stood up ravening, while on the forepeak was the lion glaring fiercely with scowling brows. And so the sailors fled into the stern and crowded bemused about the right-minded helmsman, until suddenly the lion sprang upon the master and seized him; and when the sailors saw it they leapt out overboard one and all into the bright sea, escaping from a miserable fate, and were changed into dolphins. But on the helmsman Dionysos had mercy and held him back and made him altogether happy." Source: Homeric Hymn 7 to Dionysus

VI) The Wedding of Dionysos & Ariadne

"[Theseus] carried off Ariadne [from Krete] and sailed out unobserved during the night, after which he put in at the island which at that time was called Dia, but is now called Naxos. At this same time, the myths relate, Dionysos showed himself on the island, and because of the beauty of Ariadne he took the maiden away from Theseus and kept her as his lawful wife, loving her exceedingly. Indeed, after her death he considered her worthy of immortal honours because of the affection he had for her, and placed among the stars of heaven the ‘Crown of Ariadne." Source: Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History 4.61.5

VI) The Journey of Dionysos to the Underworld

"Liber [Dionysos] received permission from his father [Zeus] to bring back his mother Semele from the lower world, and in seeking a place of descent had come to the land of the Argives, a certain Hyplipnus met him, a man worthy of that generation, who was to show the entrance to Liber [Dionysos] in answer to his request … So then, when Liber [Dionysos] came to that place and was about to descend, he left the crown, which he had received as a gift from Venus [Aphrodite], at that place which in consequence is called Stephanos, for he was unwilling to take it with him for fear the immortal gift of the gods would be contaminated by contact with the dead. When he brought his mother back unharmed, he is said to have placed the crown in the stars as an everlasting memorial." Source: Hyginus, Astronomica 2.5

FURTHER INFO (15 detailed pages on Dionysos)

NOTE: Many of these sections are currently under construction (they will be available in early 2005)

PART 1: INDEX & ILLUSTRATIONS
Index of Dionysos pages
Illustrations from Greek Vase Paintings
Quotes - Descriptions, Hymns

PART 2: DIONYSOS GOD OF
Quotes - describing his various divine functions

PART 3A: MYTHS GENERAL 1
Quotes - general stories about Dionysos

PART 3B: MYTHS GENERAL 2
Quotes - general stories about Dionysos

PART 3C: MYTHS GENERAL 3
Quotes - general stories about Dionysos set in the East
(Egypt, Libya, Phoenicia, Syria, Arabia, Phrygia, and India)

PART 3D: MYTHS GENERAL 4
Quotes - general stories about Dionysos in Orphic & Thrakian myth

PART 4A: MYTHS WRATH 1
List of those Punished
Quotes - stories of those punished by the god

PART 4B: MYTHS WRATH 2
Quotes - stories of those punished by the god: Pentheus & the Kadmeides

PART 5: MYTHS FAVOUR
List of those Favoured
Quotes - stories of heroes blessed or assisted by the god

PART 6A: MYTHS LOVES
List of Lovers
Quotes - stories of the women loved by Dionysos

PART 6B: MYTHS LOVES ARIADNE
Dionysos and Ariadne
Quotes - stories of Dionysos and Ariadne

PART 6B: MYTHS CHILDREN
List of Children
Quotes - children of Dionysos

PART 7: TREASURES
Lists of divine Possessions
Quotes - items owned by the god; sacred plants and animals

PART 8: ATTENDANTS
Lists of divine Attendants
Quotes - attendants of the god

PART 9: BACCHANALIA
Quotes - the Bacchic orgies in myth and cult

PART 10A: CULT OF DIONYSOS 1
Quotes - cult of the god organised by region

PART 10B: CULT OF DIONYSOS 2
Quotes - cult of the god organised by region

PART 11: TITLES & EPITHETS
List of Cult Titles and Poetic Epithets

 

PAGE BORDER: Derived from on an ancient Greek vase painting