Dionysus Dionysus , Bacchus or Bacchus (Dionysus, Bacchus, Διόνυσος, Βάκχος). God of wine and winemaking, son of Zeus and Semele, daughter of Cadmus. Shortly before his birth, jealous Hera advised Semele to beg Zeus to come to her in all his greatness; Zeus really came to her with lightning and thunder, but she, like a mere mortal, could not bear his contemplation and died, having prematurely given birth to a baby. Zeus sewed the child into his thigh, where he brought him before the due date. Accompanied by a crowd of his servants, maenads and bacchantes, as well as seilens and satyrs with rods (firses) entwined with grapes, Dionysus walked through Hellas, Syria and Asia as far as India and returned to Europe through Thrace. On his way, he taught people everywhere about winemaking and the first beginnings of civilization. The wife of Dionysus was considered Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos. The cult of Dionysus, which at first had a cheerful character, gradually became more and more intemperate and turned into violent orgies, or bacchanalia. Hence the name of Dionysus - Bacchus, that is, noisy. A special role in these festivals was played by the priestesses of Dionysus - frenzied women known as maenads, bacchantes, etc. Grapes, ivy, panther, lynx, tiger, donkey, dolphin and goat were dedicated to Dionysus. The Roman god Bacchus corresponded to the Greek Dionysus. (Source: "A Concise Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities." M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition of A. Suvorin, 1894.)
(Διόνυσος), Bacchus, Bacchus, in Greek mythology, the god of the fertile forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture, winemaking. The deity of Eastern (Thracian and Lydian-Phrygian) origin, spread in Greece relatively late and with great difficulty established there. Although the name D. is found on the tablets of the Cretan Linear "B" as early as the 14th century. BC e., the spread and establishment of the cult of D. in Greece dates back to the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. and is associated with the growth of city-states (policies) and the development of polis democracy. During this period, the cult of D. began to supplant the cults of local gods and heroes. D. as a deity of the agricultural circle, associated with the elemental forces of the earth, was constantly opposed Apollo - as, first of all, the deity of the clan aristocracy. The popular basis of the cult of D. was reflected in the myths about the illegitimate birth of a god, his struggle for the right to become one of the Olympic gods and for the widespread establishment of his cult. Many monuments of ancient art have survived, embodying the image of D. and the plots of myths about him (D.'s love for Ariadne and others) in plastic (statues and reliefs) and vase painting. Scenes of the procession of D. and his companions, orgy, were widespread (especially in vase painting); these plots are reflected in the reliefs of the sarcophagi. D. was portrayed among the Olympians (reliefs of the eastern frieze of the Parthenon) and in scenes of gigantomachy, as well as sailing on the sea (Kilik Eksekia "D. in the boat" and others) and fighting the Tyrrhenians (relief of the monument to Lysicrates in Athens, c. 335 BC e.). In medieval book illustrations, D. was usually depicted as the personification of autumn - the time of harvest (sometimes only in October). During the Renaissance, the theme of dialecticism in art was associated with the assertion of the joy of being; become widespread since the 15th century. scenes of orgy (the beginning of their depiction was put by A. Mantegna; A. Durer, A. Altdorfer, H. Baldung Green, Titian, Giulio Romano, Pietro da Cortona, Annibale Carracci, P.P. Rubens, J. Jordaens, N. . Poussin). The plots "Bacchus, Venus and Ceres" and "Bacchus and Ceres" are permeated with the same symbolism (see article Demeter), especially popular in baroque painting. In the 15-18 centuries. popular in painting were scenes depicting the meeting of D. and Ariadne, their wedding and triumphal procession. Among the works of plasticity - reliefs "Bacchus turns Tyrrhenians into dolphins" by A. Filarete (on the bronze doors of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome), "Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne" by Donatello, statues "Bacchus" by Michelangelo, J. Sansovino and others. D. holds a special place among other antique characters in the garden plastic of the Baroque. The most significant works 18 - early. 19th centuries - statues "Bacchus" by J. G. Dannecker and B. Thor-waldsen. Among the musical works of the 19-20 centuries. on the plots of myth: A. Dargomyzhsky's opera-ballet "The Triumph of Bacchus", K. Debussy's divertissement "The Triumph of Bacchus" and his own opera "D.", J. Massenet's opera "Bacchus" and others.
There are myths about various ancient incarnations of D., as if preparing his arrival. Archaic hypostases of D are known: Zagrei, son of Zeus of Crete and Persephone; Iacchus, associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; D. - the son of Zeus and Demeter (Diod. Ill 62, 2-28). According to the main myth, D. is the son of Zeus and the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus. Semeles. At the instigation of the jealous Hera, Semele asked Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness, and he, presenting himself in a flash of lightning, incinerated the mortal Semele and her tower with fire. Zeus snatched D. from the flame, who was born prematurely, and sewed it into his thigh. In due time, Zeus gave birth to D., loosening the seams on his thigh (Hes. Theog. 940-942; Eur. Bacch. 1-9, 88-98, 286-297), and then gave D. through Hermes to be raised by the Nisean nymphs ( Eur. Bacch. 556-559) or Semele's sister Ino (Apollod. III 4, 3). D. found a vine. Hera instilled madness in him, and he, wandering through Egypt and Syria, came to Phrygia, where the goddess Cybele - Rhea healed him and introduced him to her orgiastic mysteries. After that, D. through Thrace went to India (Apollod. III 5, 1). From the eastern lands (from India or from Lydia and Phrygia), he returns to Greece, to Thebes. During the voyage from the island of Ikaria to the island of Naxos, D. was kidnapped by Tyrrhenian sea robbers (Apollod. III 5, 3). The robbers are horrified at the sight of D.'s amazing transformations. They chained D. in order to sell him into slavery, but the shackles themselves fell from D.'s hands; braiding the mast and sails of the ship with vines and ivy, D. 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. Hom. VII). This myth reflects the archaic plant-zoomorphic origin of D. The plant past of this god is confirmed by his epithets: Evius ("ivy", "ivy"), "bunch of grapes", etc. (Eur. Bacch. 105, 534, 566, 608). D.'s zoomorphic past is reflected in his werewolves and ideas about D. the bull (618, 920-923) and D. the goat. The phallus was the symbol of D. as the god of the fruiting forces of the earth.
On the island of Naxos, D. met his beloved Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus, kidnapped her and married her on the island of Lemnos; from him she gave birth to Enopion, Foant and others (Apollod. epit. I 9). Wherever D. appears, he establishes his own cult; everywhere on its way teaches people viticulture and winemaking. In the procession of D., which was of an ecstatic nature, Bacchantes, satyrs, maenads, or Bassarids (one of the nicknames of D. - Bassare) with thyrsus (wands) entwined with ivy took part. Belted with snakes, they crushed everything in their path, seized by sacred madness. With cries of "Bacchus, Evoe" they glorified D.-Bromius ("stormy", "noisy"), beat the tympans, reveling in the blood of torn wild animals, carving honey and milk from the ground with their thyrsus, uprooting trees and carrying crowds of women and men (Eur. Bacch. 135-167, 680-770). D. is famous as Liei ("liberator"), he frees people from worldly concerns, removes from them the fetters of measured life, breaks the shackles with which his enemies are trying to entangle him, and breaks down walls (616-626). He sends madness to enemies and punishes them terribly; so he did with his cousin the Theban king Pentheus, who wanted to prohibit the Bacchic rampages. Penfey was torn to pieces by bacchantes led by his mother Agave, mistaken in a state of ecstasy her son for an animal (Apollod. III 5, 2; Eur. Bacch. 1061-1152). On Lycurgus, the son of the king of the Aedons, who opposed the cult of D., God sent madness, and then Lycurgus was torn to pieces by his own horses (Apollod. III 5, 1).
D. entered the number of 12 Olympic gods late. At Delphi, he began to be revered along with Apollo. On Parnassus, every two years, orgies were held in honor of D., in which fiades - bacchantes from Attica (Paus. X 4, 3) participated. In Athens, solemn processions were organized in honor of D. and the sacred marriage of God with the wife of the archon Basileus was played out (Aristot. Rep. Athen. III 3). Ancient Greek tragedy arose from the religious and cult rites dedicated to D. (Greek tragodia, literally "song of the goat" or "song of the goats", that is, goat-footed satyrs - D.'s companions). In Attica, D. were dedicated to the Great, or City, Dionysias, which included solemn processions in honor of God, contests between tragic and comic poets, and choirs performing praises (held in March – April); Lenei, which included the performance of new comedies (in January - February); Small, or Rural, Dionysias, which preserved the remnants of agricultural magic (in December - January), when the dramas already played in the city were repeated.
In Hellenistic times, the cult of D. merged with the cult of the Phrygian god Sabazia(Sabaziy became the constant nickname of D.). In Rome, D. was revered under the name Bacchus (hence the bacchante, bacchanalia) or Bacchus. Identified with Osiris, Serapis, Mithras, Adonis, Amun, Lieber.
Lit .: Losev A.F., Ancient mythology in its historical development, M., 1957, p. 142-82; F. Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, Poln. collection cit., vol. 1, [M.], 1912; Otto W. P., Dionysos. Mythos und Kultus, 2 Aufl .. Fr./M .. 1939; Jünger F. G., Griechische Götter. Apollon, Pan, Dionysos. Fr./M., 1943; Meautis G., Dionysos ou Ie pouvoir de fascination, in his book: Mythes inconnus de la Grèce antique. P., pp. 33-63; Jeanmaire H., Dionysos. Histoire du culte de Bacchus, P., 1951.
A.F. Losev.
(Source: Myths of the Nations of the World.)
Dionysus(Bacchus, Bacchus) - the god of viticulture and winemaking, the son of Zeus and Hera (according to other sources of Zeus and the Theban princess and the goddess Semele, according to other sources of Zeus and Persephone). In honor of Dionysus, celebrations were held - Dionysius and Bacchanalia.
// Adolphe-William BUGRO: Childhood of Bacchus // Nicola PUSSEN: Midas and Bacchus // Franz von STUK: Boy Bacchus riding a panther // TITIAN: Bacchus and Ariadne // Apollon Nikolaevich MAIKOV: Bacchus // Constantinos KAVAFIS: Retinue of Dionysus / / Dmitry OLERON: Gerayon. Hermes and Bacchus Praxiteles. Bacchus // A.S. PUSHKIN: Triumph of Bacchus // N.A. Kuhn: DIONYSUS // N.A. Kuhn: THE BIRTH AND RAISING OF DIONYSUS // N.A. Kuhn: DIONYSUS AND HIS SUIT // N.A. Kuhn: LIKURG // N.A. Kuhn: MINI'S DAUGHTERS // N.A. Kuhn: TYRRENIAN SEA RIGIDS // N.A. Kuhn: ICARIUS // N.A. Kuhn: MIDAS
(Source: "Myths of Ancient Greece. Reference Dictionary." EdwART, 2009.)
DIONYSUSin Greek mythology, Zeus and Femela, the god of the fruiting forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture and winemaking.
(Source: "Dictionary of spirits and gods of Germanic-Scandinavian, Egyptian, Greek, Irish, Japanese mythology, mythology of the Maya and Aztecs.")
Synonyms:
See what "Dionysus" is in other dictionaries:
- (other Greek Διόνυσος) ... Wikipedia
- (Bacchus) Greek deity, the embodiment of life force. The most ancient forms of the cult of D. survived in Thrace, where they had an "orgiastic" character: the participants in the cult, dressed in animal skins, in mass joy brought themselves to frenzy (ecstasy) ... Literary encyclopedia
And husband. Borrowing Rep .: Dionisovich, Dionisovna; colloquial Dionisych. Origin: (In ancient mythology: Dionysus is the god of the vital forces of nature, the god of wine.) Name days: (see Denis) Dictionary of personal names. Dionysus See Denis ... Dictionary of personal names
- (Greek Dionisos). Greek name for the god Bacchus or Bacchus. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov AN, 1910. DIONYSUS at the ancient. the Greeks are the same as Bacchus, another name for the god of wine and gladness; the Romans have Bacchus. Complete dictionary ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Nikolay Kun
The birth and upbringing of Dionysus
Zeus the Thunderer loved the beautiful Semele, daughter of the Theban king Cadmus. Once he promised her to fulfill any of her requests, whatever it was, and swore to her in this by the unbreakable oath of the gods, by the sacred waters of the underground river Styx. But the great goddess Hera hated Semele and wanted to destroy her. She said to Semele:
Ask Zeus to appear to you in all the greatness of the god of thunder, the king of Olympus. If he really loves you, he will not refuse this request.
Hera convinced Semele, and she asked Zeus to fulfill this very request. Zeus, however, could not refuse Semele anything, because he swore by the waters of the Styx. The Thunderer appeared to her in all the majesty of the king of gods and people, in all the splendor of his glory. Bright lightning flashed in the hands of Zeus; thunderclaps shook the palace of Cadmus. Everything around flared up from the lightning of Zeus. Fire engulfed the palace, everything around it swayed and collapsed. In horror, Semele fell to the ground, the flame burned her. She saw that there was no salvation for her, that her request, inspired by the Hero, had ruined her.
And a son was born to the dying Semele Dionysus, a weak child unable to live. It seemed that he, too, was doomed to perish in the fire. But how could the son of the great Zeus die? Dense green ivy rose from the ground on all sides, as if by a wave of a magic wand. He covered the unfortunate child from the fire with his greenery and saved him from death.
Zeus took the saved son, and since he was still so small and weak that he could not live, Zeus sewed him into his thigh. In the body of his father, Zeus, Dionysus grew stronger, and, having got stronger, was born a second time from the thigh of the thunderer Zeus. Then the king of gods and people called his son, the quick messenger of the gods, Hermes, and ordered him to take the little Dionysus to Semele's sister, Ino, and her husband Atamant, the king of Orchomen, they were to raise him.
The goddess Hera was angry with Ino and Atamant because they took the son of the hated Semele to raise, and decided to punish them. She sent madness to Atamant. In a fit of madness, Atamant killed his son Learchus. She barely managed to escape the death of Ino with another son, Melikert. Her husband chased after her and was already overtaking her. Ahead there is a steep, rocky seashore, below the sea is rustling, behind is overtaken by a mad husband - Ino has no salvation. In despair, she rushed with her son into the sea from the coastal cliffs. The Nereids took Ino and Melikert into the sea. The educator of Dionysus and her son were converted to sea deities and they have lived since then in the depths of the sea.
Dionysus was saved from the mad Atamant by Hermes. He transferred him in the twinkling of an eye to the Nisey Valley and gave him there to be raised by the nymphs. Dionysus grew up as a beautiful, mighty god of wine, a god giving people strength and joy, a god giving fertility. Educators of Dionysus, nymphs, were taken by Zeus as a reward to heaven, and they shine on a dark starry night called Hyades, among other constellations.
Dionysus and his retinue
With a cheerful crowd of maenads and satyrs adorned with wreaths, the cheerful god Dionysus walks around the world, from country to country. He walks in front in a wreath of grapes with an ivy-decorated thyrsus in his hands. Around him, in a quick dance, the young maenads are circling with singing and shouts; clumsy satyrs with tails and goat's legs, hopped with wine, gallop. The procession is accompanied by the old man Silenus, the wise teacher of Dionysus, on a donkey. He was very drunk, barely sitting on a donkey, leaning on a fur with wine lying beside him. The ivy wreath slid to one side on his bald head. Swaying, he rides, smiling good-naturedly. Young satire walk beside a carefully treading donkey and carefully support the old man so that he does not fall. To the sounds of flutes, pipes and tympans, the noisy procession moves merrily in the mountains, among shady forests, along green lawns. Dionysus-Bacchus walks merrily through the land, conquering everything to his power. He teaches people to plant grapes and make wine from heavy ripe bunches.
Lycurgus
The authority of Dionysus is not universally recognized. Often he has to meet with resistance; often he has to conquer countries and cities by force. But who can fight the great god, the son of Zeus? He severely punishes those who oppose him, who do not want to recognize him and honor him as a god. The first time Dionysus had to be persecuted was in Thrace, when in a shady valley he feasted and danced merrily with his companions with his maenads, drunk with wine, to the sound of music and singing; then the cruel king of the Aedons, Lycurgus, attacked him. The maenads fled in terror, throwing the sacred vessels of Dionysus to the ground; even Dionysus himself fled. Fleeing from pursuit of Lycurgus, he threw himself into the sea; there the goddess Thetis hid him. Dionysus's father, Zeus the Thunderer, severely punished Lycurgus, who dared to offend the young god: Zeus blinded Lycurgus and shortened his life.
Daughters Minya
And in Orchomenos, in Boeotia, they did not want to immediately recognize the god Dionysus. When the priest of Dionysus-Bacchus appeared in Orchomenes and invited all the girls and women to the forests and mountains for a merry feast in honor of the god of wine, the three daughters of King Miny did not go to the feast; they did not want to recognize Dionysus as a god. All the women of Orchomen left the city for the shady forests and there they honored the great god with singing and dancing. Twisted with ivy, with thyrsus in their hands, they rushed with loud cries, like the Menads, over the mountains and praised Dionysus. And the daughters of King Orchomenus sat at home and quietly spun and weaved; and they did not want to hear anything about the god Dionysus. Evening came, the sun went down, and the tsar's daughters still did not quit their work, in a hurry to finish it at all costs. Suddenly a miracle appeared before their eyes, The sounds of tympans and flutes were heard in the palace, the threads of yarn turned into vines, and heavy bunches hung on them. The looms turned green, ivy coiled thickly around them. The fragrance of myrtle and flowers spread everywhere. The royal daughters looked at this miracle with amazement. Suddenly, the ominous light of torches flashed across the entire palace, already shrouded in the evening twilight. The roar of wild beasts was heard. Lions, panthers, lynxes and bears appeared in all chambers of the palace. With a menacing howl they ran through the palace and fiercely sparkled their eyes. In horror, the tsar's daughters tried to hide in the farthest, in the darkest rooms of the palace, so as not to see the sparkle of torches and not to hear the roaring of animals. But all is in vain, they cannot hide anywhere. The punishment of the god Dionysus was not limited to this. The bodies of the princesses began to shrink, were covered with dark mouse hair, instead of hands, wings with a thin membrane grew - they turned into bats. Since then, they hide from daylight in dark damp ruins and caves. So Dionysus punished them.
Tyrrhenian Rogues
Based on the Homeric hymn and Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses"
Dionysus also punished the Tyrrhenian sea robbers, but not so much because they did not recognize him as a god, as for the evil they wanted to inflict on him as a mere mortal.
Once there was a young Dionysus on the shores of the azure sea. The sea breeze gently played with his dark curls and slightly stirred the folds of the purple cloak that fell from the slender shoulders of the young god. A ship appeared in the distance into the sea; he was rapidly approaching the shore. When the ship was already close, the sailors - they were Tyrrhenian sea robbers - saw a marvelous youth on a deserted seashore. They quickly docked, went ashore, grabbed Dionysus and took him to the ship. The robbers did not even suspect that they had captured the god. The robbers rejoiced that such a rich booty fell into their hands. They were sure that a lot of gold would help out for such a beautiful young man, selling him into slavery. Arriving on the ship, the robbers wanted to put Dionysus in heavy chains, but they fell from the arms and legs of the young god. He sat and looked at the robbers with a calm smile. When the helmsman saw that the chains were not held in the hands of the young man, he said with fear to his comrades:
Unhappy! What are we doing? Is it not God that we want to fetter? Look - even our ship can barely hold it! Is it not Zeus himself, is it not the silver-eyed Apollo or the earth-shaker Poseidon? No, he does not look like a mortal! This is one of the gods living on the bright Olympus. Let him go quickly, drop him to the ground. No matter how he summoned violent winds and raised a formidable storm on the sea!
But the captain angrily answered the wise helmsman:
Despicable! Look, the wind is fair! Our ship will quickly rush along the waves of the boundless sea. We will take care of the young man later. We will sail to Egypt or Cyprus, or to the distant land of the Hyperboreans, and there we will sell it; let this young man look for his friends and brothers there. No, the gods sent him to us!
The robbers calmly raised the sails, and the ship went out to sea. Suddenly a miracle happened: fragrant wine flowed through the ship, and the whole air was filled with a fragrance. The robbers were numb with amazement. But now on the sails the vines with heavy bunches turned green; dark green ivy wrapped around the mast; beautiful fruits appeared everywhere; the oarlocks of oars were wrapped in garlands of flowers. When the robbers saw all this, they began to pray to the wise helmsman to rule as soon as possible to the shore. But it's too late! The young man turned into a lion and with a formidable growl stood on the deck, fiercely flashing eyes. A shaggy bear appeared on the deck of the ship; she bared her mouth terribly.
In horror, the robbers rushed aft and crowded around the helmsman. With a huge leap, the lion rushed at the captain and tore him to pieces. Having lost hope of salvation, the robbers, one after another, rushed into the sea waves, and Dionysus turned them into dolphins. Dionysus spared the helmsman. He assumed his former image and, smiling affably, said to the helmsman:
Do not be afraid! I loved you. I am Dionysus, the son of the thunderer Zeus and the daughter of Cadmus, Semele!
Icarius
Dionysus rewards people who honor him like a god. So he awarded Ikarios in Attica, when he hospitably received him. Dionysus gave him a vine, and Ikarius was the first to cultivate grapes in Attica. But the fate of Ikaria was sad.
One day he gave wine to the shepherds, and they, not knowing what intoxication was, decided that Ikarius had poisoned them, and they killed him, and his body was buried in the mountains. Ikaria's daughter, Erigona, had been looking for her father for a long time. Finally, with the help of her dog, Myra, she found her father's tomb. In despair, the unfortunate Erigona hanged herself on the very tree under which lay the body of her father. Dionysus took Ikarius, Erigona and her dog Myra to heaven. Since then, they have been burning in the sky on a clear night - these are the constellations Bootes, Virgo and Canis Major.
Midas
Based on Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses"
Once the cheerful Dionysus, with a noisy crowd of maenads and satyrs, wandered along the wooded rocks of Tmola in Phrygia. Only Silenus was not in the retinue of Dionysus. He lagged behind and, stumbling at every step, very drunk, wandered through the Phrygian fields. The peasants saw him, tied him with garlands of flowers and took him to King Midas. Midas immediately recognized the teacher Dionysus, received him with honor in his palace and honored him with sumptuous feasts for nine days. On the tenth day, Midas himself took Silenus to the god Dionysus. Dionysus was delighted to see Silenus, and allowed Midas, as a reward for the honor he had shown his teacher, to choose any gift for himself. Then Midas exclaimed:
Oh, great god Dionysus, command that everything I touch turns into pure, shiny gold!
Dionysus fulfilled Midas's wish; he only regretted that he had not chosen the best gift for himself Midas.
Gleefully, Midas departed. Rejoicing at the gift he has received, he picks a green branch from an oak - the branch in his hands turns into a golden one. He picks ears in the field - they become golden, and the grains are golden in them. He picks an apple - the apple turns golden, as if it were from the garden of the Hesperides. Anything Midas touched immediately turned to gold. When he washed his hands, the water dripped from them in golden drops. Midas rejoices. So he came to his palace. The servants prepared a rich feast for him, and happy Midas sat down at the table. It was then that he realized what a terrible gift he had begged from Dionysus. From one touch of Midas, everything turned to gold. Bread, and all the food and wine became golden in his mouth. It was then that Midas realized that he would have to die of hunger. He stretched out his hands to the sky and exclaimed:
Have mercy, have mercy, oh Dionysus! Sorry! I pray for your mercy! Take this gift back!
Dionysus appeared and said to Midas:
Go to the origins of Pactolus
Dionysus - god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture, winemaking
The deity of Eastern (Thracian and Lydian-Phrygian) origin, spread in Greece relatively late and with great difficulty established there. Although the name Dionysus is found on the tablets of the Cretan linear letter "B" in the XIV century. BC, the spread and establishment of the cult of Dionysus in Greece dates back to the VIII-VII centuries. BC. and is associated with the growth of city-states (policies) 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 a deity of the agricultural circle, associated with the elemental forces of the earth, was constantly opposed to Apollo - as, first of all, the deity of the clan aristocracy. The folk basis of the cult of Dionysus was reflected in the myths about the illegitimate birth of God, his struggle for the right to become one of the Olympic gods and for the widespread establishment of his cult.
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France. Fine arts 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 his arrival. 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, presenting himself in a flash of lightning, incinerated the mortal Semele and her tower with fire. Zeus snatched Dionysus from the flame, who was born prematurely, and sewed it into his thigh. In due time Zeus gave birth to Dionysus, loosening the stitches not on the thigh (He. 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 sister of Semele Ino (Apollod. III 4, 3).
The boy who was born three months later was the god Dionysus, who, having reached maturity, sought out 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 up to a mortal. Subsequently, Zeus took revenge on the sisters of Semele, sending all kinds of disasters on their sons.
The name of Semele is of Phrygian origin, it means "earth"; probably Semele was a Phrygian-Thracian deity of the earth. The myth of the birth of Dionysus from Zeus was supposed to ensure the introduction into the Olympic pantheon of a god who did not originally belong to him.
Dionysus found a vine and taught people how to make wine.
Hera instilled madness in him, and he, wandering through Egypt and Syria, came to Phrygia, where the goddess Cybele-Rhea healed him and introduced him to her orgiastic mysteries.
After that Dionysus went through Thrace to India (Apollod. III 5, 1). From the eastern lands (from India or from Lydia and Phrygia), he returns to Greece, to Thebes. During the voyage from the island of Ikaria to the island of Naxos, Dionysus was kidnapped by sea robbers - the Tyrrhenians (Apollod. III 5, 3). The robbers are horrified at the amazing transformations of Dionysus. They bound Dionysus in chains to sell him into slavery, but the fetters themselves fell from the hands of Dionysus; braiding with vines and ivy the mast, the sails of the ship, 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 vegetative 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 werewolf and the concept of Dionysus the bull (618 920-923) and Dionysus the goat. The phallus was the symbol of Dionysus as the god of the fruitful forces of the earth.
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 Enopion, Foant and others (Apollod. epit. I 9). Wherever Dionysus appears, he establishes his own cult; everywhere on its way teaches people viticulture and winemaking. 
In the procession of Dionysus, which was of an ecstatic nature, Bacchantes, satyrs, maenads or Bassarids (one of the nicknames of Dionysus - Bassares) with thyrsus (wands) entwined with ivy took part. Belted with snakes, they crushed everything in their path, seized by sacred madness. 
With cries of "Bacchus, Evoe" they glorified Dionysus - Bromius ("stormy", "noisy"], beat the tympans, reveling in the blood of torn wild beasts, carving honey and milk from the ground with their thyrsus, pulling out trees from the roots and dragging crowds with them women and men (Eur. Bacch. 135-167, 680-770). 
Dionysus is famous as Lei ("liberator"), he frees people from worldly concerns, removes from them the shackles of measured life, breaks the shackles with which his enemies are trying to entangle him, and breaks down walls (616-626). He sends madness to enemies and punishes them terribly; so he did with his cousin, the Theban king Pentheus, who wanted to prohibit the 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).
On Lycurgus, the son of the king of the Aedons, who opposed the cult of Dionysus, God sent madness, and then Lycurgus was torn to pieces by his own horses (Apollod. III 5, 1)
Dionysus entered the number of 12 Olympic gods late. At Delphi, he began to be revered along with Apollo. On Parnassus, every two years, orgies were held in honor of Dionysus, in which the fiads - bacchantes from Attica (Paus. X 4, 3) participated. In Athens, solemn processions were held in honor of Dionysus and the sacred marriage of God with the wife of the archon Basileus was played out (Aristot. Rep. Athen. III 3). 
From the religious and cult rites dedicated to Dionysus (Greek tragodia literally "song of the goat" or "song of the goats", that is, goat-footed satyrs - companions of Dionysus), an ancient Greek tragedy arose. In Attica, the Great, or City, Dionysias were dedicated to Dionysus, including solemn processions in honor of God, competitions of tragic and comic poets, as well as choirs performing praises (held in March - April); Lenei, which included the performance of new comedies (in January - February); Small, or Rural, Dionysias, which preserved the remnants of agricultural magic (in December - January), when the dramas already played in the city were repeated. 
In Hellenistic times, the cult of Dionysus merged with the cult of the Phrygian god Sabazius (Sabazius became the constant nickname of Dionysus). In Rome, Dionysus was venerated under the name Bacchus (hence the bacchante, bacchanalia) or Bacchus. He was identified with Osiris, Serapis, Mithra, Adonis, Amun, Lieber. 
Maenads (M a i n a d e z, "insane"), Bacchantes, Bassarids · companions of Dionysus. Following Dionysus with fias (crowds), the maenads, decorated with grape leaves and ivy, crush everything in their path with thyrsus, also entwined with ivy. Half-naked, in the skins of a sika deer, with matted hair, often belted by strangled snakes, they cry in mad delight to Dionysus Bromius ("The Noisy") or to Dionysus Ivy, exclaiming "Bacchus, Evoe." 
They tear wild animals to pieces in the forests and mountains and drink their blood, as if communing with the torn deity. Tirsami maenads knock milk and honey out of rocks and earth, human sacrifices are not uncommon. They carry women along with them, introducing them to the ministry of Dionysus. 
The source of the myths about the maenads is the tragedy of Euripides "Bacchae", but already in Homer Andromachus, who learned about the death of Hector, is called "a maenad with a beating heart" (Homer "Iliad", XXII 460 next).
Bacchanalia - this is how the Romans called orgical and mystical festivities in honor of the god Bacchus (Dionysus), which came from the East and spread first through southern Italy and Etruria, and by the 2nd century. BC e. - throughout Italy and in Rome. 
The Bacchanalia was carried out in secret, attended only by women who gathered in the grove of Similia near the Aventine Hill on the 16th and 17th March. Later, men began to come to the ceremony, and the celebrations began to be held five times a month. 
The ill fame of these festivities, which planned many different crimes and political collusion, which was partly disseminated by the Senate - the so-called Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus (inscription on a bronze tablet found in Calabria in 1640) - contributed to the prohibition of Bacchanalia throughout Italy. except in isolated special cases, which had to be approved directly by the Senate. 
Despite the heavy punishment imposed on violators of this decree, the Bacchanalia was not eradicated, at least in southern Italy, for a very long time. In addition to Dionysus, Bacchus is equated with Lieber (and also with Lieber Pate). Lieber ("free") was the god of fertility, wine and growth, he was married to Lieber. 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 the wild, frenzied revelry of the lowest animal passions and were often accompanied by violence and murder. In 186, the Senate took the most stringent measures against them (the Senatusconsultum de Bacchanalibus has come down to us on a bronze plaque now kept in Vienna). Consuls carried out searches throughout Italy, which resulted in many executions, exile and imprisonment (Livy, 29, 8-18). However, it was not possible to completely eradicate these immoral mysteries, and their name remained for a long time to denote noisy drinking, and in this sense 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
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 now, at the instigation of Hera, she asked Semele that Zeus should appear before her in all the greatness of the god of thunder. This request was ill-considered: when Zeus appeared in a roar of thunder and a 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 out of the fire, and since the baby was too small and weak to live independently, Zeus sewed it into his thigh. Dionysus was strengthened in the body of his father, and then he was 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 got his place on Olympus, he descended 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 of Tiona. Therefore, Dionysus himself was sometimes called Tionian - the son of Tiona.
Dionysus is hiding from Hera. After the new birth, Dionysus was handed over to the education of Tsar Afamant and his wife Ino, sister of Semele, with whom he lived for some time, disguised as a girl. However, even dressing up could not hide him from Hera, who was not satisfied with Semele's death and transferred her hatred to her child. Hoping that Afamant would kill Dionysus, she sent madness on him. However, he killed only his son, mistaking him for a deer, and Hermes carried Dionysus away from danger.
Wanting to better hide Dionysus from persecution from Hera, Hermes took him to the nymphs on Mount Nisa (while, so that Hera did not notice him, Dionysus was turned into a kid by Zeus). Nisean nymphs settled Dionysus in a cool mountain grotto, looked after him, fed him with honey. For this concern for his son, Zeus later placed the Nisean nymphs in the sky among the stars, where they can still be seen today 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 his father's name (Di, that is, Zeus) and the name of the place where he was raised; this is how his name came into being.
Dionysus makes drinks. It was on Nisa that Dionysus made his most important discovery - he learned how to make a drink that cheers the soul from grape juice. Therefore, when he grew up, he became a cheerful, mighty god of wine, which gives people strength and joy. Wanting to bestow his discovery on people, Dionysus went around almost the entire inhabited land, everywhere teaching to grow grapes and make wine from it; 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 wine tragedy. The first person whom Dionysus treated to wine and taught how to make it was a farmer from Attica named Ikarios. He liked the drink and decided to introduce other people to him. It was then that the first tragedy happened. The shepherds to whom Ikarius brought the wine were delighted - they had never drunk anything like it, and therefore drank too much of the unusual drink.
When they got drunk, they felt bad and thought that Ikarius had poisoned them. They violently attacked him and killed him. Ikarius had a daughter named Erigona. When her father did not return home, the girl went to look for him and, with the help of a faithful dog, found - but dead. Erigona's grief was so great that she hanged herself from a tree over her father's body.
But Dionysus, who treated Ikarius well, did not leave his death without revenge. He sent madness to the Athenian girls, and they began to commit suicide, as Erigona 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 Ikarios. Then the Athenians punished the shepherds-murderers, and in memory of Erigona, at the festival in honor of Dionysus, Athenian girls began to arrange swings in the trees and swing on them. And the deceased Ikaria and Erigon were placed in heaven by the gods, and he became the constellation Arcturus, and she became the constellation Virgo. There was also a place in heaven for the faithful dog who helped Erigone in her search for her father - this is now the star Sirius.
Bacchae. On his wanderings, Dionysus was accompanied by a crowd of admirers, not only men, but also women. In a wreath of grapes, he walked or rode astride a panther, and behind him and around him in a violent dance rushed maenads (they are also called bacchantes, because one of the names of Dionysus was the name Bacchus) - women who dedicated themselves to the service of Dionysus. In their hands were thyrsus — wands entwined with ivy, the same as those of Dionysus himself; they were dressed in deer skins and girded with strangled snakes. In sacred madness, they crushed everything that came in their way. With exclamations of "Bacchus, Evoe!" they beat the tympans, with their hands tormented the wild animals that they came across, carved milk and honey from the earth and rocks with their thyrsi, and uprooted the trees they encountered. Their riotous procession carried away all the people they met and was dedicated to Dionysus Bromius, that is, the "Noisy".
Satyrs. In addition to the maenads, Dionysus was accompanied everywhere by satyrs - creatures similar to humans, but with bodies covered with wool, goat's 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 spread throughout the surroundings, announcing the approach of the cheerful god.
Old Man Silenus. In this noisy procession, which was called the fias, the old man Silenus, the teacher of Dionysus, also rides on a donkey. He is quite funny-looking - bald, pot-bellied, snub-nosed, always sits on a donkey. Silenus is so fond of the drink invented by his pupil that no one has seen Silenus sober for a long time. However, he did not drink his mind on drink, and sometimes he suddenly utters words full of wisdom in a completely sober voice. Dionysus loves his teacher very much, at his behest, satyrs are constantly watching and looking after him.
Midas. Despite these precautions, one day Silenus disappeared. When a forest bump got under the feet of the donkey, and he stumbled, Silenus fell off him, and remained lying in the roadside bushes. No one noticed this, and Silenus himself was quietly sleeping in the place where he had fallen from 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 kinds of honor, let him sleep it off, and then helped him return to Dionysus. For this, the god invited Midas to ask for any reward. He, not being distinguished by a special mind and imagination, asked to do so that everything he touches turned into gold. “I’m sorry, Midas, that you didn’t come up with anything better, but be it your way!” - with these words Dionysus let Midas go home.
The king was beside himself with happiness. Still would! He will now become the richest man on earth! He broke a branch from the tree - and the branch in his hands became golden. He lifted a stone from the ground - and the stone turned to gold. But then it was time for the king to dine. He took bread from the table - and it also turned golden. Only now Midas realized how terrible the gift of Dionysus was: all food turned into gold in his hands, and now he was threatened by starvation. Then Midas prayed to Dionysus, begging him to take his gift back, and Dionysus, not harboring any grudge against him, agreed. He ordered him to go to the Tmol River and swim in it, wash away the magic power from himself. Midas did just that, and after bathing he could safely touch anything - he no longer turned into gold. And since then, people began to find golden sand in the Tmol River.
The incident at Thebes. Dionysus is beautiful and eternally young; long, wavy blue-black hair falls over his shoulders, 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 everywhere liked it; sometimes Dionysus did not want to be considered a god, and then he would inflict terrible punishments on the wicked. This is what happened, for example, in Thebes, in 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 de-spread rumors that Zeus himself had honored her with marital intercourse, and as punishment he destroyed her. The same was said by the son of Agave, Pentheus, who became the Theban king: 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 young man, he appeared in Thebes and there infected Agave and other Theban women with Bacchus frenzy. With wild exclamations of "Bacchus, Evoe!" they rushed to the mountains and there began to lead the life of violent maenads.
Dionysus before Penfey. The enraged Pentheus ordered to deliver to him the stranger, from whom this disaster came. And now, chained in chains, Dionysus stands before the king. He smiles, watching how Pentheus is raging, how, wanting to bind his captive even more tightly, he ties the bull, which seems to him to be Dionysus, with strong bonds. Suddenly the entire palace shook, the columns swayed, and in the place where Semele had once perished, a pillar of fire appeared, illuminating the entire palace with its radiance. Pentheus, seized by madness, thought that the palace was on fire and ordered to carry water to extinguish the fire, and at Dionysus, so that he would not elude his vengeance, he threw himself with a drawn sword. It seemed to him that he had dealt a fatal blow to the stranger, but when he ran out of the palace, he saw him again, surrounded by a crowd of Bacchantes.
God Dionysus
Penfey falls prey to madness. More and more madness seizes Pentheus. 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 the 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 entered 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 pounced on the unfortunate man and tore him to pieces. Agave, having planted Pentheus's head on her rod, entered the city with this booty, urging everyone to look at the head of the fierce lion 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 Thebans from now on did not doubt that Dionysus was a real god, and Semele was the wife of Zeus.
Dionysius.
Since Dionysus was associated with the cultivation of grapes, it is natural that the time of the holidays in his honor was largely associated with the work in the vineyards. These works were completed in December; at this time there was a holiday of Small Dionysia. It was a joyous celebration in honor of the god of wine and fun, full of fun and jokes. Noisy processions went through the Greek villages that day, in which everyone took part - both men and women, both free and slaves. Those who participated in these processions carried the sacred objects and symbols of Dionysus - grape branches and vessels of wine. At the temple of Dionysus, sacrifices were performed, and then feasts and entertainment began. It was on this day that Ikaria and Erigona were honored, on this day the youth indulged in a fun and noisy game: they had to hold on to one leg on an inflated leather bag, oiled. The winner received the same bag, but already filled with wine.
In February, another holiday was celebrated - Lenei, and soon after them - Anfesteria. By 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 that day. During this holiday, the adults arranged wine drinking contests. The winner in them was considered the one who drank his cup faster.
But the main holiday in honor of Dionysus was the Great Dionysias, which were celebrated in late March - early April. It lasted a whole week and was celebrated with great pomp. But, perhaps, for us it is not this splendor that is more important, but the fact that the birth of the theater is connected with this holiday. Tragedy and comedy later emerged from the scenes that were performed by their mummers during the Dionysian processions. On the Great Dionysias, tragedies were played for four days in theaters, and on Lenei, comedies were staged in the theaters of ancient Greece.
God of wine and winemaking, one of the most ancient and popular gods in Greece. Several merry holidays were dedicated to Dionysus, celebrated from late autumn to spring. Often these celebrations were in the nature of mysteries (secret religious rites), and often passed simply into orgies (bacchanalia). The festivities in honor of Dionysus were the beginning of theatrical performances. During the so-called. The great Dionysios in Athens performed choirs of singers dressed in goat skins and performed special hymns-praises: they began to sing, the choir answered him, the singing was accompanied by dancing; thus a tragedy arose (the word itself in translation means "goat song"). It is believed that tragedy developed from the winter praises, in which the suffering of Dionysus was mourned, and comedy from the joyful spring ones, accompanied by laughter and jokes.
Zeus the Thunderer loved the beautiful Semele, daughter of the Theban king Cadmus. Once he promised her to fulfill any of her requests and swore in this unbreakable oath of the gods, the sacred waters of the underground river Styx. But the goddess Hera hated Semele and wanted to destroy her. She said to Semele:
- Ask Zeus to appear to you in all the greatness of the god of thunder, the king of Olympus. If he really loves you, he will not refuse this request.
Hera convinced Semele, and she asked Zeus to fulfill this request. Zeus could not refuse Seme-le. The Thunderer appeared to her in all his majesty, in all the splendor of his glory. Bright lightning flashed in the hands of Zeus, thunderclaps shook the palace of Cadmus. Everything around flared up from the lightning of Zeus. Fire engulfed the palace, everything around it swayed and collapsed. In horror, Semele fell to the ground, the flames burned her. She saw that there was no salvation for her, that her request, inspired by the Hero, had ruined her.
Dionysus
And the dying Semele's son Dionysus was born, a weak child unable to live. It seemed that he, too, was doomed to perish in the fire. But how could the son of Zeus die? Dense green ivy rose from the ground on all sides, as if by a wave of a magic wand. He covered the unfortunate child from the fire with his greenery and saved him from death. Zeus took the saved son, and since he was still small and weak, he sewed him into his thigh. In the body of Zeus, Dionysus became stronger and, having got stronger, was born a second time from the thunderbolt's thigh. Then Zeus summoned Hermes and ordered him to take the little Dionysus to Semele's sister Ino and her husband Atamant, the king of Orchomen, they were to educate him. The goddess Hera was angry with Ino and Atamant because they took the son of the hated Semele to raise, and decided to punish them. She sent madness to Atamant. In a fit of madness, Atamant killed his son Learchus. She barely managed to escape the death of Ino with another son, Melikert. Her husband chased after her and already overtook her. Ahead there is a steep, rocky sea coast, below the sea is rustling, behind is overtaken by a mad husband - Ino has no salvation. In despair, she rushed with her son into the sea from the coastal cliffs. The Nereids took Ino and Melikert into the sea. The teacher of Dionysus and her son were converted into sea deities, and they have lived since then in the depths of the sea. Dionysus was saved from the mad Atamant by Hermes. He transferred him in the twinkling of an eye to the Nisey Valley and gave him there to be raised by the nymphs. Dionysus grew up as a beautiful, mighty god, giving people strength and joy, giving fertility. The nymphs who raised Dionysus were taken by Zeus to heaven, and they shine on a dark starry night among other constellations called Hyades.
With a cheerful crowd of maenads and satyrs adorned with wreaths, Dionysus walks around the world, from country to country. He walks in front in a wreath of grapes, in his hands a thyrsus adorned with ivy. Around him, in a quick dance, the young maenads are circling with singing and shouts; clumsy satyrs with tails and goat's legs, hopped with wine, gallop. The procession is accompanied by the old man Silenus, the wise teacher of Dionysus, on a donkey. He was very drunk, barely sitting on a donkey, leaning on a fur with wine lying beside him. The ivy wreath slid to one side on his bald head. Swaying, he rides, smiling good-naturedly. Young satyrs walk beside a carefully treading donkey and carefully support the old man so that he does not fall. To the sound of flutes, pipes and tympans, a noisy procession merrily moves in the mountains, among shady forests, along green lawns. Dionysus - Bacchus walks merrily along the land, conquering everything to his power. He teaches people to plant grapes and make wine from heavy ripe bunches.
