Targets: Dionysus
You should be able to interpret the
________________ importance of Dionysus.
You should be able to recognize and interpret
_______________ to this character in
literature, art, and everyday life: Cultural
______________________
You should be able to synthesize the
symbolic elements of the stories to draw the
bigger picture, a.k.a.: _________________
importance of the stories of Dionysus. 1
Targets, cont.
• You should be able to articulate the
above understandings in
__________ format on an
assessment item such as:
• “Explain a _______________ you
understand from a study of
Dionysus that could benefit today's
society.”
2
Why is Dionysus considered a giver
of the good gifts of _____________?
Explain the position of Dionysus as a
suffering god? Why does this bring
them closer to
__________________?
Explain the __________ role of
Dionysus as the god of joy and the
god of savagery?
3
Explain Dionysus as a
_______________________ of
resurrection.
What is the connection between
Dionysus and the development of
the _______________________?
In what ways are the lessons of
Dionysus still applicable in our
culture _____________________?
4
Dionysus/Bacchus
One of the most celebrated gods by the
Greeks—eventually supplanted
______________ as one of the twelve
Olympians
The only god with a ________________
parent
God of irrationality, intoxication, and frenzy
God of fertility
He is literally the _____________: wine
Promoter of civilization, lawgiver, and lover of
5
______________
Terms relevant to the study of Dionysus
Dionysia—Greek ______________in
his honor
Bacchanalia—________________
festival in his honor
Maenads—_________________
followers:worshiped in the wild—
forests, etc.
Satyrs—half men/half _____________
that traveled/reveled with Dionysus
Dionysians—followers of Dionysus 6
God of Complex Duality
_________________-Born
Both ____________ and animal (can
appear as a bull or goat)
Both male and _________________
qualities
Both young and __________
7
God of Complex Duality
Both the social and beneficent
influences of wine and the
___________________ and
unpredictable properties as well
Freedom and ecstatic ________
and _______________ brutality
Man's blessing and his
______________
8
_________________ by Homer or
Hesiod
Appeared in Greek Culture around
____________ BCE
Transplant from ancient Near East
Most of what we know about the
Dionysus mythology comes from
_________________ The Bacchae
(c. 407 BCE) 9
Euripides said what?
• “Mankind...possesses two
supreme blessings. First of
these is the goddess
________________, or
Earth—whichever name you
choose to call her by. It was
she who gave to man his
________________ of grain....
10
• But after her there came the
______ of Semele, who matched
her present by inventing liquid
___________ as his gift to man.
For filled with that good gift,
suffering mankind __________ its
grief; from it comes sleep with it
oblivion of the troubles of the day.
There is no other medicine for
mercy.” 11
Please recognize the symbolic value of
the ___________________ of the
personality of Dionysus/Wine
Both, in the right person/situation were
considered ______________ in the
Greek culture
However, in the wrong situation, in the
wrong person it can be HIGHLY
_________________—destroying lives,
families, careers, friendships, etc.
12
Agreed?
Dionysus: The Birth
Zeus came to the mortal Semele
__________________ in the cover of
darkness
She became pregnant knowing only
that her baby was fathered by a
_________
Hera Found out Zeus, ____________
in love, had offered Semele anything
she wanted (take note of madness in
13
any form, and think about it)
Hera was _____________ of pregnant
Semele, so she approached her in
________________ as her aged nurse
Beroë
•_______________ Semele into asking
Zeus (who must not break a promise
especially when he has sworn on the
river ____________) to reveal himself
to her in his true form (knowing that no
mortal can view an immortal in his/her
true state) 14
Zeus reluctantly agrees, and she
instantly _______________ to a
crisp! Dionysus was born of
___________—think about that.
Hermes quickly rescues Dionysus
from his dying mother and Zeus
stitches him into his own
___________ until he is ready to be
born just moments later!
Hence, “twice-born” 15
As with Hercules, Hera was not finished
messin’ with Zeus’ baby
Zeus knows his wife—he dresses the
baby as a __________ (gender duality
)to throw her off of the trail—it doesn't
work...
She sent the ______________ to rip
baby Dionysus to ____ pieces, cook
and eat him.
Rhea put him back together,
nay...resurrected him...more to follow
Plus, he WAS an immortal, right? 16
After Hera's stunt, sent him to
live with his __________ aunt
and uncle.
Not good enough—Hera
makes them go __________:
they kill their children and
themselves: filicide & suicide
Zeus saves him and turns him
into a _____________
17
• Most stories indicate Zeus arranged to
have him sent away to be raised by
mountain Nysæan nymphs
• Some believe they were the Hyades
whom Zeus afterward placed in the sky
as stars, the stars which bring
______________ when they near the
horizon
• So Dionysus born of _______, nursed
by rain much like the _________ that
ripens the grape and the water that
nurtures it 18
Dionysus never knew Semele,
but he felt for her
He went to __________, faced
down Thanatos, ____________
himself, and made his mother
the only mortal to be brought
successfully out of Hades and
delivered to ______________
19
When Dionysus is returned to
human form, Hera made him go
_________
He wanders the _______________
world until he meets a goddess
named Cybele (some stories Rhea),
a mother goddess from Asia Minor
(Phrygia)
Cybele cures Dionysus of his
madness and introduces him to all of
20
her secret _________________.
Not much is known about Dionysus'
young _________________ (sound
familiar?)
It is written that he wandered all
over Asia ______________ men
the culture of the vine and the
mysteries of his worship
He was readily accepted and
followed until...
21
He returns home to Greece
• First he was kidnapped, as he
napped, by some ______________
sailors who thought he was a lovely
son of a ___________man or a king
• Only one, Acetes, recognized in him
traits of an immortal
• He begged them not to take
Dionysus, but “so blind is the lust of
gain...”
22
Dionysus quickly requested that the
ship take him to his favorite island,
___________________
He promised __________________
and gratitude for their service
The abductors had other plans
Sell him as a _________________ in
Egypt
They should have guessed there was
a problem when their bonds couldn't
23
hold him...
• Suddenly the ship stalls in the water,
engulfed in
_____________________
• They notice tiger, lynxes, and
panthers __________________
around Dionysus' feet (in some
versions he himself turns into a lion)
• The is holding a spear wreathed in
ivy
• And they all started turning into...24
• King Lycurgus was another fool
who __________________
Dionysus on his way through
Thrace
• Dionysus __________________
(symbolism?) temporarily in the
sea
• But later returned, overpowered
him and _________________ him
25
for his wickedness (read
• He imprisoned him in a rocky cave
until his rage turned into
understanding what he had done
wrong—an immortal version of a
time-out.
• Not enough you say... Zeus struck
him ____________ and he died soon
after
• Moral of the story? What happens
when you disrespect the powerful?
26
• Theseus, who you'll read about soon,
had recently ____________ a Cretan
princess, Ariadne
• She was in his favorite city, Naxos
• She was beautiful and needy
• Dionysus took pity on her and grew to
_______________ her.
• When Ariadne died, Dionysus took
her crown and placed it among the
stars—still known as _____________27
• Dionysus arrives in _____________ to
establish his worship there
• As was his tradition, a train of singing,
dancing, scantily clad ____________
mad with joy, accompanied him
• King Pentheus, Dionysus's cousin,
had no idea that the man bringing all
of this chaos to his city was in fact his
______________—everyone figured
any child of Semele's was toast along
28
with her
Thebes...the drama continues
Prudish Pentheus didn't approve of
all of the _________________ of
the Maenads and Dionysus
He ordered all of the revelers
arrested, especially the leader
Enter the _______________
seeing blind man...none other than
the world famous Teiresias, the
holy man of Thebes... 29
Thebes...the drama continues
• Teiresias ______________
Pentheus of Dionysus' identity
• But because Teiresias was
______________ like a Dionysian,
he scoffed and blind (did you
notice all of the references to sight
in this chapter?) with anger spoke
harshly with Dionysus—denying
his immortal status 30
Thebian prison couldn't hold him—duh
He escaped and attempted once again to
convince Pentheus to come to his way of
thinking
No good, Pentheus was _________-set
(pardon the pun)
Pentheus went to hunt down the women
he objected to—they were chillin' in the
hills (unbeknownst to him, his own
_________________ and sisters were
among the wild women) 31
• The most _________________, beastial,
and destructive forces of Dionysus are
unleashed in this revenge plot
• The women, ______________ in their
worship, see Pentheus and believe him to
be a wild animal—a mountain lion, and
they rushed on him, tore him limb from
limb
• Pentheus, as he was attacked, is reported
to have _____________________ his
crime
• Only after Pentheus was dead did the 32
Communion...
If Dionysus is in fact the vine, then whenever
man took to the cup, he was in fact taking
Dionysus in, and therefore borrowing the
_______________ of the god: his courage,
merriment, lack of fear of consequence, etc.
Unlike any other god, he was not only outside
of them—he was “in” them and the divinity as
well
Freeing men through drunkenness led to
freeing men through ___________________,
which led to...
33
The Festival of Dionysus
It happened for __________ days in the
________________? Symbolic?
It was open to all the world; no one was
imprisoned, and prisoners were
___________________
No other festival in Greece could
compare: they were days of
__________________and enjoyment
The location :_____________________!
34
The ceremony wasn't humble or pious, it
was the performance of plays! But they
were still _____________ acts of worship
The greatest poetry in Greece and the
world was written for Dionysus who was
assumed to be present—his _________
had the seat of honor
This notion of Dionysus as a muse for
great creativity and art solidified his
position as a most __________________
immortal 35
Some comedic plays were written for him,
but more importantly...The first
_______________ plays were written for
Dionysus
Dionysus suffered great ___________—
as the vine, he is torn apart after each
harvest, left alone through the winter,
but...
He _______________ again in the spring
All of this pain and harm done to him
solidifies him as the _________________.
36
• The Greeks read ____________ of life after
suffering. They saw Dionysus' resurrection
as evidence that the ________________
lives on after the body dies—kind of a
human perennial
• Since, unlike Persephone, Dionysus' only
foray into the underworld was to face-down
death and _____________________ his
mother, his resurrection was more powerful
in the Eleusinian Mysteries as hope of life
after death: _________________________
37
Dionysus was one of the most
important gods to the Greeks in
everyday life for several reasons
The first of which is his ability, shared
only by Demeter, to ______________
This suffering he endures year after
year gave the Greeks a sympathy for
him and made them feel that he,
unlike most immortals, could
understand how _____________ life
was 38
Things to Consider…
______________ born…important?
Ripped to pieces and
__________________ like the wine
and vines at harvest…important?
Resurrected…important?
• Sent away as a baby to be raised
into manhood for his own
___________________
Lost years?
Child of deception and resentment?
39