Dionysus

In my opinion it is easy to notice that Dionysus is quite different from the other gods and goddesses. There is actually a special worship to this god we know as Dionysus, the god of wine, agriculture, fertility of nature and the patron god of the Greek stage. We can perceive Dionysus as being quite a diverse god, as we could also ponder the question of why and how is he technically a god. He is considered as being the thirteenth Olympian, his father was Zeus and his mother was a mortal woman named Semele. As Semele is commonly known as a mortal woman throughout antiquity, we could argue the question of why is Dionysus not just a hero, how come he acquired the privilege of being a god. Zeus fathered many children with mortal women who turned out to be heroes, for example we have Hercules; he was an exceptionally well known and adored hero, who eventually became a god through many tasks involving copious amounts of strife and hardship. To look into this topic with more detail; we could say Dionysus did not himself become a hero for many reasons such as Zeus personally gave birth to him, not in the usual natural way by his mother Semele. This gives us the impression that Zeus was somewhat the sole parent, or at least the dominating parent which could lead to the conclusion that Dionysus could be seen as being fairly special compared to Zeus’ other children, resulting in him becoming a divinity. As L. B. Zaidman and P. S. Pantel in ‘Religion in the Ancient Greek City’ (1992: p198) depict how this happened by stating ‘Zeus in all his glory was struck down by a thunderbolt. But his father rescued the embryo and sewed it into his own thigh, from which Dionysus was granted a second, divine birth’. 

Reading through scholarly debate and researching the topic of this infatuating god we know as Dionysus, we can clearly state that scholars have found him particularly fascinating and he has attracted a great deal of interest from them, such as J. Larson (2007) ‘Ancient Greek Cults’ in the chapter ‘Epiphany and transformation: Dionysos’. This is most likely the cause of him being such a diverse and different god as mentioned earlier. We can simply define Dionysus as being kind of destructive in some ways, we see Zeus providing order specific order to the cosmos, and guaranteeing justice of the gods and mortals. But we can counteract that act of nobility from Zeus with Dionysus’ actions as we can see him, perhaps none intentionally messing everything up, so to speak. For an example of this we can observe the women who worshipped Dionysus. The usual role for a woman in ancient Greece was a domestic and predominantly a household role, which is expressed in various ancient sources. But the women in Dionysus’ cult would leave aside their domestic and household duties and go to the mountainside to worship him. The scholar S. Humphries describes Dionysus ‘as a drug’, which is perhaps why people worship him so much and are able to abandon their daily routines to celebrate his glory. L. B. Zaidman and P. S. Pantel articulate in ‘Religion in the Ancient Greek City’ (1992: p88), that ‘initiates of private Dionysiac mysteries who raved through town singing and dancing with ecstatic ‘enthusiasm’’. This is a good example how in ancient antiquity within religion the gods and goddesses could break and did break boundaries. 

We can also highlight Dionysus’ frivolous nature by comparing and contrasting him to Zeus. Dionysus is expressed as a young man and also a bearded man, who is frequently associated with alcohol, theatre and celebration. Dionysus is also articulated as being more of a ‘people person’ than Zeus. According to Homer’s Iliad Dionysus is a joy to all mortals as Homer states that he is ‘the most epiphanes god’. Also in Plato’s Laws 653d Dionysus is expressed as a god who is present, rather than remote, and that he enjoys good company and having a good time, as it says he is a ‘companion of the festival’. All these examples give us more insight into the character of Dionysus, but I personally can still not determine why he is particularly special to be made a god. But overall he is a significantly unique controversial figure of Ancient Greek religion, and I’m glad the study of him has ended my blog entries, as he is undoubtedly a particularly interesting subject.