A god for spring break: Dionysus;
fifth-cent. Athens
I. Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries
B. site and ritual: mystes, mystagogos, Telesterion, hierophant
C. 8 days of celebration; epopteia
D. the point of it all
II. The Bacchae: Euripides' last play (406 in Macedonia)
plot; Pentheus, Agave, Cadmus, Tiresias
hubris; deus ex machina
III. The Cult of Dio-nysus
A. origins: Semele (sister of Agave), as seen by Rubens; Minoan/Mycenean religion; Greek or Asian?; conquest of India (cf. lines 10ff.) -
powerful and associated with other deities: 275ff. (Demeter), 307-28 (Apollo and Delphi), 402 (Aphrodite), Muses (410), Olympus (560)B. characteristics (myth vs. cult): ekstasis (line 359 literally: "you stepped out of your mind"), en-thus[theos]iasmos, mania,
sparagmos, omophagia (cf. 738ff.,1130ff.)C. the gospel according to Dionysus in the choral odes: 65ff., 386-430, 902ff., 1003ff.
IV. Athens in the Fifth Century
A. 50 years of glory: the Pentekontaetia (478-431 B.C.)
B. Pericles; the Delian League; the Peace of Callias (449BC)
C. democratic reforms and abuses; litigation and jury panels; cf.Amos&Lang p. 114); metics;
citizenship legislation, Aspasia; foreign expansion
D. the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.); the Plague (427 B.C.);
the Sicilian fiasco (414/413 B.C.); the "Battle" of Aigospotamoi (405 B.C.)Have an enjoyable spring break!