Dionysus

CC 303 Intro to Classical Mythology - Fall 2009
Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Lawrence Kim

Semele, Dionysus/Bacchus/Liber/Zagreus, Thrace, Thebes, Ariadne
Pentheus, Bacchae/Bacchants/Maenads, Satyrs, Thyrsus, Silenus, Sparagmos

1. The "Twice-Born" God
   • Zeus and Semele, daughter of Cadmus
   • Hera's plot against Semele
   • Semele burnt to a crisp by Zeus
   • Fetus Dionysus saved and sewn into Zeus' thigh
2. Dionysus Zagreus
   • Zeus and Persephone conceive Zagreus
   • Ripped apart and eaten by Titans, except his heart
   • Zeus swallows his heart; seduces Semele
   • Symbolic death/dismemberment (sparagmos) and rebirth
3. Appearance
• Leopard skin; rides a Chariot drawn by panthers; Dolphins
  
• Wreath of Vine, Ivy; drinking paraphernalia, wine
• Bearded (later, sometimes depicted as beardless and/or fat)
  
4. Dionysus' Followers
   1. Bacchae or Bacchants: Women possessed by Bacchus, also called:
   2. Maenads: The raging/MANIAcal women
   • The Thyrsus (Wand wrapped with ivy with pine cone on top)
   • Drums and Cymbals
   • Clothing: Fawnskins, snakes
   • Superhuman strength, rip apart beasts
     
   3. Satyrs: Part man, part horse/goat; bald
      
   • Often depicted with erect phalluses - sex-crazed
   • Often drinking or drunk
   4. Silenus: Leader of Satyrs
   • Usually fat and drunk, sometimes riding donkey
     
5. Myths of Resistance to Dionysus
   1. Dionysus and the Pirates/Dolphins
   • Homeric Hymn to Dionysus
   2. Dionysus in Thebes: Euripides' Bacchae
      • Pentheus: Ruler of Thebes
      • Cross-dressing; madness
        
      • Agave: His mother and murderer
6. Dionysus and Ariadne
• Marries her after her abandonment by Theseus on Naxos
  
7. Associations
   1. The Foreign God: From the East
   • Femininity, Delicacy, Luxurious Clothing
     
   2. Fertility: Lushness of Vegetation and Plants (Ivy)
   3. Wine and the Grapevine
   4. Theater
      
   5. Madness, Intoxication, the Irrational
   6. Emotion over Reason, Ecstasy over Calmness
      • Dionysiac and Apolline
      • Music: Lyre, flute vs. cymbals, drums

1. Birth of Dionysus out of Zeus's thigh. Proto-Apulian Red-figure volute krater from Ceglie del Campo, Late 5th - Early 4th c. BCE. Museo Nazionale, Taranto.
2. Dionysus and his reborn incarnation. Attic Red-figure bell krater by the Altamura Painter, c. 460 BCE. Ferrara.
3. Baby Dionysus. Guido Reni.
   
4. Satyr pursuing maenad carrying thyrsos and snake. Attic Red-figure amphora by the Kleophrades Painter, c. 500-490 BCE. Antikensammlung, Munich.
5. Dionysos with two Maenads (one holding hare, other fawn) dressed in panther skins. Attic Black-figure neck amphora by the Amasis Painter, c. 540-530 BCE.
6. Dionysus on a boat surrounded by dolphins and grape-bearing vines. Attic Black-figure kylix by Exekias, c. 540-535 BCE.
7. Death of Pentheus. Attic Red-figure kylix, attributed to Douris, c. 480 BCE. Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth.
8. The Triumph of Bacchus. Cornelius de Vos (1584-1651), no date. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
9. Bacchus. Caravaggio, c. 1597. Uffizi Galleries, Florence.
   
10. Dionysus, wrapped in panther skin and ivy, holding a wine jar, with thyrsi around. Attic Red-figure amphora by the Kleophrades Painter, c. 500-490 BCE, from Vulci. Antikensammlung, Munich.
11. Dionysus (holding thyrsos) and satyr (playing double-aulos). Attic Red-figure kylix by Makron, c. 480 BCE. Charlottenburg, Berlin.
12. *Bacchus and Ariadne. Titian, c. 1520-22. The National Gallery, London.