Dionysus
(Bacchus)
Dionysus's Life:
Dionysus was born very unusually. He was in his mother's womb at first, but then was transfered to his father's thigh until he was ready to be born. The reason Dionysus had to be transferred to his father's thigh was becasue Hera, the queen of the gods found out that her husband was fooling around and was jealous. Hera decided to take revenge on the women who Zeus was fooling around with, and that happened to be Dionysus's mother. She convinced Semele that she couldn't just take Zeus's word that he was a god, he had to prove it to her. Hera did this knowing that Semele would die. Zeus knew this too, and so before he revealed this god side, he took Dionysus out of Semele's womb and sewed him into Zeus's thigh. Semele died when Zeus showed his god self, and Dionysus stayed in Zeus's thigh until birth. This is why people say that Dionysus was "born twice".
Dionysus means son of god or son of Zeus. His father was Zeus, the king of all greek gods. His mother was Semele, a mortal princess from Thebes. Dionysus also had a half-brother, Apollo. He was one of the only Greek gods who had a mortal parent, and still became a god. Usually if one of your parents was a mortal and the other a god, the offspring became a hero or demigod. Dionysus met Ariadne on the island of Naxos. He fell in love with her, and they got married. Zeus made Ariadne immortal for the sake of their son, Priapus.
Dionysus God of Agriculture/Fertility and Wine:
Dionysus is considered to be the god of fertility and wine. He was the one who invented wine. Some symbols that can represent Dionysus are:
The Wanderings of Dionysus:
"The Wandering of Dionysus" starts off telling the reader that Dionysus traveled far and wide when he became a man. He taught men many things about how to cut the vines, and about his cult.Thebes was the one place in his travels that was not able to grasp that he was in fact a god. Dionysus came across pirates in his way back to Greece. They tried to capture him becasue he looked like a rich kid whose parents would pay big money to get him back. When the pirates tried to tie him up, the rope wouldn't cooperate. The helmsman finally realized that this guy was a god. So, the helmsman tried to stop the crew, and beg for Dionysus's forgiveness. The captain ignored him, and tried to set sail. The only problem was that the ship wouldn't sail. Dionysus then changed into a lion and chased the crew around the ship. The crewsman jumped overboard to escape, but in the process of jumping, they changed into dolphins. The helmsman was the only one who was okay becasue Dionysus had mercy for him. Dionysus then came across King Lycurgus while he went through Thrance. King Lycurgus didn't approve of what Dionysus was doing, instead of Dionysus going back to sea, he captured King Lycurgus so we could think about his mistake and learn form it. Zeus had another idea, and killed the king for insulting a god.
Dionysus's cousin, Pentheus, was ruling Thebus at the time. Pentheus has no idea who Dionysus was, and so when Dionysus came to Thebus with his crew being loud and having too much wine, Pentheus didn't like them. They were then rejected, and sent away. Pentheus thought that Dionysus was a cheating sourcerer from Lydia. The old prophet Teiresias tried to warn Pentheus that he was dealing with the new god whose mother was Semele, but Pentheus didn't listen. When the guards tried to tie up Dionysus and his followers like the pirates did, the ropes fell apart. Dionysus then went to Pentheus to try to explain to him who he was, but all that Pentheus did was laugh at him and insult him. Dionysus gave up and left him to his doom. Pentheus followed Dionysus's followers into the hills, and Pentheus's mother and sister met them there. Dionysus then appeared and drove all of his followers mad. Pentheus looked like a mountain lion to them, and so they attacked him. That is when Pentheus finally realized that he messed with a god, and that he was going to die becasue of it. His mother ripped off his head, and everyone else tore off his limbs.
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