Apollo And Dionysus In The Bacchae

Within the play The Bacchae there are two different sides of human nature that are emphasized, which are the civilized and the primal sides. The primal side seems to be emphasized through Dionysus who is the god of wine and festival and very fond of the effect each has on the body. When Dionysus arrives at the city he causes all of the women to go mad and travel up to the mountain to sing and dance in worship of him. Their behavior is described saying, “They’re gone—playing around in some meadow, calling out to Bromius, summoning their god.” (554-556). This shows that they seem to be reverting to their primal nature and acting savagely and out of character in the mountain. However, Pantheus is enraged at the behavior of the women and refuses to believe the divine powers that Dionysus has. He orders the women to be captured and punished for their actions. He believes that worshipping Dionysus is silly because he is not actually the son of Zeus so in his mind the whole ritual is crazy saying, “All the barbarians are dancing in these rites.” (600). Using the word barbarians displays his true belief because barbarians are remembered as savage and wild people who did not have any order in the way that they lived their life.

Apollo and Zeus are truly wise- / they understand what humans do. / but there is no sure way to ascertain / if human prophets grasp things any more than I do, although in wisdom one man / may leave another far behind. / But until I see the words confirmed, / I will not approve 0of any man / who censures Oedipus, for it was clear / when that winged Sphinx went after him / he was a wise man then. We witnessed it / He passed the test and endeared himself / to all the city. So in my thinking now / he never will be guilty of crime.

Dionysus, on the other hand, invents the timbrel, it is a drum beaten to furious, erratic rhythms that express his compulsive nature. Apollo retains abstract intellect, he is an educator of young men, and promotes logical and rational thought. Dionysus desires irrational power, he liberates humans to explore there potential for emotional and behavioral extremes, he allows his unconscious to flourish, and he is embodied by spontaneous emotion. Greek tradition said that each year Apollo left his sanctuary at Delphi to live with the Hyperboreans, a mythical tribe inhabiting the extreme north. When he did that, Dionysus reigned in Delphi for the 3 winter months. During these months a noticeable change would come over people. Spontaneity came over everyone, and the concept of rational thought would be lost until Apollo's return. Obviously Dionysus was much more liberal when compared to Apollo.

This sculpture was given the title, “Dionysus,” and is dated at 50 – 150 A.D. During that period, the Roman Empire went through a civil war, multiple rebellions, a couple disastrous fires, the building of the Colosseum, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the peak of Roman military expansion and thirteen different Emperors. One of which started the Flavian Dynasty, which would bring stability to the empire that was crumbling because of financial strife. With all of these events happening, good and bad, it seems difficult to pin point the inspiration or message behind this sculpture. But if you break that period of time down into parts, it may be easier to get a feel for what the artist was feeling so strongly about, whether it was inspired by

In Euripides’ the Bacchae, the city of Thebes is shown to have a system of political inheritance as Pentheus is given control over the city by his grandfather Cadmus, the founder of the city. The god Dionysus is also a grandson of Cadmus, yet is not chosen to be the heir to Thebes, which creates a rivalry between Dionysus and Pentheus. Pentheus does not allow Dionysus into the city of Thebes or give recognition to Dionysus at all. Dionysus and Pentheus both wish to establish their own political rule over the city of Thebes. Pentheus attempts to rule Thebes in an Apollonian fashion. The women brought to Thebes by Dionysus are put under arrest at the order of Pentheus, due to the drunken partying they were having due to Dionysus’ powers. The women’s party went against the social order enforced by the city of Thebes, and Dionysus

The Apollonian and the Dionysian is a philosophical concept based on different mythologies, many Philosophers and figures have invoked this dichotomy in critical and creative works. Both are one of the important themes within Nietzsche’s first major work, The Birth of Tragedy and they are terms used to designate the two central principles in Greek culture.

Euripides’ The Bacchae can be read as an allegory celebrating the revolution of women against a patriarchal society. The argument for this allegory has substantial evidence. The Theban women reject the men of Thebes and the laws to join the Dionysian cult out in the wood. However while the women gain power initially, in the end they lose their newly gained power. The women then face severe punishment for their rebellion. Agave and her sisters receive the punishment on behalf of all the bacchants. The message is that female rebellion is a threat to social order and their power must be weakened or destroyed to restore order. This provides the conflict and resolution to entertain and appease the audience. The Bacchae condemns the proposition of

The essence of this mystery tradition was the embrace of one’s whole self through ecstatic ritual. Sexual longings were summoned and embraced as inherent parts of our inner self. The Cult of Dionysus were worshippers who held rites and initiations to bring them in close contact with this God. These secret rites of initiation were the other essential part of the Dionysian Mysteries. The Cult of Dionysus held the secret rites on Mount Parnassus in the winter, and these rites were exclusively for its cult members. An individual had to make the decision to enter the mystery cult through initiation. These rites celebrated Dionysus’s emergence from the underworld with orgies. They focused on the exhilaration wine produced and used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques like music and dance as part of the rituals. It’s believed that at first the songs and dances were designed to stimulate plant growth, and that the orgies were introduced to induce fertility in the vegetation fields. This cult was originally believed to be a wine cult concerned with the cultivation, life-cycle, fermentation, and disinhibiting effects of wine. These rites had a group approach, “which manifests its collective energy through the throbbing patterns of song, dance, and orgiastic sex among its individual participants” (Evans,

Pentheus and Dionysus represent a factor of duality. For example, they both battle against each other to prove their point as leaders. Pentheus has just become the new king of Thebes and would like to gain power of his people. He seeks to rule over with rationality and social order. Whereas Dionysus is the youngest of all Olympians and wishes to prove to the world that he is an all-powerful god. However, he is also known as the god of wine and believes that everyone should wind down once in a while and celebrate with self-intoxication. His irrational ideas and objectives are the opposite of Pentheus. The ultimate conflict between the two characters is that Pentheus is in denial of Dionysus’ existence because he refuses to believe in irrationality. For example in lines 471-480 in the Bacchae, Pentheus is speaking to Dionysus about Dionysus and is in denial of his existence. Pentheus is so oblivious that he does not even recognize his presence. This relates to duality because Dionysus is the opposite force working against Pentheus or vice versa. Pentheus is devoted to living with

In terms of Dionysus’ followers, woman were a significant component to the rituals had to be possessed by himself. His female followers are called Maenads and Bacchaents. In Dionysus’ rituals, there are two evident acts, which show the devotion to this God taken part by only the females. There is ‘Sparagmos’ which means ripping or tearing apart, and ‘Omophagia’ meaning eating of the raw flesh. Under the influence of the wine, the Maenads would take part in their rites and become overwhelmed in a hyperactive deed of strength and madness which lead to uprooting trees, and participating on ‘Oreabasia’ which means mountain roaming. They continued to be in this mode of complete fervor, and their souls were temporarily freed from their bodies and were able to gain

In Odyssey and Aeneid, Hermes and Mercury represent similar perceptions of love along with differing belief concerning obligation to the "Voice of God". Homer and Virgil think compulsion and love do connect. Homer thinks that despite the fact the gods constantly get their way, human can resist. On the other hand, Virgil believes humans should always get orders from the immortals. One can compare Homer and Virgil 's famous narrative of love. However, In today 's culture still question the unquestionability of the " Voice of God" and one 's obligation.

In Lord of the Flies, some Dionysian and Apollonian perspectives were found. The terms ‘Dionysian’ and ‘Apollonian’ are used as literary terms and their names devering from those of Greek gods whose qualities they represent. Apollo and Dionysus were both sons of Zeus but they are polar opposites. Furthermore, Apollo represents order and reason whereas Dionysus represents chaos and emotionalism.

Apollonian vs. Dionysian (Friedrich Nietzsche) What is the difference between Apollonian and Dionysian? The name Apollonian came from the Greek God Apollo, meaning good or obedient. Dionysian came from the Greek God Dionysus, meaning more dark or sensual.

Dionysus is an important figure of Greek mythology. He is the Olympian god of wine, vegetation, festivity and pleasure. He represents humanity’s longing for pleasure and desire to celebrate. Dionysus is also the god of hallucination, theatre, reincarnation and homosexuality. He is called: “the youthful, beautiful, but effeminate god of wine. He is also called both by Greeks and Romans Bacchus (Bakchos), that is, the noisy or riotous god…” (Roman 201).

Every human being has within him an ideal man, just as every piece of marble contains in a rough state a statue as beautiful as the one that Praxiteles the Greek made of the god Apollo.Greek myth is comprised of many Gods and Goddesses and the stories of how they came to be and of their life stories. And this is the story of the God apollo One God that caught my eye was Apollo, was associated with many aspects of life in the time of the Greek gods. Apollo’s father was Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus, though married to Hera, had some problems with fidelity. He impregnated Leto, the daughter of a Titan.When he was four days old, he asked Hephaestus to make him silver bows and arrows. Hephaestus created them for him. Apollo was