Essay on Contrasting Apollo & Dionysus

Dionysus was the youngest of all god but created one of the things many adults praise, wine. Dionysus, god of wine, traveled around teaching people how to created wine. One day he was captured by foolish pirates who did not believe he was a god. To their surprise they were thrown off a boat and revolutionized into dolphins moments later.

Dionysos is defined as the god of wine, festivity, vegetation, pleasure, and divine intoxication. In the Hope Dionysos, he is depicted as a peaceful and joyful figure that represent happiness in Greek mythology. The statue is sculpted from marble as its medium and is classified as a stone

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.

Dionysus was a wanderer. During these journeys he explored the world. On these journeys he came across many different people and taught them how to keep their vines healthy. On one of his journeys he was captured by pirates. While he was in bondage of these pirates they tried to tie him down. Wherever the rope would touch him it would fall apart. In

The culture where the sculpture was produced was Roman. During this period of time, Dionysus was a religious cult figure at the temples. As a mythological personification, Dionysus was believed to be a youthful, joyful and effeminate figure. He was the God of wine, celebration and divine intoxication of power. The female figure standing next to him is Spes, the Goddess of hope, who brought harmony to society. Both statues together represented peace, calm and prosperity to the lands.

I chose to compare and contrast two works of art that featured the god Dionysos. Dionysos was a god of celebration and wine, promoting both the intoxicating power of wine and its social benefits for bringing people together. He was an advocate of peace and a promoter of peaceful civilization. Both The Hope Dionysos and the Triumph of Dionysos and the Seasons Sarcophagus represent why Dionysos was such an important and celebrated figure in mythology, which is why I chose to analyze two works of art that centered on him. My first impression of each piece was of Dionysos as a peaceful, benevolent and joyful figure. I was struck by the calm peacefulness he embodied in The Hope Dionysos and the happiness he shared on the Triumph of Dionysos and the Seasons Sarcophagus. Though there are many elements to compare and contrast, my analysis will show that both pieces are tributes and representations of Dionysos meaning and purpose in Roman art.

She became queen of the underworld after being abducted by Hades. Dionysus, was a fertility god, and god of the vine. He freed the emotions and inspired joy in men. From him we get the tragic theater. He was also known as Baccus, god of drukenness.

Some animals and plants that are sacred to him are the panther, grapevine, ivy, bindweed, pine tree

Dionysus’ birth was imaginatively created by the Greeks to fit along with Dionysus’ role in the world.

Dionysus : He is the god of fertility of nature and men, wine and intoxicated ecstasy. He is also the of of God of Theater and is also considered to be a bringer of destruction and delight . Dionysus is the son of Semele ( a mortal woman) and Zeus. There are numerous myths surrounding his birth, one being that after Semele's death, Dionysus was saved by being sown in Zeus's thigh. There are numerous festivals which are celebrated in Dionysus' honor, like Anthesteria and Country Dionysia. Dionysus ends up marrying Ariadne, who is the daughter of king Minos. Dionysus is important for the study of Greek Myth because he defies categorization. For example , he is a twice born god, he was raised as a girl and he is the immortal who died. Additionally,

However, Semele is only a mortal, and not a Goddess. Dionysus is from Mount Olympus and lived journeying around the world, as a nomad. One interesting fact about Dionysus is he had to undergo two painful deaths before he was able to be considered a God. The Greek God Dionysus is the most important God of their time, because his rebirth after death symbolizes that he became who he is through his trials and tribulations of life, which people can relate too.

Speaking on his personal appearance and attributes, he was said to be youthful, handsome and effeminate. Due to his role of god of wine he is also said to be very manipulative. None the less Dionysus is a reliable down to earth god, and one of the few gods to actually walk the earch and care for

He would share his wine with the satyrs of the forest. The satyrs would bring girls that they had seduced to share Dionysus’ wine and would have enormous parties where they would get drunk and dance. They would get so crazy drunk on wine that they would experience ecstasy and have orgies. Some of the satyrs would end without a girl and they would have horrible fights. None of them would fight against Dionysus, it was always just between the satyrs because if they would make Dionysus mad they would be without wine the next

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

Dionysus moved on to Thebes, which at the time was ruled by his cousin Pentheus. Pentheus did not know who Dionysus was, or that he was a god. Dionysus was with his group of followers, we were singing and dancing while drunk on wine. Pentheus did not like the strangers, and ordered his guards to imprison all of them. Pentheus insulted Dionysus, and called him a ‘cheating sorcerer’. The prophet Teiresias, who had already dressed as one of Dionysus's followers gave Pentheus a warning: "The man you reject is a new god. He is Semele's child, whom Zeus rescued. He and Demeter, are the greatest upon earth for men.” Pentheus laughed at Teiresias, and ordered the guards to continue.