Dionysius's Egocentric Mind

Directions: Read the book! And while reading, feel free to make notes in the margins on pages that contain what you believe are critical moments in the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Give in-depth definitions for each of the terms below. Type thorough and thoughtful responses to each of the questions below. Each response should be between 250-300 words in length. Be prepared to submit your study guide to your Scripture teacher during the first week of school. A summer reading quiz will be given during

Ignatius says they are intended to help one discover one’s true self and to put such order into one’s life that all decisions will be made free of any unhealthy attachments.” These exercises, which are focused on allowing human beings to be the best person they can be. His exercises are not focused on saving one from damnation, but instead on harnessing the good inherent in all human beings. This is exactly how St. Ignatius used his worldview in the real world. He views all people as good, so he wrote exercises designed to use the good already inherent in everyone in order to allow them to serve God better. Saint Ignatius was not interested in designing spiritual exercises that promised hellfire for any who were not perfect, instead his exercises were designed to help individuals become better men and better followers of

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

“As calves in stalls when cows come home, droves of them herded back from the field to farmyard one they’ve grazed their fill-as all their young calves come frisking out to meet them, bucking out of their pens, lowing non stop, jostling, rushing round their mothers-so my shipmates there at the sight of my return came pressing round me now, streaming tears. So deeply moved in their hearts they felt as if they’d made it back to their own land, their city, Ithaca's rocky soil where they were bred and reared.” (book 10, 452-461)

Along the journey home, Odysseus and his men are presented with many situations that act as tests of their personal character and self-control. Whether it be the temptation of revelry, the ability to escape their worries, or gluttony, the men must choose between their own selfish desires or resistance for the communal good. Throughout Homer’s Odyssey, the failure of Odysseus’s men to recognize their lack of self-control due to foolishness results in them bringing misfortune upon themselves and ultimately their community. In contrast, their king and commander, Odysseus, successfully displays how to avoid this lack of self-control by possessing tremendous amounts of self-discipline and prudence.

In Homer’s The Odyssey, there are a lot of traits displayed that are considered important in ancient Greek culture. These are shown by many different characters, but mostly by Odysseus (he is, after all, the main character in the epic poem). Odysseus is the epitome of a Greek ruler: he has a lot of admirable traits. His only fault is his hubris, but that is overcome and taken care of. Throughout Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus displays wisdom combined with strong loyalty and inspiring leadership through the evident trust of his men and the ability to conquer any challenges that he may face along his journey back to Ithaka.

As tyrant Dionysius was depicted as a cruel despot and was generally disliked as a ruler. Despite this he did have great military success. Shortly after consolidating his role as tyrant, in 402 B.C, Dionysius ordered the construction of a wall to protect Syracuse during the imminent war with Carthage. The wall was twenty- seven kilometres in length upon its completion in 397 BC. Dionysius proved his military skills in 397 B.C following his victory at Moyta. Using previously unseen siege tactics, Dionysius showed no mercy to the inhabitants of Moyta. As well as military tactics, Dionysius also commissioned military technological advances such as a four-banked war-vessel. However he still was not favourable amongst the demos. This is clearly

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

Roman art spread as its empire throughout the Mediterranean Sea and was powerfully influenced by the Greeks and Etruscans. Dionysus with Pan, a Roman marble sculpture from 50-150 A.D, depicts Dionysus, -Bacchus to the Romans- the god of wine; and Pan, a mystical forest creature with a head and torso of a human and the legs and horns of a goat. Dionysus myth starts way back before this sculpture was made and I want to discuss how Dionysus was just an excuse people used, to get intoxicated and justify irrational behavior in his name. Dionysus back story started with the myth of his birth. He was the son of Zeus and Semele.

Ignatius believed himself to be a beacon of morality in an otherwise dismal society. For instance, throughout A Confederacy of Dunces, he would write about the evils of the hedonistic, “bourgeois” society in which he lived, and about how the world would be in a much better position if based on the medieval principles (such as divine-right and cruel forms of torture) in which he subscribed were

I believe that Dionysius is the villain because he kills people for no reason other than the face that he is just cold hearted, in the story Damon and Pythias he has a dream where a man attempted to kill him, he had the man put to death right after he woke up. Dionysius had also falsely accused Pythias of trying to overthrow him so Dionysius sentenced him to death, Pythias requested to have a few days of freedom to so he could settle his business affairs. Dionysius would not let him without someone being there in his place in case he does not come back.

Euripides uses the god Dionysus in The Bacchae in order to emphasize that humans need to embrace irrational behavior in their day to day lives. In Thebes, Dionysus finds a structured and ordered society, with their goal simply being to work as hard as possible, while Dionysus aims to simply live to have fun and make merry. Due to the disrespect given to him by the Thebans as a result of their differences, Dionysus aims to take revenge and force the people to worship him by destroying their society and recreating it in his image. Dionysus and Theban society are complete opposites. Dionysus is considered to be the god of wine and merriment.

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).

Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises promotes our capacity, through our prayers, to hear Christ’s voice and to use our senses to feel and experience His presence. Smith says, “Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola is very focus on Jesus – or, more specifically, on the Jesus story: his birth, life, death and resurrection. In prayer and through the guidance of the Exercises, we are drawn into the Jesus story so that our lives

In my perspective, Odysseus, the ruler of Ithaca and a Greek ruler of Troy, is such a character that does not seem as delusional as Ajax, yet there are some characteristics within him, which consequently make him view himself as delusional. Unfortunately, completing this question thoroughly was quite difficult, as Odysseus did not provide many statements. Nonetheless, to begin with, in comparison to Ajax, this ruler does not allow his feelings of hatred over power his conscience, as despite the fact that he knew of Ajax’s motive to destroy him, he remained quite calm. Specifically, in the text, Odysseus exclaims to Athena, “I am circling round for signs of my enemy, Ajax, the shield bearer. He is the man I have been tracking, no one else. Last night he carried out an unimaginable crime,” yet he has not embarked on drastic measures to compromise Ajax’s safety and being. (Dutta, 3) Moreover, I was not able to find evidence to prove that Odysseus is per say delusional, rather the fact, that he is obscure and battles with his own emotions. To begin with, when Athena was allowing for Ajax to be present in front of Odysseus, allowing him to make his statement, Odysseus exclaimed, “Athena, what are you doing? Don’t call him out! … Don’t, for God’s sake! Let him stay inside!”, it seems to be delusional and ironic, as words before he stated, “He is the man I was tracking, no one else … I volunteered to take on this task … I was on