Dionysus: The Tragic God

The chosen art piece, from Roman origin, is titled “Dionysus” and portrayed Dionysus, the god of wine, with his follower Pan. This artwork is a great example of Greek art’s influence in Roman artwork. The main elements of Greek’s naturalistic art, specifically of High Classical period, are rendered beautifully in this piece combined with distinctive elements from verism, unique to Roman art. So, the idealism of Greek art and the individualism of Roman art come together to create an art piece that is divine, mythical, and yet very human and therefore, relatable.

Hercules was viewed as “ a muscle bound Buffon” , brutal and a violent man.He had trouble ruling himself. Hercules had a lack of intelligence and wisdom. This often time would leave him feeling vulnerable and unstable. Hercules was often easily offended. He would never forget grudges. This led to his outbursts of emotions hitch got him in trouble. Growing up on earth, no body understood how to punish Hercules correctly. Yet, when they did find punishments he would take them without question. When Hercules came to age, he had found out who is real father was. He would speak up to the sky for signs but Zeus never answered. Hercules was responded to, but not by the person he wanted. Hera had ended up driving him mad. He ended up killing his own children. Since killing his children, Hercules was sentenced to do the 12 labors for his

The guards’ ropes fell apart, their latches opened, and they realized that they could not imprison Dionysus and his followers. Dionysus was taken to Pentheus, and tried to explain his worship. Pentheus only listened to his own anger, and insulted Dionysus. “Dionysus gave up and left Pentheus to his doom. Pentheus pursued Dionysus followers up into the hills where they had gone after walking away from his prison. Many of the local women including Pentheus’ mother and sister had joined them there. Then Dionysus appeared to his followers in his most

I believe a hero is not only defined by the destruction of his or hers courageous defeats, but by their choice of actions they portrayed through his or hers journey. An example of my idea would be the character Odysseus from the book, A Book Of The Odyssey, by Homer. Odysseus faced many encounters throughout his journey, three of which I believe are particularly important. The first encounter being when Odysseus’s men defeated the city of “Troy”. Here we portray Odysseus as a hero through his endeavor protection of his men, “Then I urged them to cut and run, set sail, but would they listen? Not those mutinous fools” (Odyssey Book 9), Odysseus tried his best to warn his men to leave, yet they were too drunk from the wine, later bigger and stronger

In Greek mythology Hercules is known for his strength and courage, considered as half man and half god. He was an adventurous superhuman born from mortal mother and the son of god Zeus. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus decided to kill Hercules after his birth. Hercules then married the Theben princess Megara and had three children. However, Hera wasn’t happy about him. She was filled hatred of him, and as time goes, this situation made him to kill his wife and all his children. Hercules then felt guilty about the crime he had done. Hercules was charged to serve his cousin, king Eurystheus, and the ‘twelve labors’ were given to him as punishments. Those labors are a call to adventure that made Hercules to cross the threshold

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

“ A huge boar was ravaging cattle on mount Erymanthus, and again Hercules was required to capture it alive. This pised him no problem… he chased the boar… until it collapsed… and then bound the beast in chains.” ( Creighton 99) He got a lot of experience from this labour because he had to chase down this wild boar, and then chain it up. So if any tragedies like this occur in the city, he would be able to take care of it. “ The third labour imposed on Hercules was the capture of a deer with golden antlers… Eurystheus wanted him to bring the animal back alive, Hercules brought it down by shooting an arrow neatly through the forelegs.” ( Creighton 98) To hit a shot like that, there is lots of experience necessary, so even before the 12 labours, Hercules had these amazing skills of running, shooting, hunting and so on. The best hero, most also have the most experience and skills, that is why Hercules is the greatest hero. Without these skills, and without this type of experience, you are not fit to be called the best hero. Hercules is the only one with these skills and experience, that is why is the best

Hercules is not the hero that greek mythology glorifies him to be. His ruthless acts to “purify” himself from killing his family, are nothing but him following commands of robbery, whether it be of a life or possession. He is less of a hero and more of a modern day hired ‘hitman’. Hercules agreed to completing the twelve tedious labours, however bad they might be. If he was ordered to steal something, he would. If he was told to kill something, he would do it. His actions are more alike the ones of an assassin or hitman rather than a selfless hero.

In the myth of Dionysus there isn’t exactly a conflict between two sides of people battling for good or evil, its more as a battle between the two sides of Dionysus’ inner self. Unlike most examples of good versus evil, there isn’t a triumphant side. Just the personality switches between Dionysus being the joy-god or the heartless, savage, brutal-god. The reason for this change is due to the fact that he is the vine god; Wine is bad as well as good. He’d bring up peoples hopes and make them believe that they were capable of anything, but once they were sober again

1. Dionysus was the god of wine and festivity but is also considered a patreon of the arts.

As Pentheus interrogates Dionysus he again is issued a direct warning not to go against the will of the gods by persecuting one whom the gods favor. As Dionysus calmly states, "Very well, I¹ll go along with this wrongful undestined destiny, but remember this: Dionysus, who you say does not exist, will wreak revenge on you for this" (Euripides 417). The story culminates in Dionysus playing on Pentheus¹ curiosity and voyeurism regarding the intoxicated hordes of Thebian women, by tricking him to go out to see them in action. Pentheus is brutally ripped apart by the possessed women, yet in effect it was his own actions that caused his destruction. As Dionysus directly addresses the hubris of Pentheus, "The sins of jealousy and anger made this Pentheus deal unjustly with one bringing blessings, whom he disgracefully imprisoned and insulted; and so he met his end at the hands of his own kin‹ an unnatural end and yet a just one" (Euripides 453).

Hercules' life revolved around using strength and skill in several confrontations of challenges. He carries out several bold and courageous actions during challenging obstacles making him the heroic man he is known as. What created these obstacles was jealousy from the people around him. Although these obstacles brought strength to Hercules, it also gave him death and sadness. Hamilton's retelling of the story presents the theme of jealousy throughout Hercules' birth, development as a hero, and death.

What is a hero? What do you think is the definition, to everyone it is different. The dictionary definition is “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” In the movie Hercules a child named Hercules was born to two immortal gods, Zeus and Athena. The child Hercules was snatched by Hades’s two minions, the minions gave the child a potion to turn him mortal. Hercules didn’t drink the whole potion leaving him with enormous strength. The rest of the story talks about his trials as a mortal with super strength and how he becomes a hero to many. This essay will explain the three different elements of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey Outline and how they relate to the popular movie Hercules.

6. When, where, or how did he/she die (you may not be able to answer this question)? (This may not apply to you. )

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