Dionysus in Grecian Myth Essay

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.

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

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

In Greek Mythology a rivalry always occurs between certain Gods and Goddesses. In the case of Apollo and Dionysus there is no exception. They are half brothers, both sons of Zues and they compete just as most brothers do. Though the two Greek Gods, Apollo and Dionysus, were actually very similar in some ways, they severely contrasted in others.

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.

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

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.

While the West holds values such as conformity and civilization, the East represents the nonconformity and irrationality. The East symbolizes freedom from civilization and strict laws such as those set in the city of Thebes. It symbolizes the wilderness and it’s liberation of society’s standards. Along with the freedom from responsibility, the wilderness also symbolizes reality. An example of the freedom brought by the wilderness is when the women of Thebes flee to the woods to celebrate the gifts of the earth of wine, honey, and milk, given by Dionysus. By doing this, they are defying the laws and order of Pentheus. Dionysus is the personification of the ideals in the East. He represents the liberation and irrationality that comes with the wilderness surrounding the city of Thebes. He is the missing piece from Pentheus’ order and control that is needed to obtain balance.

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).

Ancient Greece up to the 6th century BC was on a par with other civilizations by the level of spiritual development. Hellenic culture range was one of those, whose coordinate system covers the problems of family, God, nature and Eros. As a general rule, the mentality of this culture consisted the two vectors — Apollonian and Dionysian. Dionysian beginning was aimed at the satisfaction of the instinctual needs, as opposed to the Apollonian, whose essence consisted of creative and scientific elements. The widespread fall of the monarchy and the actualization role of the nation brought Hellenic

In Greek Mythology, perhaps one of the most rudimental yet one of the most important elements are the Greek Gods and Goddesses. The ancient Greeks created the stories about the lives and journeys of the Greek Gods, known as myths, simply as an endeavor to elucidate nature and all phenomena which were difficult to explain using modern science and logic. These myths about the Gods were spread around the world by explorers and storytellers, and later merged with Greek religion. To this day, numerous myths survived through many writings and through much art. Each of these myths is very unique, and moreover, tells us much about the Greek Gods. The Greek myths in particular convey to us that Greek Gods and Goddesses looked and acted like humans,

In Ancient Greece religion and theater went hand in hand. The Greeks developed religion that was based on worship of many Gods. In honor of the Gods there were festivals with dancing, music, and theatrical performances. During the festivals the whole city would come to a complete stand still. All businesses were closed, politics were put on the back burner, and wars were halted. All social classes were welcome to come to the festival, and they all did. One of the most famous religious festivals is the City Dionysia, a festival in honor of the god Dionysus, god of wine, revelry, and fertility. The festival was held in ancient Athens, in March for five days, featuring dramatic competitions. These dramatic competitions consisted of dithyrambs, tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. The tragedy competition was four plays per playwright, three tragedies and one satyr play. There were two processions; the first was carrying the statue of Dionysus from the temple to the theater of Dionysus at the foot of the Acropolis. The second were the patrons parading through the