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Dionisos

Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness and wild frenzy. He was the son of Zeus and Semele and was depicted as either an older bearded god or an effeminate youth. Dionysus was involved in many myths where he displayed his divine power, including driving followers into a frenzied state and punishing those who refused to accept his divinity such as King Pentheus who was torn apart by Dionysus' followers. He had many symbols associated with him including ivy, the pine-cone tipped thyrsos staff, and was often accompanied by satyrs and maenads.

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268 views2 pages

Dionisos

Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness and wild frenzy. He was the son of Zeus and Semele and was depicted as either an older bearded god or an effeminate youth. Dionysus was involved in many myths where he displayed his divine power, including driving followers into a frenzied state and punishing those who refused to accept his divinity such as King Pentheus who was torn apart by Dionysus' followers. He had many symbols associated with him including ivy, the pine-cone tipped thyrsos staff, and was often accompanied by satyrs and maenads.

Uploaded by

Alexandru Nazareanu
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DIONYSOS (Dionysus) was the Olympian god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness and

wild frenzy. He was depicted as either an older, bearded god or an effeminate, long-haired youth.
His attributes included the thyrsos (a pine-cone tipped staff), a drinking cup and a crown of ivy. He
was usually accompanied by a troop of Satyrs and Mainades (wild female devotees).

MYTHS
Dionysos was a son of Zeus and the princess Semele of Thebes. During the course of her
pregnancy, the god's jealous wife Hera tricked Semele into asking Zeus to appear before her in his
full glory. Bound by oath, the god was forced to comply and she was consumed by the heat of his
lightning-bolts. Zeus recovered their unborn child from her body, sewed him up in his own thigh, and
carried him to term. <<More>>
After his birth from the thigh of Zeus, Dionysos was first entrusted to the care of Seilenos (Silenus)
and the nymphs of Mount Nysa, and later to his aunt Ino, Semele's sister, and her husband
Athamas. Hera was enraged when she learned of the boy's location and drove the couple mad,
causing them to kill both their children and themselves. <<More>>
The Thrakian king Lykourgos (Lycurgus) attacked Dionysos and his companions as they were
travelling through his land and drove them into the sea. As punishment, the god inflicted him with
madness causing him to murder his wife and son and mutilate himself with an axe. <<More>>
King Pentheus of Thebes refused to accept the god's divinity and tried to apprehend him. The god
retaliated by driving the king's daughters into a crazed frenzy and they tore him apart limb from limb.
<<More>>
Dionysos instructed the hero Ikarios (Icarius) of Athens in the art of winemaking. However, some
shepherds, upon drinking the wine, thought they had been poisoned and killed him. The sorrowful
god then set him amongst the stars as the constellation Bootes. <<More>>
As Dionysos was travelling through the islands of the Aegean Sea he was captured by a band of
Tyrrhenian pirates who thought to sell him into slavery. The god infested their ship with phantoms of
creeping vines and wild beasts, and in terror the men leapt overboard and were transformed into
dolphins. <<More>>
Dionysos married princess Ariadne of Krete (Crete) whom he discovered abandoned by Theseus on
the island of Naxos. <<More>>
The god launched a campaign against the Indian nation in the farthest reaches of Asia, leading an
army composed of Satyrs, Mainades, and demigods. <<More>>
Dionysos journeyed to the underworld to recover his mother Semele and brought her to Olympos
where Zeus transformed into the goddess Thyone. <<More>>
Many other myths are detailed over the following pages.

SYMBOLS & ATTRIBUTES


Dionysos' most distinctive attribute was the thyrsos, a pine-cone tipped staff. His other attributes
included a drinking-cup (kantharos), fruiting grapevines and a panther.
The god was usually clothed in a long robe (chiton) and cloak (himation) and crowned with a wreath
of ivy-leaves.
Below are some examples of his attributes as depicted in ancient Greek art:-
1. Pine-cone staff (thyrsos); 2. Thyrsos-staff head; 3. Grapevines; 4. Drinking-cup; 5. Wreath of ivy-
leaves.

       

SACRED ANIMALS & PLANTS


Dionysos' sacred animals were the panther (leopard), tiger, bull and serpent. The god rode on the
back of a panther or drove a chariot drawn by a pair of the beasts.
His sacred plants were the grapevine, ivy, bindweed (prickly ivy) and pine tree. Devotees of the god
wore wreaths of ivy and carried pine-cone tipped staffs.
Below are examples of the god's animals as depicted in ancient Greek art and photos of his sacred
plants:-
1. Panther; 2. Grapevine; 3. Ivy; 4. Bindweed; 5. Pine tree.

       

DIONYSUS PAGES ON THEOI.COM


This site contains a total of 14 pages describing the god, including general descriptions, mythology,
and cult. The content is outlined in the Index of Dionysus Pages (left column or below).

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