Cult of Dionysus

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Egyptian garment panel featuring Dionysiac themes, 5th century. The popularity of the cult of Dionysus, introduced to Egypt by the early Ptolemaic rulers in the 3rd century BC, continued into early Byzantine times (4th-7th century),
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The cult of Dionysus was strongly associated with

Orphic Mysteries, and may have influenced Gnosticism. Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus.[1] It is possible that water divination was an important aspect of worship within the cult.[2]

The

grapevine and its clashing alter-ego, the poisonous ivy plant, both sacred to him, the fig was another one of his accredited symbols. Additionally, the pinecone that topped his thyrsus linked him to Cybele
, an Anatolian goddess.

Bacchanalia

Main article: Bacchanalia
Caravaggio

Introduced into Rome (c. 200 BC) from Magna Graecia or by way of Greek-influenced Etruria, the bacchanalia were held in secret and attended by women only, in the grove of Simila, near the Aventine Hill, on 16 and 17 March. Subsequently, admission to the rites were extended to men, and celebrations took place five times per month. The notoriety of these festivals, where many kinds of crimes and political conspiracies were supposed to be planned, led in 186 BC to a decree of the Senate—the so-called Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Calabria (1640), now at Vienna—by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the Senate. In spite of the severe punishment inflicted on those found in violation of this decree, the Bacchanalia were not stamped out, at any rate in the south of Italy, for a very long time.

Dionysus is equated with both Bacchus and

Liberalia
, celebrated on 17 March, but in some myths the festival was also held on 5 March.

Appellations

Marble head of Dionysus in the Capitoline Museums, Rome

Dionysus sometimes has the

wine press
.

In the Greek

pantheon, Dionysus (along with Zeus) absorbs the role of Sabazios, a Phrygian deity. In the Roman pantheon, Sabazius became an alternate name for Bacchus.[14]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Apollodorus (Pseudo Apollodorus), Library and Epitome, 1.3.2. "Orpheus also invented the mysteries of Dionysus, and having been torn in pieces by the Maenads he is buried in Pieria."
  2. ISSN 0017-8160
    .
  3. ^ Raymoure, K.A. "di-wo-nu-so". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Adams, John Paul (2005). "Dionysos". California State University.
  5. ^ Kerenyi (1976).
  6. ^ Pausanias, viii. 39. § 4
  7. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Acratophorus", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, MA, p. 14{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Ακρωρεία
  9. ^ Ausonius, Epigr. xxix. 6
  10. ^ Pausanias, ix. 8. § 1.
  11. ^ Kerenyi 1976:286.
  12. ^ Jameson 1993, 53. Cf.n16 for suggestions of Devereux on "Enorkhes".
  13. Perseus Project
    .
  14. Sabazius
    .

References

External links

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