Myths About Dionysus

One of the most interesting tales of Dionysus is the one about pirates who captured him, believing he's a rich young man wandering the sea-shore alone, and intending to demand a ransom for his release. The youth, dressed in precious garbs kindly asked of the pirates to transport him and then let him go free. The pirates naturally refused and tied him up with a rope. The young man gave no resistance but only smiled, at the same time freeing himself of the ropes that simply fell off of him. At that point the steersman realized it was no ordinary man and he suggested they release him. Still, the pirates wouldn’t give up on their plan. Then a disaster struck: the whole ship was flooded by a crimson liquid, wine, and the youth turned into a bloodthirsty lion. Terrified, the pirates started running and jumping into to sea, but there they were all turned into dolphins. The steersman was the only one to survive and he spent the rest of his life happy and prosperous.
In this tale the basic characteristics of Dionysian myths are evident, as well as the way he deals with enemies: in the beginning, he’s always a helpless victim, giving no resistance, but always trying to reason with the enemy. Next, suddenly and dramatically, there is an misfortune followed by Dionysus’ transformation and finally the tragedy of the ones who have harmed him. However Dionysus himself is never the one doing the killing. Just as in this myth the lion did not slay any of the pirates, but simply frightened them, forcing them to do the act themselves. These traits can justly be attributed to wine, like any other alcoholic beverage: at first its effects are subtle and friendly, and later turns a man into a beast, that is a being that acts solely according to its urges.

There’s also the famous drama by Euripides, Bacchus, from the 5th century B.C. Its main plot is the story of the young Dionysus returning to his birthplace, Thebes, disguised as a priest. Reigning in Thebes was king Pentheus, a cousin of Dionysus, who forbade the introduction of the Dionysian cult into his city, deriding its rites and followers. Beside that, he thought that Semele was simply punished for pretending to be Zeus’ lover. This was enough for Dionysus to send madness to every woman in Thebes, including Agave, the king’s own mother, and Semele’s sister. All the women fled from the city and ran to the hills that surrounded Thebe, where they feasted on raw flesh and loudly sang and played music. Pentheus’ grandfather, Cadmus, was beguiled to join the new God. All of this enraged Pentheus, who could not bear the rituals of the new cult, hence he ordered that the young priest and his lady followers to be arrested. Dionysus, naturally, gave no resistance and he willingly goes to the king, who does not recognize him. The priest tries to convince the king to change his mind and accept the new faith, which brings joy and removes the sorrow. The king stands firm, and Dionysus starts cautioning him – he tells him that the God is very near and he will not tolerate such behaviour from the king. Then he adds: You know not what you do. You know not who you are. With this Dionysus affects the king’s mind, that is he starts sending him madness. Pentheus then sends the priest to the dungeon thereby sealing his own fate. Dionysus sends thunder-bolts from the dungeon and strong tremors of the earth which quake the whole palace. The baffled Pentheus is soon visited by Dionysus who suddenly appears beside him. To make things worse, the followers of the new God are set free and they go back to the mountains where they are attacked by peasants, in vain – their weapons are useless, and the women following this new God have tremendous strength: they tear apart living bulls with their bare hands and perform other miraculous acts. From the ground water, wine and milk start flowing, and the whole mountain becomes alive and dances with them. The women killed most of the peasants, and then Dionysus created fountains to wash away the blood and let snakes loose to lick and clean the women. In the end, the peasant who notifies the king of all this, barely alive, convinces the king to stop fighting and accept the God who’s brought a cure for sadness. Pentheus refuses and is completely consumed by madness. He sees double and Dionysus appears to him in the form of a bull.
Subsequently Dionysus decides to punish the king, making him do what he hated the most. He suggests to him to stalk the women on the mountain, but to do that, he must dress as a woman. The completely crazed king accepts, he changes his attire and follows Dionysus to the mountain. There, of course, his punishment awaits. The women tear his living flesh to bits, among them Agave as well, his own mother. In trance, she did not recognize her son.
Cadmus discovers this and orders soldiers to find Pentheus’ remains and bury him as a king should be buried. In the meantime, Agave proudly walks back into the city, carrying the head of her son on the end of a staff, believing she’s killed a lion. Cadmus brings her out of her trance and to her disbelief, she finally realizes what she’s done. In the end, Dionysus triumphantly walks into the city, appearing in his true form. He informs them of his divine status and his right to enact punishment upon the royal family for their sacrilege and blasphemy, and further punishes Cadmus and Agave by banishing them from the city for all eternity.

This is a short survey of the most famous myth about Dionysus; I needed to describe it a little more thoroughly because it represents the best his interaction with the enemy, it describes how he punishes them by making them self-destruct. Both Dionysus and Pentheus are figures of authority – one of divine, the other human. Both are young, and above all, they’re related. In the beginning, Dionysus seems vulnerable for the roles to be completely turned around in the end – the king becomes the victim of a ruthless God. Pentheus in his madness actually becomes Dionysus; the long hair adorned with ivy and the female clothes unquestionably lead to the conclusion that the king became the victim of the Dionysian ritual, in which he played the part of the God who had become the flesh that will feed the rite’s participants. As we have already seen, wild animals had the same role. Were there ever human sacrifices in the rituals is still unknown.

                                                                                                                                               Varg