Dionysus

Jimmy Kingsbury & Kieran Ward

 

Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility, had two extreme personalities. His struggle for balance and ongoing suffering are reflected in the stories of his conception, birth and interactions with humans. Some of the greatest poetry of ancient Greece was written for Dionysus, and much of it exposes the duality of his character. Like the varying influences of wine on human behavior, Dionysus exemplified both uninhibited revelry and savage brutality, and, surprisingly, he became the center of the belief in the immortality of the soul.

 

The dual personalities of Dionysus can be traced to his conception and birth. He was the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Semele. Semele was pleased to be the object of a god, and convinced Zeus, who was in love with her, to grant her a wish. She wished that Zeus would reveal himself to her. Having sworn by the river Styx, Zeus had to comply and, as no mortal can withstand the true divine image of a god, Semele died immediately upon seeing Zeus. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus from Semele and sewed him in his thigh until he was ready to be born. Dionysus was thus born twice, once of his mortal mother and then again from the thigh of the most powerful god, Zeus. After he was born, Zeus sent Dionysus to be raised by nymphs. He was born of the fire that ripens the grapes and nursed by the rain that keeps the grape vine alive.

 

Like the effects of wine, Dionysus could, on the one hand, bring bliss and relaxation to humans, and then, on the other hand, resort to savage brutality and uncontrolled fury. Perhaps he felt inferior to the other gods. After all, he was the only god to have a mortal parent, and he was the last god to enter Olympus. Whatever the reason, Dionysus seemed especially determined to exact revenge on those who doubted his divinity. For example, his cousin, Pentheus, refused to believe that Dionysus was a god. Dionysus drove him mad and then lured him into the woods where he was attacked by Dionysus’ cult of depraved women, the Maenads. Pentheus’ mother was a Maenad and, in an intoxicated rage, she helped tear him limb from limb. Cult followers of Dionysus developed throughout Greece and Rome (where he was known as Bacchus). He was worshipped in the woods rather than in temples, and his followers were known for their drunken rituals and the pursuit of ecstasy.

 

Unlike most gods, Dionysus suffered. Like grape vines, Dionysus died with the coming of the winter, disappearing to the Underworld until Spring. His death and resurrection each year gave his worshippers comfort that life did not end with death and that the soul lived on forever. He gave his followers faith that if they lived a good life they could live eternally in paradise, but if they lived a bad life they would suffer eternally in the deep depths of the Underworld. This aspect of Dionysus has been compared to Jesus. They both died and were resurrected from the dead thereby breaking the barrier of death and proving that the soul lives on. In addition, as Jesus saves his followers from death, Dionysus is one of very few to save a dead person from the Underworld. Dionysus saved his mother from death brought her to Mount Olympus, where she became the only mortal permitted to live with the gods. Through these triumphs, Dionysus became the center of the belief in the immortality of the soul. Dionysus’ festival was held each Spring and most Greek plays were written to be performed at his festival.

 

Dionysus personified the extreme behaviors associated with the consumption of wine. He is seen as mankind’s benefactor and destroyer. His ritual death and resurrection, and his heroic act to save his mother from death, inspired some of the greatest literature in ancient Greece. It also made him a symbol of hope for human salvation from death through the immortality of the soul.