Dionysiac Mysteries

Question 1

What is the archaeological evidence for the cult of Dionysus?

Answer 1

Pottery - depicting the death of Pentheus as he is ripped apart by Bacchic Maenads. Examples from the 5/6th centuries BC

Question 2

Name a few literary sources for the cult of Dionysus:

Answer 2

Herodotus 2.81; 4.79
“…practices called Ophic and Bacchic”
“…initiated into the rites of the Bacchic Dionysus”

Hereclitus’ prophesy - calling Bacchic initiates unholy

Pre-Euripides play about the Bacchae - lost (tragedies are rarely original)

Dionysus called Zagreus in Orphic tradition

Ptolemaic egypt: issued a decree to register all those who perform the rites of Dionysus - an attempt to restrict the cult by government

Question 3

Which Roman historian wrote on the cult of Dionysus?

Answer 3

Livy’s Bacchanalia - written during the reign of Augustus, almost a century and a half later than the event it describes in 186 BCE when the Roman senate introduced legislation to restrict the cult of Bacchus in Italy

Question 4

What is the purpose of the Dionysiac mysteries?

Answer 4

Purpose of the Dionysiac cult: to improve this life to the best it can be - not about liberation or protection in the next life, but focusing on the current state
Contrast to Eleusis etc. which is about safeguarding rebirth and life after death

Question 5

What are some of the criticisms levelled at the cult of Dionysus?

Answer 5

Criticism of the cult of Dionysus - nonbelief is punished severely yet the rites are not explained prior to initiation
Pentheus is punished for wanting to see what the Maenads are doing, he is ripped apart by his own mother
Thebes is ruined for not believing that Dionysus is the son of Zeus, and that his mother was raped by a god

Question 6

Talk about the priesthoods of the cult of Dionysus:

Answer 6

Priesthoods to Dionysus can be sold - only to a woman
Sacrificing could be throwing raw meat into the crowd (to resemble the death of Pentheus?)
Priestesses get a share of the sacrifice from the initiates (if you wish to sacrifice to Dionysus, you must share the meat)
On Cos, the priestess is publicly funded - “the treasurer should bear the costs”