Dionysus

Question 1

Bacchae (Bacchantes)

Answer 1

Euipides story, female followers of Bacchus

Question 2

Bacchanalia

Answer 2

wild parties in honour of bacchus

Question 3

Cadmus

Answer 3

king of thebes, father of Semele

Question 4

Dionysus (Bacchus)

Answer 4

God of Wine
§ Fermentation of grape
God of Fertility
§ Complement to Magna Mater
§ Life-giving liquids: wine, blood, semen, sap
God of Ecstasy
§ Release through wine, music & dance
§ Madness & Irrationality
§ Release from all restraints
God of Theatre § Loss of Identity

Dio = sky god
nsys = son, or Mt.Nysa

ivy and panther skin

Question 5

Ekstasis

Answer 5

standing outside oneself

Question 6

In Vino Veritas

Answer 6

truth in alcohol

Question 7

Liber

Answer 7

free

Question 8

Lysios

Answer 8

loss of personal identity, the deliverer

Question 9

Maenad

Answer 9

Bacchantes - madwomen
wield thyrsus and leopard

Question 10

Mt. Nysa

Answer 10

birthplace

Question 10

Nymphs of Nysa

Answer 10

Zeus gave Dionysus to raise and raised him with Silenus

Question 11

Persephone

Answer 11

Zeus has affair with Persephone? Hera gets jealous

Question 12

Phrygia

Answer 12

asia minor, origin of Dionysus

Question 13

Satyr (Faun)

Answer 13

half-man, half-goat

Question 14

Semele

Answer 14

Mother of Dionysus, Zeus father,

daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes - zeus dressed as mortal impregnated Semele

Hera tricks her by asking Zeus to reveal himself which burns Semele but Zeus saves Dionysus and he is sewn into his thigh

Question 15

Silenus / Sileni

Answer 15

part man part beast

Question 16

Sparagmos

Answer 16

ritual slaughter of sacrificial victims

Question 17

Thebes

Answer 17

Cadmus is king

Question 18

Thiasus

Answer 18

orgiastic worship followers
Maenads
Satyrs
Sileni

Question 19

Thrace

Answer 19

greece, origin of Dionysus

Question 20

Thyrsus

Answer 20

pole wrapped with ivy and topped with pine Cone
“vine”

Question 21

Zagreus

Answer 21

Epithet of Dionysus

Hera gets jealous of Persephone and orders titans to dismember and devour Zagreus

Athena saves heart and gives to Zeus who swallows it and Dionysus is born again (via Semele)

Zeus destroys Titans and humans were born from their ashes

human duality - bad(titans) good(Dionysus)

Question 22

roman name

Answer 22

bacchus

Question 23

Agave

Answer 23

pentheus mother, sister of Semele

Question 24

Agriania

Answer 24

Festival in honour of Dionysus

Question 25

Cybele

Answer 25

Dionysus driven insane by jealous Hera

Question 26

Dryope

Answer 26

mother of Pan

Question 27

Echo

Answer 27

pans other love - flees his advances, Pan drives shepherds mad (panic), shepherds tears Echo to pieces only voice remained talkative nymph, punished by Juno to only repeat words Echo falls for Narcissus and he rejects her and echo wastes away - only voice remains

Question 28

Euripides’ Bacchae

Answer 28

Pentheus Rejects Dionysus § Theban Women driven insane § Wander about Mt. Cithaeron § Pentheus assumes sexual orgies—or worse! § Pentheus Arrests ‘Mysterious Stranger’ § Stranger escapes bonds; destroys prison § Pentheus driven insane § Sees double; sees ‘stranger’ as bull § Dresses up like a woman to spy on Theban women § Ritual victim to the slaughter Death of Pentheus § Caught spying on maddened women § Led by Agave § Mother of Pentheus; Aunt to Dionysus § Pentheus torn to pieces § Sparagmos § Agave puts his head on a spit § Omophagia § Devouring of raw flesh § Agave and mad women regain senses § Awesome Power of Dionysus affirmed § Accommodation of the Irrational

Question 29

Homeric Hymn to Dionysus

Answer 29

Abducted & Bound by sailors § Mistaken for mere mortal § bonds miraculously fall off Crew refuses to recognize divinity § Only helmsman does Ship flows with wine § Ivy grows upon mast § Sail covered in grape-clusters § Dionysus transforms into a lion § Bear appears on deck § Crew jumps into sea § Transformed into dolphins § Only helmsman spared

Question 30

Lycurgus

Answer 30

King of Thrace routs Dionysus and Thiasus - D jumps into sea rescued to Thetis - Zeus blinds Lycurgus for Hubris (variant Lycurgus driven insane)

Question 31

Midas

Answer 31

captures Silenus - overweight satyr, tall tale teller then returns to Dionysus and he rewards Midas - man with the golden touch - gift becomes curse

Question 32

Mt. Cithaeron

Answer 32

theban woman go crazy and wander here

Question 33

Myths of Resistance

Answer 33

The most famous Resistance Myth connected with Dionysus occurred in his city of origin, Thebes, with his cousin Pentheus. After Semele died, her sisters, most notably Agave, spread the rumor that Semele had lied about the paternity of her child and Zeus had punished her for it with his thunderbolt.

Question 34

Narcissus / Narcissism

Answer 34

Handsome youth falls for his own reflection and wastes away becomes a flower

Question 35

Omophagia

Answer 35

devouring of raw flesh

Question 36

Pactolus River

Answer 36

Midas washes off power in river

Question 37

Pan

Answer 37

part man part goat, father Hermes, mother dryope pan means to feed, associated with Arcadia created pan-pipes

Question 38

Pentheus

Answer 38

King of Thebes, cousin of Dionysus, resist his worship (Cadmus was former king) and Tiresias advise him to to accept divinity

Question 39

Proetus & the Proetids

Answer 39

Daughters of Proetids, king of Argos Proetids refuse new religion and are driven insane that is only cured by shouting and dancing = Festival of Agriania

Question 40

Silenus / Sileni / Papposileni

Answer 40

half man half goat dude

Question 41

Syrinx

Answer 41

Nymph that was devotee of Artemis, pursued by Pan transformed into reeds

Question 42

Viticulture

Answer 42

Art of wine making