Images of the youngest of the pantheon of the ancient Greek gods Olympus came to us in the form of a young attractive young man with an ivy wreath on his head and a staff in his hand. Less common in mythology are his images in adulthood, then he looks like a man with curls on his head and a thick beard. Dionysus was considered the god of vegetation and winemaking, as well as inspiration and theater. His presence always guaranteed a holiday and fun, he was constantly surrounded by satyrs and priestesses of the cult.
Dionysus in mythology and culture
The first mentions of Dionysus are found on Cretan written tablets of the XIV century BC. Translated from ancient Greek, the name means "sanctified by the god Dionysus." The patron saint of winemakers received his nickname "god with bull horns" because he liked to turn into this animal. For the first time in literature, mention of him is found in one of the chapters of the Odyssey of the ancient Greek poet Homer. In the mythology of ancient Rome, there is a similar deity, which was named Bacchus or Bacchos. The sculpture of the great Michelangelo “Bacchus” is considered the most recognizable image of the god of wine and fun. A marble statue two meters high depicts a drunken god accompanied by a satyr.
The god of wine and winemaking took his place in the pantheon of Olympus later than others. There is a version that the cult of this ambiguous character came to Greece from Thrace or Asia Minor and got its maximum development already in the 7th century of our time. After all, for a long time Greek mythology did not pay enough attention to winemaking and gardening.
Mystery of birth
The great secret is shrouded in the biography of Dionysus. Even the story of his birth remains a mystery. One myth says that his mother, Semela, was the daughter of a king in Thebes. Zeus was carried away by a beautiful girl and became a frequent guest in her house. The jealous wife of Hera found out about the adventures of the Thunderbolt and decided to severely punish her rival. She turned a wanderer, and invited the girl to ask the supreme deity to show her true face. Zeus agreed to the request of his beloved and appeared in the guise of a lightning thrower. One of them got into the house of King Thebes, a fire broke out. Semele, who was expecting a baby, began a premature birth. Burning, she managed to pass the baby to Zeus and entrusted his father with his fate. To save the newborn, the supreme god sewed him into his thigh and carried him there for three months, until it was time for his son to be born again, so Dionysus is often called "twice born."
Childhood
The prudent Zeus knew the character of his wife and understood that she would not leave the boy alone. He hid it in a stone grotto near the nymphs, turned it into a kid, at one time the child lived with his aunt. Father understood that his son needed a good teacher and a reliable defender. Dionysus was brought up to the Greek god Hermes. He was considered the most dexterous and cunning of all the Olympians. Outwardly, he looked like a young man whose invariable attributes were a hat with small wings on his temples, a baton, and winged sandals. The divine messenger and guide of the dead souls to the underworld has always had a lot of work. But Hermes repeatedly had to save the child and each time he managed to appear on time. Then the Thunderer decided to give his son to the education of the goddess Cybele, who was not inferior in strength to Hera and revealed to the boy the forces of nature.
When Dionysus matured a little, unexpectedly for everyone he made friendship with the satyr Ampelius. The old bully did not let the boy get bored and played with him. Satire suffered a heavy death from the horns of a bull. Dionysus tried to save him, but the efforts were in vain. The body of Ampelia turned into a vine of grapes, from the fruits of which a sad young man squeezed juice, and the drink was given the name wine. The first person to whom Dionysus gave to try wine was Ikariy. The farmer from Attica liked the drink so much that he decided to introduce other people to it. The comrades soon became intoxicated and decided that Ikariy decided to poison them. Enraged, they attacked him and killed him. So the first acquaintance of the Greeks with wine turned into a tragedy. After a while, Dionysus taught people how to make another hoppy drink - beer from barley.
Earth Travel
After that, the carefree young man decided to travel the world. For three whole years, Dionysus lingered in India, and wherever he appeared, grapes ripened everywhere. The youngest son of Zeus visited many places, descended into the underworld, from where he returned his mother. He lifted her from the possessions of Hades and elevated her to Olympus, she became a goddess and received the new name of Theon. The young god traveled with his retinue. Satire - demons with goat legs and priestesses everywhere accompanied him. The retinue was joined by the teacher Dionysus Silenus, whom rarely anyone saw sober. He was delighted with the new drink and did not know the measures in its use. In the images that have survived to this day, the bald, funny old man Silenus always sits on a donkey and utters wise thoughts.
Once Dionysus got on a ship to the sea robbers. When one of the pirates noticed that the chains fettering the prisoner fell from his hands, he suggested that they were not a simple person. Frightened, he invited his comrades to let the young man go, but they only laughed. This Dionysus could not forgive and turned into an angry lion, which torn to pieces the captain of the pirates. The young god turned the mast and oars into a serpent, and the remaining villains, in fear, jumped into the raging sea and turned into dolphins. Dionysus spared only one stranger who saw a deity in him.
Honoring Dionysus
In the cultural centers of ancient Greece, holidays were held in honor of the Greek god of wine and winemaking. The city authorities took over their organization, and they lasted a whole week. At this time, all affairs in the city were suspended, the prisoners were released, state bodies did not work, fun reigned everywhere. Holidays were held annually in March and were called the Great Dionissia. The celebrations began with the fact that the Hellenes from the temple carried out the image of the god Dionysus and the whole city was filled with a noisy crowd. A choir of boys sang by the statue of the deity in the afternoon, and in the evening the amateurs of the mummers began. The actors put on goatskins and showed the audience funny scenes. For their performances, the Dionysus Theater was specially erected; a part of this architectural monument has been preserved to this day on one of the slopes of the Acropolis. Creative people believed that wine - a gift from Dionysus, gives them inspiration and helps them in art. Therefore, the god of wine and fun enjoyed special respect from artists and poets, they devoted many of his works to him.
At the very beginning, having received wine from the hands of Dionysus, people arranged noisy holidays, at which laughter and joy were the main ones. Wine amused the soul, gave strength and uplifting. But gradually the simple fun became unbridled. Alcohol turned nightly festivities in honor of the god of winemaking into terrible spectacles. Drunkenness drove the Greeks to the point that they put on animal skins, ate raw meat and at the same time glorified the name of Dionysus. Relaxation and emancipation turned into madness. Drinking led to the fact that people stopped listening to their minds and often dances ended in a bloody spectacle and bacchanalia.
Dionysos cruelly acted with those who refused to recognize in him the divine principle. Such Greeks relentlessly pursued madness. There is a legend according to which Tsar Lycurgus, who rejected the god of winemaking, in a mad impulse chopped up his own heir with an ax, at that moment it seemed to him that he was cutting down a vine. The daughters of King Minius went mad, and one of the women in Argos, in a fit of madness, began to devour her own baby.
