The Mythology Book

52

See also: The Olympian gods 24–31 ■ The many affairs of Zeus 42–47 ■

Vesta and Priapus 108–09 ■ A complex god 164

D

ionysus, the god of

wine and ecstasy, was

born after Zeus’s liaison

with a mortal named Semele.

Her insistence on seeing Zeus

revealed in his full divine glory

resulted in her death, because

a mere mortal was not permitted

to see an undisguised god. Zeus

rescued the fetus and sewed the

unborn child into his thigh. After

this, Dionysus was born again—

both as a boy-deity and as an

emblem of fertility. Zeus’s wife,

Hera, then cursed Dionysus,

sending Titans to dismember and

kill him. Zeus, however, brought

his son back to life once more.

The Maenads

Dionysus presided over fertility

both for the vineyards and for

women’s wombs. His followers,

predominantly female, were known

as Maenads—meaning “raving

ones.” These women shared their

god’s love of wine and raucous

behavior, and he encouraged them

to indulge in both. Marauding

bands of Maenads terrorized the

Theban countryside so much that

Pentheus, the King of Thebes,

banned the cult of Dionysus. The

king’s decree was angrily rejected

by many women—including the

king’s own mother—who went out

into the countryside to praise the

wine god in one last, climactic rite.

Dionysus convinced Pentheus

to climb a tree to enjoy the view of

the final orgy. Dressed in women’s

clothes, the king went to watch, but

was seen by the ecstatic Maenads.

Mistaking him for a wild animal,

they tore him limb from limb. ■

IN BRIEF

THEME

Passion versus restraint

SOURCES

Homeric Hymns to Dionysus,

Homer, ca. 600 bce; On Nature,

Heraclitus, ca. 500 bce; The

Bacchae, Euripides, 405 bce.

SETTING

The countryside around

Thebes, central Greece, during

the reign of King Pentheus.

KEY FIGURES

Dionysus God of fertility,

wine, and madness.

Zeus King of the gods.

Semele Dionysus’s mortal

mother.

Hera Zeus’s wife; goddess

of women and marriage.

Maenads Delirious, drunken

female followers of Dionysus.

Pentheus King of Thebes.

THE RAVING LADIES

STREAMED OUT OF

THEIR HOMES

THE CULT OF DIONYSUS

Women, here he is: the

man who mocks you and

me and our unruly rituals.

The Bacchae

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53

See also: Hades and the Underworld 48–49 ■ The abduction of Persephone

50 –51 ■ The descent of Inanna 182–87 ■ Osiris and the Underworld 276–83

G

reek mythology’s great

bard, Orpheus, was born of

the relationship between

Calliope, the Muse of poetry, and

Oeagrus, a Thracian river god.

Orpheus’s most heartfelt verses

were dedicated to Eurydice, who

became his wife—only to be killed

by a snakebite on her wedding day.

Lyrical lamentation

Wandering through the woods,

Orpheus mourned Eurydice in

impassioned song, which surpassed

anything he had ever composed.

The music was so moving that the

nymphs and gods wept to hear it.

Eventually, Orpheus decided to

travel to the Underworld to beg

Hades and his queen to take mercy

on him and return Eurydice to life.

In the Underworld, Orpheus

played for Hades and Persephone.

The queen was so touched by the

music that she begged her husband

to break the rules of the Underworld

and release Eurydice. Hades agreed,

on the condition that Orpheus not

lay eyes on Eurydice while she

remained in the Underworld.

Orpheus led his bride through the

caverns of darkness and despair,

slowly winding upward toward the

earth’s surface. Eurydice followed

after him at a distance, so that he

would not look upon her.

At last, Orpheus caught a

glimpse of daylight up ahead.

Happily, he glanced back at his

wife, only to realize even as he

saw her that she was lost to him—

pulled back down, despairing, into

the realms of death. ■

ANCIENT GREECE

TURNING ’ROUND, HE

CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF

HIS WIFE AND SHE HAD

TO RETURN BELOW

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

IN BRIEF

THEME

The finality of death

SOURCES

Argonautica, Apollonius of

Rhodes, ca. 250 bce; Library,

Pseudo-Apollodorus, ca. 10 0 ce.

SETTING

Greece and the Underworld.

KEY FIGURES

Orpheus A renowned

musician; the son of Calliope

and Oeagrus.

Eurydice The bride of

Orpheus; killed on her

wedding day.

Hades The king of the

Underworld.

Persephone The young

wife of Hades and queen

of the Underworld. Orpheus plays his lyre in a

3rd-century ce Roman mosaic

from Antakya, Turkey. The bard is

surrounded by wild animals that

are entranced by his sublime music.

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