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97-476: Hypsipyle's father was Thoas, who was the son of Dionysus and Ariadne . According to the Iliad , Hypsipyle was the mother, by Jason , of Euneus . Later sources say that Hypsipyle had, in addition to Euneus, a second son by Jason. In Euripides' partially preserved play Hypsipyle , she and Jason had twin sons: Euneus and Thoas . According to Apollodorus , the second son was Nebrophonus, while according to Hyginus ,

194-744: A "sacred purple robe", given to him by Hypsipyle, which had been made by the Graces for Dionysus, who gave it to his son Thoas, who in turn gave it to Hypsipyle. The Roman poets Ovid , Valerius Flaccus , and Statius , all wrote about the affair of Hypsipyle and Jason. Their accounts are all similar to that of Apollonius of Rhodes, with a few variations and additional details. In his Heroides 6, Ovid has Hypsipyle, in an angry letter, rebuke Jason for having forsaken her for Medea , whom she says "intrudes upon my marriage-bed". She says that Jason spent two years on Lemnos, and that, although he promised her "thine own will I ever be", and told her of his hope to share in

291-412: A Byzantine encyclopedia based on classical sources, states that Dionysus was so named "from accomplishing [διανύειν] for each of those who live the wild life. Or from providing [διανοεῖν] everything for those who live the wild life." Academics in the nineteenth century, using study of philology and comparative mythology , often regarded Dionysus as a foreign deity who was only reluctantly accepted into

388-517: A character in various adaptations of his myths, such as the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts and the 2000 TV miniseries of the same name . Pelias (Aeson's half-brother) was power-hungry and sought to gain dominion over all of Thessaly . Pelias was the progeny of a union between their shared mother, Tyro ("high born Tyro"), the daughter of Salmoneus , and the sea god Poseidon . In a bitter feud, he overthrew Aeson (the rightful king), killing all

485-577: A cow"), in the Mysteries of Lerna . Braetes , Βραίτης ("related to beer") at Thrace . Brisaeus , Βρισαῖος , a surname of Dionysus, derived either from mount Brisa in Lesbos or from a nymph Brisa, who was said to have brought up the god. Briseus , Βρῑσεύς ("he who prevails") in Smyrna . Bromios Βρόμιος ("roaring", as of the wind, primarily relating to the central death/resurrection element of

582-563: A different reason for Aphrodite (Venus) causing the Lemnian men to reject their wives. He says it was because of the goddess' anger with her husband, the god Hephaestus (Vulcan)—who had a home on Lemnos—for his having caught her in a tryst with Ares (Mars). He also gives a more detailed account of Thoas' rescue and escape. During the night of the massacre, Hypsipyle woke Thoas, covered his head, and took him to Dionysus' temple where she hid him. The next morning, Hypsipyle disguised Thoas as

679-687: A divine communicant between the living and the dead. He is sometimes categorised as a dying-and-rising god . Romans identified Bacchus with their own Liber Pater , the "Free Father" of the Liberalia festival, patron of viniculture, wine and male fertility, and guardian of the traditions, rituals and freedoms attached to coming of age and citizenship, but the Roman state treated independent, popular festivals of Bacchus ( Bacchanalia ) as subversive, partly because their free mixing of classes and genders transgressed traditional social and moral constraints. Celebration of

776-574: A forced bed". She describes Jason as a "brute ... uncaring for his children and pledged word!". Hypsipyle became involved in the story of the infant Opheltes , the Seven against Thebes , and the origin of the Nemean Games . On their way to Thebes , the Seven, in need of water, stop at Nemea , where they encounter Hypsipyle. Because of the discovery of her having saved Thoas, Hypsipyle has been sold into slavery to

873-505: A funeral for him. Soon, Jason reached the court of Phineus of Salmydessus in Thrace . Zeus had sent the harpies to steal the food put out for Phineus each day. Jason took pity on the emaciated king and killed the Harpies when they returned; in other versions, Calais and Zetes chase the harpies away. In return for this favor, Phineus revealed to Jason the location of Colchis and how to pass

970-459: A man wearing only one sandal. Many years later, Pelias was holding games in honor of Poseidon when the grown Jason arrived in Iolcus, having lost one of his sandals in the river Anauros ("wintry Anauros") while helping an old woman (actually the goddess Hera in disguise) to cross. She blessed him, for she knew what Pelias had planned. When Jason entered Iolcus (the present-day city of Volos ), he

1067-492: A moment of neglect, Opheltes is killed by a serpent. The child's mother Eurydice is about to have Hypsipyle put to death, when Amphiaraus arrives and Hypsipyle pleads with him to speak in her defense. Amphiaraus tells Euridice that the child's death was destined, proposes that funeral games be held in Opheltes' honor, and is able to convince Euridice to spare Hypsipyle's life. Funeral games are held, and Hypsypyle's sons participate, as

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1164-471: A result of which, a recognition and reunion between Hypsipyle and her sons is effected, who then manage to free Hypsipyle from her servitude. The surviving fragments of Euripides' play do not make it clear how the recognition between Hypsipyle and her sons was brought about, but two later accounts may have been based on the play. According to the Second Vatican Mythographer , after the sons won

1261-432: A weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian , others as Greek. In Orphism , he was variously a son of Zeus and Persephone ; a chthonic or underworld aspect of Zeus; or

1358-633: Is found in other names, such as that of the Dioscures , and may derive from Dios , the genitive of the name of Zeus . Nonnus, in his Dionysiaca , writes that the name Dionysus means "Zeus-limp" and that Hermes named the new born Dionysus this, "because Zeus while he carried his burden lifted one foot with a limp from the weight of his thigh, and nysos in Syracusan language means limping". In his note to these lines, W. H. D. Rouse writes "It need hardly be said that these etymologies are wrong". The Suda ,

1455-522: Is found on a dinos by the Attic potter Sophilos around 570 BC and is located in the British Museum . By the seventh century, iconography found on pottery shows that Dionysus was already worshiped as more than just a god associated with wine. He was associated with weddings, death, sacrifice, and sexuality, and his retinue of satyrs and dancers was already established. A common theme in these early depictions

1552-573: Is killed by a serpent who guarded the spring. Hyginus connects this with the tradition of the celery crowns awarded to the winners at the Nemean games . According to Hyginus, as in Euripides, the Seven intercede on Hypsipyle's behalf, but with Lycurgus, rather than Eurydice. Statius , in his epic poem, the Thebaid —which tells the story of the Seven against Thebes—preserves the most complete account of

1649-522: Is situated in the north Aegean Sea , near the Western coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey ). The island was inhabited by a race of women who had killed their husbands. The women had neglected their worship of Aphrodite , and as a punishment the goddess made the women so foul in stench that their husbands could not bear to be near them. The men then took concubines from the Thracian mainland opposite, and

1746-484: The Hercules episode "Hercules and the Argonauts" voiced by William Shatner . He is shown to have been a student of Philoctetes and takes his advice to let Hercules travel with him. In the series The Heroes of Olympus ' s first novel The Lost Hero , there was a reference to the mythical Jason when Jason Grace and his friends encounter Medea. The BBC series Atlantis , which premiered in 2013, featured Jason as

1843-519: The Odyssey . The Sirens lived on three small, rocky islands called Sirenum scopuli and sang beautiful songs that enticed sailors to come to them, which resulted in the crashing of their ship into the islands. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played music that was more beautiful and louder, drowning out the Sirens' bewitching songs. The Argo then came to the island of Crete , guarded by

1940-582: The Argonauts , whose quest for the Golden Fleece is featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson , the rightful king of Iolcos . He was married to the sorceress Medea , the granddaughter of the sungod Helios . Jason appeared in various literary works in the classical world of Greece and Rome , including the epic poem Argonautica and the tragedy Medea . In the modern world, Jason has emerged as

2037-474: The Khalkotauroi , that he had to yoke himself. Medea provided an ointment that protected him from the oxen's flames. Then, Jason sowed the teeth of a dragon into a field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors ( spartoi ). Medea had previously warned Jason of this and told him how to defeat this foe. Before they attacked him, he threw a rock into the crowd. Unable to discover where the rock had come from,

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2134-606: The Palace of Nestor in Pylos , dated to around 1300 BC. The details of any religion surrounding Dionysus in this period are scant, and most evidence comes in the form only of his name, written as di-wo-nu-su-jo ("Dionysoio" = 'of Dionysus') in Linear B , preserved on fragments of clay tablets that indicate a connection to offerings or payments of wine, which was described as being "of Dionysus". References have also been uncovered to "women of Oinoa",

2231-486: The Symplegades , or The Clashing Rocks, and then they parted. The only way to reach Colchis was to sail through the Symplegades (Clashing Rocks), huge rock cliffs that came together and crushed anything that traveled between them. Phineus told Jason to release a dove when they approached these islands, and if the dove made it through, to row with all their might. If the dove was crushed, he was doomed to fail. Jason released

2328-526: The Thoas who was the Taurian king, Hypsipyle put Thoas onto a ship which a storm carried to the "island Taurica". According to the Greek mythographer Apollodorus (first or second century AD), the women of Lemnos were rejected by their husbands because Aphrodite had caused them to emit a foul odor. Apollodorus also gives a different ending to the story: while Thoas was saved when Hypsipyle hid him, when, sometime later,

2425-617: The epic poem has been lost, or if it was never finished. A third version is the Argonautica Orphica , which emphasizes the role of Orpheus in the story. Jason is briefly mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy in the poem Inferno . He appears in the Canto XVIII. In it, he is seen by Dante and his guide Virgil being punished in Hell's Eighth Circle (Bolgia 1) by being driven to march through

2522-583: The "place of wine", who may correspond to the Dionysian women of later periods. Other Mycenaean records from Pylos record the worship of a god named Eleuther, who was the son of Zeus, and to whom oxen were sacrificed. The link to both Zeus and oxen, as well as etymological links between the name Eleuther or Eleutheros with the Latin name Liber Pater , indicates that this may have been another name for Dionysus. According to Károly Kerényi , these clues suggest that even in

2619-651: The "son of Zeus". Jane Ellen Harrison believed that the name Dionysus means "young Zeus". Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name, since all attempts to find an Indo-European etymology are doubtful. Later variants include Dionūsos and Diōnūsos in Boeotia ; Dien(n)ūsos in Thessaly ; Deonūsos and Deunūsos in Ionia ; and Dinnūsos in Aeolia , besides other variants. A Dio- prefix

2716-559: The Bacchanalia was made a capital offence, except in the toned-down forms and greatly diminished congregations approved and supervised by the State. Festivals of Bacchus were merged with those of Liber and Dionysus. The dio- prefix in Ancient Greek Διόνυσος ( Diónūsos ; [di.ó.nyː.sos] ) has been associated since antiquity with Zeus ( genitive Dios ), and the variants of

2813-551: The Gorgon's Head the mythical story of Jason is described. Padraic Colum wrote an adaptation for children, The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles , illustrated by Willy Pogany and published in 1921. The mythical geography of the voyage of the Argonauts has been connected to specific geographic locations by Livio Stecchini but his theories have not been widely adopted. Jason appeared in

2910-511: The Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans ) for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia . As Dionysus Eleutherius ("the liberator"), his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus , a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and

3007-622: The Indians. Isodaetes , Ισοδαίτης , meaning "he who distributes equal portions", cult epithet also shared with Helios. Kemilius , Κεμήλιος ( kemas : "young deer, pricket"). Liknites ("he of the winnowing fan"), as a fertility god connected with mystery religions . A winnowing fan was used to separate the chaff from the grain. Lenaius , Ληναῖος ("god of the wine-press") Lyaeus , or Lyaios (Λυαῖος, "deliverer", literally "loosener"), one who releases from care and anxiety. Lysius , Λύσιος ("delivering, releasing"). At Thebes there

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3104-620: The Island: However, Hypsipyle's old nurse Polyxo said that, rather than live in continual fear of attack, they should take the Argonauts as their mates and protectors. All the women agreed to this plan, and so Hypsipyle received the Argonauts as welcome guests. Hypsipyle told Jason the Lemnian women's story, saying that because of Aphrodite, the men of Lemnos had come to hate their wives, expelling them from their homes, and replacing them with Thracian girls captured on their frequent raids on nearby Thrace. Finally, after enduring terrible hardship,

3201-417: The Lemnian women discovered that Thoas had escaped the initial slaughter, they killed Thoas, and sold Hypsipyle into slavery. The first adventure (usually) of Jason and the Argonauts , on their quest for the Golden Fleece , is their visit to the island of Lemnos , where Hypsipyle was then queen. The story seems at least as old as the Iliad , since Euneus is said to be a son of Jason and Hypsipyle, and

3298-497: The Lemnian women, who killed their husbands." There is a brief mention of the story in Euripides ' partially preserved play Hypsipyle (c. 410 BC), in an exchange between Hypsipyle and her son Euneus: The earliest extant telling of the story in detail occurs in the 3rd-century BC Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes . According to this account, the women of Lemnos had long neglected the worship of Aphrodite , and because of this

3395-463: The Seven against Thebes, who are in urgent need of water. However in Statius' account, Hypsipyle does not take Opheltes with her to the spring, instead, in her haste to provide water for the Seven, she leaves the child behind, lying on the ground, "lest she be too slow a guide". Hypsipyle takes the Seven to the spring, and when they have drunk their fill, they ask Hypsipyle to tell them who she is. Then, over

3492-467: The Seven to the spring. Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth , Dionysus ( / d aɪ . ə ˈ n aɪ s ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Διόνυσος Diónūsos ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity , insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy , and theatre . He was also known as Bacchus ( / ˈ b æ k ə s / or / ˈ b ɑː k ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Βάκχος Bacchos ) by

3589-403: The boys to Thrace , where he raised them. They eventually met Hypsipyles' father Thoas, who took them back to Lemnos. From there they embarked on a search for their mother. The Seven against Thebes have also just arrived and encounter Hypsipyle. Amphiaraus tells Hypsipyle that they need water for a sacrifice, and she leads the Seven to a spring. Hypsipyle brings Opheltes with her, and somehow, in

3686-428: The bronze man, Talos . As the ship approached, Talos hurled huge stones at the ship, keeping it at bay. Talos had one ichor vessel which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only one bronze nail (as in metal casting by the lost wax method). Medea cast a spell on Talos to calm him; she removed the bronze nail and Talos bled to death. The Argo was then able to sail on. Thomas Bulfinch has an antecedent to

3783-401: The burial of the dead, prophesies the future", and "announces the foundation of a cult". Later Jason and Peleus , father of the hero Achilles , attacked and defeated Acastus, reclaiming the throne of Iolcus for himself once more. Jason's son, Thessalus , then became king. As a result of breaking his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy. He

3880-499: The cauldron. Medea did not add the magical herbs, and Pelias was dead. Pelias' son, Acastus , drove Jason and Medea into exile for the murder, and the couple settled in Corinth. In Corinth, Jason became engaged to marry Creusa (sometimes referred to as Glauce ), a daughter of the King of Corinth, to strengthen his political ties. When Medea confronted Jason about the engagement and cited all

3977-522: The child's honor, which become the origin of the Nemean Games. Hypsipyle's sons arrive, compete in the funeral games, and rescue Hypsipyle from her captivity. The earliest involvement of Hypsipyle in the Opheltes/Archemorus story occurs in Euripides' Hypsipyle , and may well have been an Euripidean invention. After fleeing Lemnos, Hypsipyle was captured by pirates and sold as a slave to Lycurgus,

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4074-438: The circle for all eternity while being whipped by devils . He is included among the panderers and seducers (possibly for his seduction and subsequent abandoning of Medea). The story of Medea 's revenge on Jason is told with devastating effect by Euripides in his tragedy Medea . William Morris wrote an English epic poem, The Life and Death of Jason , published in 1867. In the 1898 short novel The Story of Perseus and

4171-497: The course of 471 lines of the Thebaid , Hypsipyle tells the Seven her story: the massacre of the men by the Lemnian women, her saving her father Thoas, the visit to Lemnos by the Argonauts, her twin sons, Euneus and Thoas, by Jason, and how she came to be the nurse of Opheltes. Meanwhile, with Hypsipyle long delayed at the spring telling her story, and "oblivious (so the gods would have it) of her absent charge", Opheltes has fallen asleep in

4268-480: The cry "euae" in lyric passages, and in Euripides ' play, The Bacchae . Iacchus , Ἴακχος a possible epithet of Dionysus, associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries . In Eleusis , he is known as a son of Zeus and Demeter . The name "Iacchus" may come from the Ιακχος ( Iakchos ), a hymn sung in honor of Dionysus. Indoletes , Ἰνδολέτης , meaning slayer/killer of Indians. Due to his campaign against

4365-461: The definitive telling, on which this account relies, is that of Apollonius of Rhodes in his epic poem Argonautica , written in Alexandria in the late 3rd century BC. Another Argonautica was written by Gaius Valerius Flaccus in the late 1st century AD, eight books in length. The poem ends abruptly with the request of Medea to accompany Jason on his homeward voyage. It is unclear if part of

4462-573: The descendants of Aeson that he could. He spared his half-brother for unknown reasons. Aeson's wife Alcimede I had a newborn son named Jason, whom she saved from Pelias by having female attendants cluster around the infant and cry as if he were stillborn . Fearing that Pelias would eventually notice and kill her son, Alcimede sent him away to be reared by the centaur Chiron . She claimed that she had been having an affair with him all along. Pelias, fearing that his ill-gotten kingship might be challenged, consulted an oracle , who warned him to beware of

4559-483: The dove as advised, which made it through, losing only a few tail feathers. Seeing this, they rowed strongly and made it through with minor damage at the extreme stern of the ship. From that time on, the clashing rocks were forever joined leaving free passage for others to pass. Jason arrived in Colchis (modern Black Sea coast of Georgia ) to claim the fleece as his own. It was owned by King Aeetes of Colchis. The fleece

4656-602: The foot-race, at the funeral games, their names and parents were announced, and in this way their identities were revealed. The Cyzicene epigrams , the third book of the Palatine Anthology , describes a depiction, on a temple in Cyzicus , of Euneus and Thoas showing Hypsipyle a gold ornament ("the golden vine") as proof of their identities. According to Hyginus , when the women of Lemnos discovered Hypsipyle's deception, they tried to kill her, but, as in Euripides' play, she fled

4753-483: The god taking both an active male and a passive female role. It is subversive for Dionysus to receive anal sex; a high status male was expected to penetrate his youthful lovers. Anthroporraistes , Ἀνθρωπορραίστης ("man-destroyer"), a title of Dionysus at Tenedos. Bassareus , Βασσαρεύς a Thracian name for Dionysus, which derives from bassaris or "fox-skin", which item was worn by his cultists in their mysteries. Bougenes , Βουγενής or Βοηγενής ("borne by

4850-424: The god. Dimetor Διμήτωρ ("twice-born") Refers to Dionysus's two births. Dendrites Δενδρίτης ("of the trees"), as a fertility god. Dithyrambos , Διθύραμβος used at his festivals, referring to his premature birth. Eleutherios Ἐλευθέριος ("the liberator"), an epithet shared with Eros . Endendros ("he in the tree"). Enorches ("with balls"), with reference to his fertility, or "in

4947-489: The goddess caused their husbands to spurn them in favor of captive Thracian women. In revenge, the women massacred all the males on the island, except for the "aged" Thoas, whom Hypsipyle put into a "hollow chest," setting him adrift on the open sea. Fishermen pulled him ashore on the island of Sicinus . The Lemnian women took over all the previous work of the men, cattle-herding, plowing, and warfare. The 1st-century AD Latin poet Valerius Flaccus , in his Argonautica , gives

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5044-444: The gods on her side. As Bernard Knox points out, Medea's last scene with concluding appearances parallels that of a number of indisputably divine beings in other plays by Euripides. Just like these gods, Medea "interrupts and puts a stop to the violent action of the human being on the lower level, ... justifies her savage revenge on the grounds that she has been treated with disrespect and mockery, ... takes measures and gives orders for

5141-481: The grass, and though unnoticed, he is killed by an unwitting swish of the tail of the enormous serpent who guards Zeus' sacred grove. Hypsipyle is again saved, by the Seven, from execution, but here, as in Hyginus, it is the king who is restrained. As in Euripides, Hypsipyles' sons Thoas and Euneus, who are searching for their mother, arrive at the palace. In Statius' poem, Hypsipyle is able to identify her sons by means of

5238-401: The hands of Dionysus' followers in later myths, but as an epithet of Dionysus himself, whose mythology describes a god who must endure suffering before triumphing over it. According to Kerényi, the title of "man who suffers" likely originally referred to the god himself, only being applied to distinct characters as the myth developed. The oldest known image of Dionysus, accompanied by his name,

5335-500: The head, panther or tiger skins, serpents, phallic symbolism (Shiva lingam), association as a wanderer and outcaste and association with ritual ecstasy. Shiva is understood to be one of a triple godhead that includes Vishnu and Brahma. Dionysus is noted in several references with an association with the east and India. A Mycenaean variant of Bacchus was thought to have been "a divine child" abandoned by his mother and eventually raised by " nymphs , goddesses , or even animals." Dionysus

5432-468: The help she had given him, he retorted that it was not she that he should thank, but Aphrodite who made Medea fall in love with him. Infuriated with Jason for breaking his vow that he would be hers forever, Medea took her revenge by presenting to Creusa a cursed dress, as a wedding gift, that stuck to her body and burned her to death as soon as she put it on. Creusa's father, Creon , burned to death with his daughter as he tried to save her. Then Medea killed

5529-461: The inscription on item KH Gq 5 is thought to confirm Dionysus's early worship. In Mycenaean Greek the form of Zeus is di-wo . The second element -nūsos is of unknown origin. It is perhaps associated with Mount Nysa , the birthplace of the god in Greek mythology, where he was nursed by nymphs (the Nysiads ), although Pherecydes of Syros had postulated nũsa as an archaic word for "tree" by

5626-610: The interaction of Medea and the daughters of Pelias. Jason, celebrating his return with the Golden Fleece, noted that his father was too aged and infirm to participate in the celebrations. He had seen and been served by Medea's magical powers. He asked Medea to take some years from his life and add them to the life of his father. She did so, but at no such cost to Jason's life. Medea withdrew the blood from Aeson's body and infused it with certain herbs; putting it back into his veins, returning vigor to him. Pelias' daughters saw this and wanted

5723-417: The island and was captured by pirates who sold her as a slave (although Hyginus' Latin text—probably in error—says she was sold to "King Lycus", rather than Lycurgus). Hyginus also tells of an oracle that had warned that Opheltes should not be put on the ground until he had learned to walk, and says that, to avoid setting the child directly on the ground, she put him on a bed of wild celery where he

5820-685: The island, residing with the women in their homes, including Jason, who lived with Hypsipyle in her palace. But finally, at the urging of Heracles , who had remained apart, the Argonauts agreed to leave the women, and continue their quest for the Golden Fleece. Hypsipyle told Jason that "her father's scepter will be waiting" for him should he return to the island, but that she does not think that he will, and asked him to promise to remember her always, and to tell her what she should do with any children of his she might bear. And Jason told her to send any son, when grown, to Jason's parents in Iolcus . Jason took with him

5917-517: The land beyond Bear Mountain were the Gegeines , which are a tribe of Earthborn giants with six arms who wore leather loincloths. While most of the crew went into the forest to search for supplies, the Gegeines saw that few Argonauts were guarding the ship and raided it. Heracles was among those guarding the ship at the time and managed to kill most of them before Jason and the others returned. Once some of

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6014-504: The land of the Taurians, where "Diana put a sword in his hand, and didst appoint him warden of thy cheerless altar". And the women of Lemnos bestow on Hypsipyle "the throne and sceptre of her father as by right". Other accounts tell similar stories, with variations. According to the 1st-century AD Latin poet Statius , Hypsipyle hid Thoas on a ship, while according to the late 1st-century BC Latin mythographer Hyginus , who identifies Thoas with

6111-506: The myth of Hypsipyle and Opheltes. As in Hyginus' account, when the Lemnian women discovered that Thoas had been saved, Hypsipyle fled the island, but was captured by pirates, and sold as a slave to Lycurgus, who is both the king of Nemea (as in Hyginus) and the priest of Zeus (as in Euripides). As in Euripides, Hypsipyle, who has become the nurse of Lycurgus and Eurydice's son Opheltes, encounters

6208-535: The myth, but also the god's transformations into lion and bull, and the boisterousness of those who drink alcohol. Also cognate with the "roar of thunder", which refers to Dionysus' father, Zeus "the thunderer". ) Choiropsalas χοιροψάλας ("pig-plucker": Greek χοῖρος = "pig", also used as a slang term for the female genitalia). A reference to Dionysus's role as a fertility deity. Chthonios Χθόνιος ("the subterranean") Cistophorus Κιστοφόρος ("basket-bearer, ivy-bearer"), Alludes To baskets being sacred to

6305-561: The name seem to point to an original *Dios-nysos . The earliest attestation is the Mycenaean Greek dative form 𐀇𐀺𐀝𐀰 (di-wo-nu-so) , featured on two tablets that had been found at Mycenaean Pylos and dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. At that time, there could be no certainty on whether this was indeed a theonym , but the 1989–90 Greek-Swedish Excavations at Kastelli Hill , Chania, unearthed, inter alia , four artefacts bearing Linear B inscriptions; among them,

6402-473: The other Gegeines were killed, Jason and the Argonauts set sail. The Argonauts departed, losing their bearings and landing again at the same spot that night. In the darkness, the Doliones took them for enemies and they started fighting each other. The Argonauts killed many of the Doliones, among them the king Cyzicus. Cyzicus' wife killed herself. The Argonauts realized their horrible mistake when dawn came and held

6499-411: The parenting of their offspring then in her womb, she now knows that Jason has taken up with Medea, and calls all these words of Jason "lies". In his Argonautica , Valerius Flaccus, when the Argonauts are making ready to leave Lemnos, has a "weeping" Hypsipyle say to Jason: "So quickly, at the first clear sky, dost thou resolve to unfurl thy sails, O dearer to me than mine own father? ... Is it then to

6596-449: The parents of Opheltes, becoming his nursemaid. While helping the Seven to get water, Hypsipyle sets Opheltes down, and he is killed by a serpent. The Seven kill the serpent, and the seer Amphiaraus , one of the Seven, renames the child Archemorus, meaning the "Beginning of Doom", interpreting the child's death as a harbinger of the Seven's own impending doom at Thebes. The Seven save Hypsipyle from being put to death and hold funeral games in

6693-433: The priest of Zeus at Nemea , where she has become the nurse to Lycurgus and Eurydice's son Opheltes . As the action of the play begins, Hypsipyle's twin sons by Jason, Euneus and Thoas, arrive seeking shelter for the night. The sons have been separated from Hypsipyle since infancy, so neither recognizes the other. When Jason left Lemnos he had taken his sons to Colchis . After he died, Jason's fellow argonaut Orpheus took

6790-458: The queen. Heracles pressured them to leave as he was disgusted by the antics of the Argonauts. He had not taken part, which is truly unusual considering the numerous affairs he had with other women. After Lemnos the Argonauts landed among the Doliones , whose king Cyzicus treated them graciously. He told them about the land beyond Bear Mountain, but forgot to mention what lived there. What lived in

6887-438: The same service for their father. Medea, using her sorcery, claimed to Pelias' daughters that she could make their father smooth and vigorous as a child by chopping him up into pieces and boiling the pieces in a cauldron of water and magical herbs. She demonstrated this remarkable feat with the oldest ram in the flock, which leapt out of the cauldron as a lamb. The girls, rather naively, sliced and diced their father and put him in

6984-457: The sea; Aeetes stopped to gather them. In another version, Medea lured Apsyrtus into a trap. Jason killed him, chopped off his fingers and toes, and buried the corpse. In any case, Jason and Medea escaped. On the way back to Iolcus, Medea prophesied to Euphemus , the Argo's helmsman, that one day he would rule Cyrene . This came true through Battus , a descendant of Euphemus. Zeus , as punishment for

7081-409: The second son was Deipylus, Ovid says simply that Hypsipyle bore Jason twins, without naming them. The women of Lemnos killed all the males on the island, except for Thoas, who was saved by Hypsipyle. Traces of the story can be found in the Iliad (c. 8th century), where Lemnos is referred to as the "city of godlike Thoas", and Euneus , Jason's son by Hypsipyle, is mentioned. As early as Aeschylus

7178-450: The sixth century BC. On a vase of Sophilos the Nysiads are named νύσαι ( nusae ). Kretschmer asserted that νύση ( nusē ) is a Thracian word that has the same meaning as νύμφη ( nýmphē ), a word similar with νυός ( nuos ) (daughter in law, or bride, I-E *snusós, Sanskr. snusā ). He suggested that the male form is νῦσος ( nūsos ) and this would make Dionysus

7275-611: The sky and to the waves that hindered thy course that we owed thy tarrying?" She then gives Jason a "tunic of woven handiwork", and her father's sword "with its renowned emblem", "the flaming gift of Aetna's god", (i.e Vulcan), asking him to "forget not the land that first folded you to its peaceful bosom; and from Colchis' conquered shores bring back hither thy sails, I pray thee, by this Jason whom thou leavest in my womb." Statius in his ' Thebaid has Hypsipyle say that her union with Jason "was not by my will", calling Jason her "ungentle guest", and her twin offspring by Jason, "memorials of

7372-598: The slaughter of Medea's own brother, sent a series of storms at the Argo and blew it off course. The Argo then spoke and said that they should seek purification with Circe , a nymph living on the island of Aeaea. After being cleansed, they continued their journey home. Chiron had told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus , the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens —the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer 's epic poem

7469-447: The soldiers attacked and defeated one another. His last task was to overcome the sleepless dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece . Jason sprayed the dragon with a potion, given by Medea, distilled from herbs. The dragon fell asleep, and Jason was able to seize the Golden Fleece. He then sailed away with Medea. Medea distracted her father, who chased them as they fled, by killing her brother Apsyrtus and throwing pieces of his body into

7566-437: The spurned women, angry at Aphrodite, killed all the male inhabitants while they slept. The king, Thoas , was saved by Hypsipyle , his daughter, who put him out to sea sealed in a chest from which he was later rescued. The women of Lemnos lived for a while without men, with Hypsipyle as their queen. During the visit of the Argonauts the women mingled with the men creating a new "race" called Minyae . Jason fathered twins with

7663-445: The standard Greek pantheon at a relatively late date, based on his myths which often involve this theme—a god who spends much of his time on earth abroad, and struggles for acceptance when he returns to Greece. However, more recent evidence has shown that Dionysus was in fact one of the earliest gods attested in mainland Greek culture. The earliest written records of Dionysus worship come from Mycenaean Greece , specifically in and around

7760-556: The story was famous: "the Lemnian holds first place among evils in story: it has long been told with groans as an abominable calamity. Men compare each new horror to Lemnian troubles." And by the time of the mid-5th-century BC historian Herodotus , the story had given rise to the proverbial phrase "Lemnian crime" used to mean any cruel deed. Aeschylus probably dealt with it in his' lost tragedies Hypsipyle and Lemniai (late 6th century-early 5th century BC). The lyric poet Pindar (late 6th century-early 5th century BC) mentions "the race of

7857-418: The story, when the Argonauts first arrive, Hypsipyle and the women, fearing that the Argonauts' were Thracians coming to attack them, put on armour and rush to the beach, to defend their island. However the Argonauts herald Aethalides was able to persuade Hypsipyle to allow the Argonauts to stay for one night on the island. The next day, sitting on her father's throne, Hypsipyle spoke to the assembled women of

7954-466: The swords they carry, which belonged to Jason, and bear the mark of Jason's ship the Argo on them, and a joyous reunion ensues. Apollodorus , generally follows Euripides' account of the story, but differs at two points. According to Apollodorus, it was the Lemnian women themselves who, having discovered that Thoas had been spared, sold Hypsipyle into slavery. Also according to Apollodorus, as in Statius' account, Hypsipyle left Opheltes behind when she led

8051-476: The temples' cult statue of Dionysus, placed him on the ritual chariot (used to parade the statue). She then took Thoas through the streets of the city, crying aloud that the god's statue had been polluted by the night's bloody murders, and needed to be cleansed in the sea. By this subterfuge, and with the god Dionysus' help, Thoas was safely hid outside the city. But fearing discovery, Hypsipyle finds an old abandoned boat, in which Thoas put to sea, eventually reaching

8148-524: The testicles" in reference to Zeus' sewing the baby Dionysus "into his thigh", understood to mean his testicles). Used at Samos according to Hesyichius , or Lesbos according to the scholiast on Lycophron's Alexandra . Eridromos ("good-running"), in Nonnus' Dionysiaca. Erikryptos Ἐρίκρυπτος ("completely hidden"), in Macedonia. Euaster (Εὐαστήρ), from the cry "euae". Euius ( Euios ), from

8245-464: The thirteenth century BC, the core religion of Dionysus was in place, as were his important myths. At Knossos in Minoan Crete , men were often given the name "Pentheus", who is a figure in later Dionysian myth and which also means "suffering". Kerényi argued that to give such a name to one's child implies a strong religious connection, potentially not the separate character of Pentheus who suffers at

8342-513: The twice-born son of Zeus and the mortal Semele . The Eleusinian Mysteries identify him with Iacchus , the son or husband of Demeter . Most accounts say he was born in Thrace, traveled abroad, and arrived in Greece as a foreigner. His attribute of "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults, as he is a god of epiphany , sometimes called "the god who comes". Wine

8439-406: The two boys that she bore to Jason, fearing that they would be murdered or enslaved as a result of their mother's actions. When Jason learned of this, Medea was already gone. She fled to Athens in a chariot of dragons sent by her grandfather, the sun-god Helios . Although Jason calls Medea most hateful to gods and men, the fact that the chariot is given to her by Helios indicates that she still has

8536-409: The women found the courage to take action. But Hypsipyle did not tell of the massacre, instead she deceived Jason, saying that one day when the men were returning from a raid, the women refused to allow the men to reenter the city, so the men took their sons and resettled in Thrace. Hypsipyle then asked Jason and his men to stay and take up residence on the island. So the Argonauts stayed for a while on

8633-433: Was a religious focus in the cult of Dionysus and was his earthly incarnation. Wine could ease suffering, bring joy, and inspire divine madness. Festivals of Dionysus included the performance of sacred dramas enacting his myths, the initial driving force behind the development of theatre in Western culture . The cult of Dionysus is also a "cult of the souls"; his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as

8730-539: Was a temple of Dionysus Lysius. Melanaigis Μελάναιγις ("of the black goatskin") at the Apaturia festival. Morychus Μόρυχος ("smeared"); in Sicily, because his icon was smeared with wine lees at the vintage. Jason Jason ( / ˈ dʒ eɪ s ən / JAY -sən ; Ancient Greek : Ἰάσων , romanized :  Iásōn [i.ǎːsɔːn] ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of

8827-418: Was announced as a man wearing only one sandal. Jason, aware that he was the rightful king, so informed Pelias. Pelias replied, "To take my throne, which you shall, you must go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece." Jason readily accepted this condition. Jason assembled for his crew, a number of heroes, known as the Argonauts after their ship, the Argo . The group of heroes included: The isle of Lemnos

8924-508: Was apparently a battle between the Argonauts and the Lemnian women. The story also played a part in Euripides ' partially preserved play Hypsipyle , where Hypsipyle is reunited with her twin sons by Jason, Euneus and Thoas , and learns, to her sorrow, of Jason's death. The first complete account of the Argonauts encounter with Hypsipyle on Lemnos is given in Apollonius of Rhodes ' Argonautica . According to Apollonius of Rhodes' version of

9021-423: Was asleep under the stem of the rotting Argo when it fell on him, killing him instantly. Jason's father is invariably Aeson, but there is great variation as to his mother's name. According to various authors, she could be: Jason was also said to have had a younger brother, Promachus . Children by Medea : Children by Hypsipyle : Though some of the episodes of Jason's story draw on ancient material,

9118-484: Was dealt with in Aeschylus' lost tragedies Hypsipyle and Lemniai , although the only surviving detail is that the Lemnian women "in arms" refused to allow the Argonauts to land until they agreed to mate with them. Pindar refers to the visit, mentioning the Argonauts engaging in athletic contests, receiving garments made by the Lemnian women as prizes, and sharing the women's beds. In Sophocles ' lost play Lemniai , there

9215-425: Was given to him by Phrixus . Aeetes promised to give it to Jason only if he could perform three certain tasks. Presented with the tasks, Jason became discouraged and fell into depression. However, Hera had persuaded Aphrodite to convince her son Eros to make Aeetes' daughter, Medea , fall in love with Jason. As a result, Medea aided Jason in his tasks. First, Jason had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen,

9312-530: Was the metamorphosis, at the hand of the god, of his followers into hybrid creatures, usually represented by both tame and wild satyrs , representing the transition from civilized life back to nature as a means of escape. While scholarly references are scarce, there exists a notable overlap between the Greco-Roman Dionysus and the Hindu god Shiva. Shared iconography and background include a crescent or horns on

9409-715: Was variably known with the following epithets : Acratophorus , Ἀκρατοφόρος ("giver of unmixed wine"), at Phigaleia in Arcadia . Acroreites at Sicyon . Adoneus , a rare archaism in Roman literature, a Latinised form of Adonis , used as epithet for Bacchus. Aegobolus Αἰγοβόλος ("goat-shooter") at Potniae , in Boeotia . Aesymnetes Αἰσυμνήτης ("ruler" or "lord") at Aroë and Patrae in Achaea . Agrios Ἄγριος ("wild"), in Macedonia . Androgynos Ἀνδρόγυνος ( androgynous , specifically in intercourse) referring to

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