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81-586: Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from the Phrygians . These were modified, expanded, and elaborated by the Ionian Greek invaders and colonists. Doric Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of Halicarnassus under the Achaemenid Empire , who gives the account of Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived either 1,000 or 1,600 years prior to his visit to Tyre in 450 BC at

162-412: 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

243-582: A borrowing "from another IE source ", not inherited as part of the Ancient Greek lexicon. Burkert says that while Semele is "manifestly non-Greek", "it is no more possible to confirm that Semele is a Thraco-Phrygian word for earth than it is to prove the priority of the Lydian baki- over Bacchus as a name for Dionysos ". M.L.West derives the Phrygian zemelo , Old Slavonic zemlya , Lithuanian zēmē from

324-457: A borrowing from the story of Danaë and Perseus. Semele was a tragedy by Aeschylus ; it has been lost, save a few lines quoted by other writers, and a papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus , P. Oxy. 2164. Semele is attested with the Etruscan name form Semla , depicted on the back of a bronze mirror from the fourth century BC. In ancient Rome , a grove ( lucus ) near Ostia , situated between

405-520: A close relationship between Armenian and Phrygian, despite saying that the two languages do share some features. Phrygian is now classified as a centum language more closely related to Greek than Armenian, whereas Armenian is mostly satem . During the 8th century BC, the Phrygian kingdom with its capital at Gordium in the upper Sakarya River valley expanded into an empire dominating most of central and western Anatolia and encroaching upon

486-577: 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

567-677: A goddess jealous of usurpers, discovered his affair with Semele when she later became pregnant. Appearing as an old crone , Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her lover was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele asked Zeus to grant her a boon. Zeus, eager to please his beloved, promised on the River Styx to grant her anything she wanted. She then demanded that Zeus reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his divinity. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he

648-517: A libretto by William Congreve ), another by Marin Marais (1709), and a third by George Frideric Handel (1742). Handel's work, based on Congreve's libretto but with additions, while an opera to its marrow, was originally given as an oratorio so that it could be performed in a Lenten concert series; it premiered on February 10, 1744. The German dramatist Schiller produced a singspiel entitled Semele in 1782. Victorian poet Constance Naden wrote

729-454: A local version of her legend, is narrated by geographer Pausanias in his Description of Greece : after giving birth to her semi-divine son, Dionysus , fathered by Zeus , Semele was banished from the realm by her father Cadmus . Their sentence was to be put into a chest or a box ( larnax ) and cast in the sea. Luckily, the casket they were in washed up by the waves at Prasiae . However, it has been suggested that this tale might have been

810-700: A related group of northwest Anatolian cultures seems the most likely explanation for the confusion over whether Phrygians , Bebryces and Anatolian Mygdones were or were not the same people. Phrygian continued to be spoken until the 6th century AD, though its distinctive alphabet was lost earlier than those of most Anatolian cultures. One of the Homeric Hymns describes the Phrygian language as not mutually intelligible with that of Troy , and inscriptions found at Gordium make clear that Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language with at least some vocabulary similar to Greek . Phrygian clearly did not belong to

891-447: A set of twelve, the other eleven women on whom he begot children being Io , Europa , Pluto , Danaë , Aigina, Antiope , Leda , Dia , Alcmene , Laodameia, the mother of Sarpedon , and Olympias . The most usual setting for the story of Semele is the palace that occupied the acropolis of Thebes , called the Cadmeia . When Pausanias visited Thebes in the 2nd century CE, he was shown

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972-762: A sonnet in the voice of Semele, first published in her 1881 collection Songs and Sonnets of Springtime . Paul Dukas composed a cantata, Sémélé .   Male   Female   Deity Phrygia Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European In classical antiquity , Phrygia ( / ˈ f r ɪ dʒ i ə / FRIJ -ee-ə ; Ancient Greek : Φρυγία , Phrygía )

1053-559: A truce by that time. This Midas appears to have had good relations and close trade ties with the Greeks, and reputedly married an Aeolian Greek princess. A system of writing in the Phrygian language developed and flourished in Gordium during this period, using a Phoenician-derived alphabet similar to the Greek one. A distinctive Phrygian pottery called Polished Ware appears during this period. However,

1134-454: Is a god of epiphany , sometimes called "the god who comes". Wine 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

1215-515: Is also a "cult of the souls"; his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as 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

1296-633: 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 ,

1377-522: 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

1458-454: Is part of the centum group of Indo-European languages. However, between the 19th and the first half of the 20th century Phrygian was mostly considered a satəm language, and thus closer to Armenian and Thracian , while today it is commonly considered to be a centum language and thus closer to Greek. The reason that in the past Phrygian had the guise of a satəm language was due to two secondary processes that affected it. Namely, Phrygian merged

1539-417: Is situated in an area of hills and columns of volcanic tuff . To the south again, central Phrygia includes the cities of Afyonkarahisar (ancient Akroinon) with its marble quarries at nearby Docimium (İscehisar), and the town of Synnada . At the western end of Phrygia stood the towns of Aizanoi (modern Çavdarhisar ) and Acmonia . From here to the southwest lies the hilly area of Phrygia that contrasts to

1620-577: The Achaeans . Phrygian power reached its peak in the late 8th century BC under another historical king, Midas, who dominated most of western and central Anatolia and rivaled Assyria and Urartu for power in eastern Anatolia. This later Midas was, however, also the last independent king of Phrygia before Cimmerians sacked the Phrygian capital , Gordium , around 695 BC. Phrygia then became subject to Lydia , and then successively to Persia , Alexander and his Hellenistic successors, Pergamon ,

1701-732: The Aventine Hill and the mouth of the Tiber River , was dedicated to a goddess named Stimula . W.H. Roscher includes the name Stimula among the indigitamenta , the lists of Roman deities maintained by priests to assure that the correct divinity was invoked in public rituals. In his poem on the Roman calendar , Ovid (d. 17 CE) identifies this goddess with Semele: "There was a grove: known either as Semele's or Stimula's: Inhabited, they say, by Italian Maenads . Ino , asking them their nation, learned they were Arcadians , And that Evander

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1782-535: The Christian era , ancient deities and their narratives were often interpreted allegorically. In the Neoplatonic philosophy of Henry More (1614–1687), for instance, Semele was thought to embody "intellectual imagination", and was construed as the opposite of Arachne , "sense perception". In the 18th century, the story of Semele formed the basis for three operas of the same name, the first by John Eccles (1707, to

1863-570: The Hittites . This interpretation finds some motivation in Greek legends about Phrygians participation in the Trojan War, as well as the founding myth of the Gordium . No one has conclusively identified which of the many subjects of the Hittites might have represented early Phrygians. According to a classical tradition, popularized by Josephus , Phrygia can be equated with the country called Togarmah by

1944-606: 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",

2025-651: The Phrygians have been identified with the Bebryces , a people said to have warred with Mysia before the Trojan War and who had a king named Mygdon at roughly the same time as the Phrygians were said to have had a king named Mygdon. The classical historian Strabo groups Phrygians, Mygdones , Mysians , Bebryces and Bithynians together as peoples that migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans. This image of Phrygians as part of

2106-633: The Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire . Over this time Phrygians became Christian and Greek-speaking, assimilating into the Byzantine state; after the Turkish conquest of Byzantine Anatolia in the late Middle Ages, the name "Phrygia" passed out of usage as a territorial designation. Phrygia describes an area on the western end of the high Anatolian plateau, an arid region quite unlike the forested lands to

2187-627: The acroterial statues there may be either Semele or Ariadne. The pair were part of the Aventine Triad in Rome as Liber and Libera , along with Ceres . The temple of the triad is located near the Grove of Stimula, and the grove and its shrine ( sacrarium ) were located outside Rome's sacred boundary ( pomerium ) , perhaps as the "dark side" of the Aventine Triad. In the later mythological tradition of

2268-492: The "Tomb of Midas", revealed a wooden structure deeply buried under a vast tumulus , containing grave goods, a coffin, furniture, and food offerings (Archaeological Museum, Ankara). 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

2349-583: 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

2430-651: 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

2511-452: The Balkans and moved east with the Phrygians. However, an Armenian origin in the Balkans, although once widely accepted, has been facing increased scrutiny in recent years due to discrepancies in the timeline and lack of genetic and archeological evidence. In fact, some scholars have suggested that the Phrygians and/or the apparently related Mushki people were originally from Armenia and moved westward. A number of linguists have rejected

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2592-677: The Greek myth of Semele was localized in Thebes , the fragmentary Homeric Hymn to Dionysus makes the place where Zeus gave a second birth to the god a distant one, and mythically vague: Semele was worshipped at Athens at the Lenaia , when a yearling bull, emblematic of Dionysus, was sacrificed to her. One-ninth was burnt on the altar in the Hellenic way; the rest was torn and eaten raw by the votaries. A unique tale, "found nowhere else in Greece" and considered to be

2673-640: The Hittite collapse. The so-called Handmade Knobbed Ware found in Western Anatolia during this period has been tentatively identified as an import connected to this invasion. Some scholars believe that the Phrygians were already established on the Sakarya River during the Late Bronze Age . These scholars seek instead to trace the Phrygians' origins among the many nations of western Anatolia who were subject to

2754-622: 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

2835-610: The Indo-European name *dʰéǵʰōm (earth). Semele seems to be a Thracian name of the earth goddess from gʰem-elā . The pronunciation was probably Zemelā. Etymological connections of Thraco-Phrygian Semele with Balto-Slavic earth deities have been noted, since an alternate name for Baltic Zemyna is Žemelė , and in Slavic languages , the word seme (Semele) means 'seed', and zemlja (Zemele) means 'earth'. Thus, according to Borissoff, "she could be an important link bridging

2916-550: The PIE root * dgem- meaning 'earth' and relates it with Thracian Zemele , ' mother earth '. Compare Žemyna (derived from žemė – earth), the goddess of the earth (mother goddess) in Lithuanian mythology , and Zeme, also referred to as Zemes-mãte , a Slavic and Latvian goddess of the earth. Mallory and Adams suggest that, although Semele is "etymologically related" to other mother Earth/Earth goddess cognates, her name might be

2997-464: The Phrygian Kingdom was then overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders , and Gordium was sacked and destroyed. According to Strabo and others, Midas committed suicide by drinking bulls' blood. A series of digs have opened Gordium as one of Turkey's most revealing archeological sites. Excavations confirm a violent destruction of Gordium around 675 BC. A tomb from the period, popularly identified as

3078-439: The Phrygians and Mushki , an eastern Anatolian people, were at that time campaigning in a joint army. This Midas is thought to have reigned Phrygia at the peak of its power from about 720 BC to about 695 BC (according to Eusebius) or 676 BC (according to Julius Africanus). An Assyrian inscription mentioning "Mita", dated to 709 BC, during the reign of Sargon of Assyria , suggests Phrygia and Assyria had struck

3159-708: The Phrygians were called Bryges when they lived in Europe. He and other Greek writers also recorded legends about King Midas that associated him with or put his origin in Macedonia ; Herodotus, for example, says a wild rose garden in Macedonia was named after Midas. Some classical writers also connected the Phrygians with the Mygdones , the name of two groups of people, one of which lived in northern Macedonia and another in Mysia . Likewise,

3240-814: 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 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

3321-579: The ancient Hebrews, which has in turn been identified as the Tegarama of Hittite texts and Til-Garimmu of Assyrian records. Josephus called Togarmah "the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians". However, the Greek source cited by Josephus is unknown, and it is unclear if there was any basis for the identification other than name similarity. Scholars of the Hittites believe Tegarama

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3402-402: The ancient Thracian and Slavonic cults (...)". In one version of the myth, Semele was a priestess of Zeus, and on one occasion was observed by Zeus as she slaughtered a bull at his altar and afterwards swam in the river Asopus to cleanse herself of the blood. Flying over the scene in the guise of an eagle, Zeus fell in love with Semele and repeatedly visited her secretly. Zeus's wife, Hera ,

3483-614: The bare plains of the region's heartland. The region of southwestern Phrygia is irrigated by the Maeander, also known as the Büyük Menderes River , along with its tributary, the Lycus. Within its boundaries lie the towns of Laodicea on the Lycus and Hierapolis . According to ancient tradition among Greek historians, the Phrygians migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans . Herodotus says that

3564-446: The closest relative of Phrygian, a position that is supported by Brixhe , Neumann, Matzinger, Woodhouse, Ligorio, Lubotsky, and Obrador-Cursach. Furthermore, 34 out of the 36 Phrygian isoglosses that are recorded are shared with Greek, with 22 being exclusive between them. The last 50 years of Phrygian scholarship developed a hypothesis that proposes a proto-Graeco-Phrygian stage out of which Greek and Phrygian originated, and if Phrygian

3645-531: 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

3726-491: The cult, without banning it. Religious beliefs and myths associated with Dionysus were successfully adapted and remained pervasive in Roman culture, as evidenced for instance by the Dionysian scenes of Roman wall painting and on sarcophagi from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD. The Greek cult of Dionysus had flourished among the Etruscans in the archaic period, and had been made compatible with Etruscan religious beliefs . One of

3807-583: The downfall of the Hittite Empire and the end of the high Bronze Age in Anatolia. According to the "recent migration" theory, the Phrygians invaded just before or after the collapse of the Hittite Empire at the beginning of the 12th century BC, filling the political vacuum in central-western Anatolia, and may have been counted among the " Sea Peoples " that Egyptian records credit with bringing about

3888-538: The end of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC) or around 2050 or 1450 BC. In Rome, the goddess Stimula was identified as Semele. According to some linguists the name Semele is Thraco - Phrygian , derived from a PIE root meaning 'earth'. A Phrygian inscription refers to diōs zemelō ( διως ζεμελω ). The first word corresponds to Greek Zeus (genit. Dios) and the second to earth in some Indo-European languages . Julius Pokorny reconstructs her name from

3969-480: The family of Anatolian languages spoken in most of the adjacent countries, such as Hittite . The apparent similarity of the Phrygian language to Greek and its dissimilarity with the Anatolian languages spoken by most of their neighbors is also taken as support for a European origin of the Phrygians. From what is available, it is evident that Phrygian shares important features with Greek and Armenian . Phrygian

4050-530: The gestation of Dionysus and now her son gets to join the heavenly deities in Olympus, while Ino languishes with a murderous husband (since Athamas tried to kill Ino and her son), and a son that lives with maritime deities. There is a story in the Fabulae 167 of Gaius Julius Hyginus , or a later author whose work has been attributed to Hyginus. In this, Dionysus (called Liber) is the son of Jupiter and Proserpina , and

4131-483: 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

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4212-424: 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

4293-497: The goddess is named after stimulae , 'goads, whips,' by means of which a person is driven to excessive actions. The goddess's grove was the site of the Dionysian scandal that led to official attempts to suppress the cult . The Romans viewed the Bacchanals with suspicion, based on reports of ecstatic behaviors contrary to Roman social norms and the secrecy of initiatory rite. In 186 BC, the Roman senate took severe actions to limit

4374-401: 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,

4455-500: 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

4536-461: 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

4617-542: The larger Assyrian Empire to its southeast and the kingdom of Urartu to the northeast. According to the classical historians Strabo , Eusebius and Julius Africanus , the king of Phrygia during this time was another Midas. This historical Midas is believed to be the same person named as Mita in Assyrian texts from the period and identified as king of the Mushki . Scholars figure that Assyrians called Phrygians "Mushki" because

4698-450: The main principles of the Dionysian mysteries that spread to Latium and Rome was the concept of rebirth, to which the complex myths surrounding the god's own birth were central. Birth and childhood deities were important to Roman religion ; Ovid identifies Semele's sister Ino as the nurturing goddess Mater Matuta . This goddess had a major cult center at Satricum that was built 500–490 BC. The female consort who appears with Bacchus in

4779-535: 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

4860-559: The north and west of it. Phrygia begins in the northwest where an area of dry steppe is diluted by the Sakarya and Porsuk river system and is home to the settlements of Dorylaeum near modern Eskişehir , and the Phrygian capital Gordion . The climate is harsh with hot summers and cold winters. Therefore, olives will not easily grow here so the land is mostly used for livestock grazing and barley production. South of Dorylaeum an important Phrygian settlement, Midas City ( Yazılıkaya, Eskişehir ),

4941-399: The old labiovelar with the plain velar, and secondly, when in contact with palatal vowels /e/ and /i/, especially in initial position, some consonants became palatalized. Furthermore, Kortlandt (1988) presented common sound changes of Thracian and Armenian and their separation from Phrygian and the rest of the palaeo-Balkan languages from an early stage. Modern consensus regards Greek as

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5022-473: The powerful. His thyrsus , a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and 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

5103-400: 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

5184-445: 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

5265-423: 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

5346-409: 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

5427-483: The time encompassed much of western and central Anatolia : "the Armenians were equipped like Phrygians, being Phrygian colonists" (7.73) ( Ἀρμένιοι δὲ κατά περ Φρύγες ἐσεσάχατο, ἐόντες Φρυγῶν ἄποικοι. ) According to Herotodus, the Phrygians had originated in the Balkans , in an area adjoining Macedonia, from where they had emigrated to Anatolia during the Bronze Age collapse . This led later scholars, such as Igor Diakonoff , to theorize that Armenians also originated in

5508-478: The two Dionysoi were born of one father, but of two mothers" Still another variant of the narrative is found in Callimachus and the 5th century CE Greek writer Nonnus . In this version, the first Dionysus is called Zagreus . Nonnus does not present the conception as virginal; rather, the editor's notes say that Zeus swallowed Zagreus' heart, and visited the mortal woman Semele, whom he seduced and made pregnant. Nonnus classifies Zeus's affair with Semele as one in

5589-520: The variants of 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,

5670-484: The very bridal chamber where Zeus visited her and begat Dionysus. Since an Oriental inscribed cylindrical seal found at the palace can be dated 14th-13th centuries, the myth of Semele must be Mycenaean or earlier in origin. At the Alcyonian Lake near the prehistoric site of Lerna , Dionysus, guided by Prosymnus or Polymnus, descended to Tartarus to free his once-mortal mother. Annual rites took place there in classical times; Pausanias refuses to describe them. Though

5751-421: Was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia , in what is now Asian Turkey , centered on the Sangarios River . After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires of the time. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Phrygian kings: According to Homer 's Iliad , the Phrygians participated in the Trojan War as close allies of the Trojans , fighting against

5832-460: Was also known as Bacchus ( / ˈ b æ k ə s / or / ˈ b ɑː k ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Βάκχος Bacchos ) by 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

5913-426: Was born. This leads to his being called "the twice-born". When he grew up, Dionysus rescued his mother from Hades , and she became a goddess on Mount Olympus , with the new name Thyone , presiding over the frenzy inspired by her son Dionysus. At a later point in the epic Dionysiaca , Semele, now resurrected, boasts to her sister Ino how Cronida ('Kronos's son', that is, Zeus), "the plower of her field", carried on

5994-500: Was forced by his oath to comply. Zeus tried to spare her by showing her the smallest of his bolts and the sparsest thunderstorm clouds he could find. Mortals, however, cannot look upon the gods without incinerating, and she perished, consumed in a lightning-ignited flame. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus , however, by sewing him into his thigh (whence the epithet Eiraphiotes, 'insewn', of the Homeric Hymn ). A few months later, Dionysus

6075-782: Was in eastern Anatolia – some locate it at Gurun – far to the east of Phrygia. Some scholars have identified Phrygia with the Assuwa league, and noted that the Iliad mentions a Phrygian (Queen Hecuba 's brother) named Asios . Another possible early name of Phrygia could be Hapalla , the name of the easternmost province that emerged from the splintering of the Bronze Age western Anatolian empire Arzawa . However, scholars are unsure if Hapalla corresponds to Phrygia or to Pisidia , further south. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (writing circa 440 BC), suggested that Armenians migrated from Phrygia, which at

6156-482: Was killed by the Titans . Jupiter gave his torn up heart in a drink to Semele, who became pregnant this way. But in another account, Zeus swallows the heart himself, in order to beget his seed on Semele. Hera then convinces Semele to ask Zeus to come to her as a god, and on doing so she dies, and Zeus seals the unborn baby up in his thigh. As a result of this Dionysus "was also called Dimetor [of two mothers] ... because

6237-468: Was more sufficiently attested, that stage could perhaps be reconstructed. Some scholars dismiss the claim of a Phrygian migration as a mere legend, likely arising from the coincidental similarity of their name to the Bryges , and have theorized that migration into Phrygia could have occurred more recently than classical sources suggest. They have sought to fit the Phrygian arrival into a narrative explaining

6318-487: Was the king of the place. Hiding her divinity, Saturn’s daughter cleverly Incited the Latian Bacchae with deceiving words:" "lucus erat, dubium Semelae Stimulae ne vocetur; maenadas Ausonias incoluisse ferunt: quaerit ab his Ino quae gens foret. Arcadas esse audit et Euandrum sceptra tenere loci; dissimulata deam Latias Saturnia Bacchas in stimula t fictis insidiosa sonis:" Augustine notes that

6399-530: 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

6480-664: 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

6561-488: Was variously a son of Zeus and Persephone ; a chthonic or underworld aspect of Zeus; or 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

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