Dionysus

Greek god of wine, ecstasy, theater, and death-rebirth. Twice-born — once from Semele's body before her death by lightning, once from Zeus's thigh after gestation. Foreign-arrival narrative (the god from Phrygia/Thrace coming back to Thebes) is the structural premise of Euripides's Bacchae and central to his cult-iconography. Greek tragedy and comedy were originally Dionysiac ritual.

Parentage

• Zeus

Domains

• wine intoxication
• ecstatic cult
• theater
• death and rebirth

Powers

• Induce ecstatic madness
• Make wine and vines spring forth
• Transform self and others

Epithets

• Βρόμιος
• Λύσιος
• Ἴακχος
• Διθύραμβος
• Ἐλευθερεύς
• Ὠμηστής
• Βάκχος
• Εὔιος

Relations

• spouse: Ariadne
• sibling: Hebe
• sibling: Ares
• sibling: Apollo
• sibling: Aeacus
• sibling: Athena
• sibling: Artemis
• sibling: Hermes
• equated with: Liber Pater
• interpretatio: Liber Pater
• equated with: Osiris
• interpretatio: Osiris
• interpretatio: The Thracian Dionysus, Lord of the Mountain Frenzy
• interpretatio: Sabazios
• interpretatio: Dushara

Sources

• Hom. Il. 6.130-140; Hes. Theog. 940-942; h.Hom.Dion. 1, 7, 26; Eur. Bacch.; Apollod. 3.5
• Hes. Theog. 940-942 (son of Zeus and Semele); Eur. Bacch. 1-9 (Theban Semele struck by Zeus's thunderbolt; Dionysus saved and reborn from Zeus's thigh)