Though most accounts say he was born in Thrace, traveled abroad, and arrived in Greece as a foreigner, evidence from the Mycenaean period of Greek history shows that he is one of Greece's oldest attested gods. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek. In the Eleusinian Mysteries he was identified with Iacchus, the son (or, alternately, husband) of Demeter. Many believed that he had been born twice, having been killed and reborn as the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele. In his religion, identical with or closely related to Orphism, Dionysus was believed to have been born from the union of Zeus and Persephone, and to have himself represented a chthonic or underworld aspect of Zeus. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.
As Eleutherios ("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, 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. Another name used by the Romans is Liber meaning "free", due to his association with wine and the Bacchanalia and other rites, and the freedom associated with it.
He is also known as Bacchus ( / ˈ b æ k ə s/ or / ˈ b ɑː k ə s/ Greek: Βάκχος, Bákkhos), the name adopted by the Romans the frenzy he induces is bakkheia. ə ˈ n aɪ s ə s/ Greek: Διόνυσος) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, fertility, orchards and fruit, vegetation, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity and theatre in ancient Greek religion and myth. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.ĭionysus ( / d aɪ. This article contains special characters. Priapus, Hymen, Thoas, Staphylus, Oenopion, Comus, Phthonus, the Graces, Deianira Thyrsus, grapevine, bull, panther, ivy, goat, masks, chaliceĪeacus, Angelos, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia, Persephone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, Tantalus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses, the Moirai
Second-century Roman statue of Dionysus, after a Hellenistic model (ex-coll.