The myth of Dionysus starts well before the birth of Dionysus to Semele. At the opening of the play we find Dionysus at his mother, Semele's, grave. But in fact he had been born once before to Persephone.
Zeus, ruler of the cosmos and married to Hera, was a famous philanderer. He had intercourse with Persephone in the form of a serpent, producing Dionysus. To protect him from Hera's jealously, Zeus has the baby taken to Mount Ida where (like the infant Zeus) he is guarded by the dancing Curetes. Zeus intended Dionysus to be his successor as ruler of the cosmos, but a jealous Hera incites the Titans to kill the child. Distracting the infant Dionysus with various toys, including a mirror, the Titans seized Dionysus and tore him to pieces -- dismemberment rather reminiscent of Osiris (see below). The Titans then boil, roast, and partially eat the body parts. But Athena manages to save Dionysus' heart.
In one story, Zeus makes Dionysus's heart into a potion with which he impregnates Semele – a daughter of Cadmus, King of Thebes -- and Dionysus is twice-born that way. In another version, Zeus is smitten with Semele and so “madly in love” with her that he promises her that he will rant her any wish if she will have sex with him. Zeus swears this promise by the river Styx, an oath which even he can not break.
Hera, Zeus’s wife, is again very jealous. She talks with Semele and suggests a “wish.” Semele likes Hera's idea and tells Zeus that more than anything she wishes to see him in his full splendor as King of Heaven and Lord of the Thunderbolt. Zeus is dismayed. Hera had planted this deadly idea knowing that no mortal can behold Zeus in his full splendor and live and Zeus can do nothing to save her. So ...they have sex. Then Zeus takes Semele to Mount Olympus where she dies before his “awful glory of burning light.” But! Zeus snatches the embryo from her womb and sews it into his thigh (some say his side) to hide it from Hera. Dionysus is thus twice-born, snatched from Semele and then reborn on Mount Pramnos where Zeus went to release the now-fully-grown baby from his thigh. In the first version, Dionysus is birthed by two mothers: Persephone and Semele. In the second version, Dionysus is birthed by two "mothers": Semele and Zeus. Hence the epithet dimētōr or "twice born." Find other versions here.
Image on vase of Dionysus being bornrom Zeus's thigh, ca 405 - 385 BC
Dionysus
traveled widely and everywhere he went he was accepted as a god –
except in Thebes, his mother’s own city. Why? Semele’s sisters denied
the story of Semele's sexcapade. They declared that Dionysus was lying
and that he was mortal.
To get back at them, Dionysus “stunned them with frenzy” – making them
dance with his “wild women” sometimes called Bacchants or Maenads.
(Dionysian religious practice was officiated by women, and composed of,
among other practices, ecstatic trance dancing.)
The young king of Thebes, Pentheus, is actually the cousin of Dionysus. He became King of Thebes when Cadmus, his grandfather, retired. Pentheus refused to submit to Dionysus. And the play is the story of what happens.
Connection to Egyptian myth:
In traditions of interpretatio graeca, Dionysus is often identified with the Egyptian god Osiris. Stories of the dismemberment and resurrection of Osiris, parallel those of Dionysus Zagreus. According to Diodorus Siculus, Egyptian myths about Priapus said that the Titans conspired against Osiris, killed him, divided his body into equal parts, and "slipped them secretly out of the house." In the last class, we read about Osirus's dismemberment as the work of Set, and I'm not sure of the Set/Titans connection except to say that with ancient myths there are often many versions. In any case, none of the Titans "was willing to take it with him" so they threw the penis into the river. Isis, Osiris' sister and wife, hunted for and reassembled Osiris' body parts "into the shape of a human figure," and gave them "to the priests with orders that they pay Osiris the honors of a god." But she was unable to recover the penis. In some versions I have read: She fashioned a golden dildo and connected it to the re-membered Osiris and, with it, she was impregnated with Horus. She ordered the priests to pay this false phallus "the honors of a god and to set it up in their temples in an erect position."Dionysus, dismembered by the Titans as well, was also worshipped by the erect member as we saw from the statuary at Delos.
Zeus, ruler of the cosmos and married to Hera, was a famous philanderer. He had intercourse with Persephone in the form of a serpent, producing Dionysus. To protect him from Hera's jealously, Zeus has the baby taken to Mount Ida where (like the infant Zeus) he is guarded by the dancing Curetes. Zeus intended Dionysus to be his successor as ruler of the cosmos, but a jealous Hera incites the Titans to kill the child. Distracting the infant Dionysus with various toys, including a mirror, the Titans seized Dionysus and tore him to pieces -- dismemberment rather reminiscent of Osiris (see below). The Titans then boil, roast, and partially eat the body parts. But Athena manages to save Dionysus' heart.
In one story, Zeus makes Dionysus's heart into a potion with which he impregnates Semele – a daughter of Cadmus, King of Thebes -- and Dionysus is twice-born that way. In another version, Zeus is smitten with Semele and so “madly in love” with her that he promises her that he will rant her any wish if she will have sex with him. Zeus swears this promise by the river Styx, an oath which even he can not break.
Hera, Zeus’s wife, is again very jealous. She talks with Semele and suggests a “wish.” Semele likes Hera's idea and tells Zeus that more than anything she wishes to see him in his full splendor as King of Heaven and Lord of the Thunderbolt. Zeus is dismayed. Hera had planted this deadly idea knowing that no mortal can behold Zeus in his full splendor and live and Zeus can do nothing to save her. So ...they have sex. Then Zeus takes Semele to Mount Olympus where she dies before his “awful glory of burning light.” But! Zeus snatches the embryo from her womb and sews it into his thigh (some say his side) to hide it from Hera. Dionysus is thus twice-born, snatched from Semele and then reborn on Mount Pramnos where Zeus went to release the now-fully-grown baby from his thigh. In the first version, Dionysus is birthed by two mothers: Persephone and Semele. In the second version, Dionysus is birthed by two "mothers": Semele and Zeus. Hence the epithet dimētōr or "twice born." Find other versions here.
Image on vase of Dionysus being bornrom Zeus's thigh, ca 405 - 385 BC
The young king of Thebes, Pentheus, is actually the cousin of Dionysus. He became King of Thebes when Cadmus, his grandfather, retired. Pentheus refused to submit to Dionysus. And the play is the story of what happens.
Connection to Egyptian myth:
In traditions of interpretatio graeca, Dionysus is often identified with the Egyptian god Osiris. Stories of the dismemberment and resurrection of Osiris, parallel those of Dionysus Zagreus. According to Diodorus Siculus, Egyptian myths about Priapus said that the Titans conspired against Osiris, killed him, divided his body into equal parts, and "slipped them secretly out of the house." In the last class, we read about Osirus's dismemberment as the work of Set, and I'm not sure of the Set/Titans connection except to say that with ancient myths there are often many versions. In any case, none of the Titans "was willing to take it with him" so they threw the penis into the river. Isis, Osiris' sister and wife, hunted for and reassembled Osiris' body parts "into the shape of a human figure," and gave them "to the priests with orders that they pay Osiris the honors of a god." But she was unable to recover the penis. In some versions I have read: She fashioned a golden dildo and connected it to the re-membered Osiris and, with it, she was impregnated with Horus. She ordered the priests to pay this false phallus "the honors of a god and to set it up in their temples in an erect position."Dionysus, dismembered by the Titans as well, was also worshipped by the erect member as we saw from the statuary at Delos.
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