Transcript Dionysus God of Wine and Madness

Dionysus
God of Wine and Madness
Birth of Dionysus
Dionysus is the only god
to have a human mother.
Semele was the daughter of
Cadmus, king of Thebes.
Zeus sewed the embryo
into his thigh and birthed
it himself.
Seduced by Zeus, she
inspired Hera’s jealousy.
Hera tricked her into
asking Zeus to show
himself to her in his true
form. Exposed to divine
reality, she was burned up.
Only the glowing embryo
of Dionysus remained.
Birth of Dionysus
As Athena’s birth from
Zeus’s head signifies her
intellect and purity,
Dionysus’ birth from Zeus’s
thigh associates him with
physical sensation and
chaotic sexuality.
Also a little bit of gender
bending.
Dionysus was raised by various nymphs and other
woodland creatures. Here Hermes brings him to Silenus,
the old, forest-living, wine-loving satyr often shown in
the god’s retinue.
Appearance of Dionysus
Dionysus may be shown as a
bearded older man . . .
. . . or as a sensual, even
effeminate, beardless
youth.
Flexible age image, as
with Hermes.
The Nature of Dionysus
This dual nature,
especially the
efeminate aspect, was
a little scary.
The wild, effeminate portrayal
of Dionysus emphasizes the
threat of ecstatic experience to
what is dignified and proper.
Greek mythology
emphasized the foreign,
Eastern origins of
Dionysus, but
archeological evidence
suggests he is as old as
the other Greek gods.
“The East” was a symbol
of decadence and
extremes.
Dionysus & the
Pirates
First of all a sweet and
fragrant wine flowed
through the black ship,
and a divine ambrosial
odor arose . . .
immediately a vine spread
in all directions from the
top of the sail, with many
clusters hanging down . . .
the sailors escaped an evil
fate and leaped into the
shining sea and became
dolphins. Homeric Hymn to
Dionysus
The Nature of Dionysus
On the other hand, the Greeks
regarded a little drunken partying
as a good thing.
In the Anthesteria, a 3-day
Athenian festival, much of the
second day was devoted to wine
tasting and drinking contests,
open to all men above the age of
three, slave and free alike.
Dionysus matched Demeter’s gift of grain, with wine. He turned
the grapes into a flowing drink and offered it to mortals, so when
they fill themselves with the liquid vine, they put an end to grief.
Euripides, Bacchae
The Nature of Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of drama, which embodied aspects
of ecstasy (“standing outside oneself”): the actors
impersonated mythological characters, and the audience
experienced feelings and emotions incited by the plays.
katharsis, or
emotional
release, is
one of the
things
Dionysus
offers.
The Nature of Dionysus
But
drama
was also
a civic,
community
thing.
Major civic festivals, such as the dramatic festivals of Lenaia
and Dionysia, as well as the more “sober” parts of the
Anthesteria, emphasized Dionysus’ role as a god whose
power supported a well balanced life, both family and civic.
Dionysus & his retinue
Dionysus is thought of
as accompanied by
not-quite-human
satyrs (half-man, halfgoat). Satyrs are
another symbol of the
mysterious powers of
nature and the wild.
Satyrs are a little bit
crazy, often oversexed, fond of wine.
Pan is the
quintessential satyr.
Dionysus &
his retinue
Satyrs and nymphs
accompany the god.
The satyrs play
musical instruments
and the nymphs are
shown dancing with
krotala (castanets).
Attributes:
•wine cup
•music &
dance
•nymphs &
satyrs
•trailing ivy
Music and dance are
essential to
Dionysiac
celebration.
Dionysus &
his retinue
Maenads are a
key feature of
Dionysus’
retinue.
Attributes:
•fawn skin or
panther skin
(dappled,
“camouflage”)
•thyrsus
(pinecone or
ivy-tipped rod,
kinda phallic)
•mastery over
& connection
•wild, ecstatic
with wild
dancing, head
animals
turned up or back
Maenads (Madwomen)
Maenads reverse the conventions of
life for Greek women: staying inside,
being family oriented, domestic
pursuits, keeping to themselves.
Maenads go out into nature, abandon
their families, rove in bands, and hunt
wild animals.
This maenad participates in the rituals
of the Dionysiac “orgy” (wild
celebration): tearing an animal apart
(sparagmos) and probably, eating its
flesh raw (omophagia).
This is the exact opposite of civilized
behavior! Scary . . .
Maenads (Madwomen)
The Greeks show a fascination
with sexual assault of Maenads.
Sleeping Maenads
may expect rude
awakenings. . .
Maenads
On the other hand,
Maenads are usually
shown defending
themselves pretty
effectively.
Dionysus encourages
riotous behavior and
freedom for women,
but it’s about ecstacy,
not sex.
Chastity depends on character,
and in Dionysus’ celebration, no
decent woman is seduced. Tiresias,
in Euripides, Bacchae
Maenads
How many real women worshipped
Dionysus as ‘maenads?”
Evidence shows the practice more in
some parts of the Peloponnese and
Asia Minor, though not all women
would have participated.
Pausanias mentions Athenian women
who traveled to Delphi, performing
dances at set points along the way, in
the 2nd century CE – could this reflect
earlier practices?
Feminine solidarity is reflected in the
story of the women of Amphissa
Maenads
The term “maenad” (madwoman) “signified possession by a
god but at the same time carries
derogotory connotations,
implying masculine disapproval of
uncontrolled feminine behavior”
(Blundell)
Maenadism provided
women “with a
temporary respite
from the routine and
isolation of their
domestic existence,
but it also allowed
them, through their
experience of
ecstasy, to a modeof
expression which
gave free reign to
pent-up emotions
and hostilities”
(Blundell)
Maenads
I. M. Lewis, in a study of possession in many
different societies, argues that rituals like
Maenadism allow women (and other
disenfranchised groups) to express their pentup frustrations at their subjected social role,
but is only tolerated because the men in power
recognize this outlet as essential for the
maintenance of the status quo.
Zeitlin (Blundell): “Dionysiac worship which
incorporates rituals of inversion (such as
abandonment of home and children,
demonstrations of aggression, and eating of
raw flesh) would have conformed to the male
view of women’s nature as a subversive and less
fully integrated element of society.” This
supports “a negative ideology of the female as
unruly and disorderly”
Ariadne
Dionysus married Ariadne, the daughter of the king of
Crete, when he found her sleeping on Naxos
Euripides’ Bacchae
Major characters:
Dionsysus: The god is
disguised as his own priest.
Pentheus: The young king
of Thebes. He wants to run
his city in a strict, orderly
fashion.
Euripides wrote the
Bacchae at the end of his
life. It is one of his most
masterful plays and shows
the tension between the
drive to live a normal,
controlled life, and the
divine power of chaos that
Dionysus brings.
Bacchae: the chorus, a
group of women who
followed their god from
Asia, sleeping in the woods,
dancing, and hunting.
Euripides’ Bacchae
Cadmus, the oldking of
Thebes (Pentheus’ &
Dionysus’ grandfather)
Tiresias, the old blind
seer: two old men who,
ridiculous though it is,
have recognized the
god’s power and are
dancing in celebration of
him.
Chorus: What is wisdom? What is beauty? Slowly but surely the
divine power moves to annul the brutally minded man who in his
wild delusions refuses to reverence the gods. . . Euripides, Bacchae
Euripides’ Bacchae
It’s a foregone
conclusion: Pentheus
cannot fight the
power of the god;
brainwashed and
driven insane, he
participates in his
own sparagmos . . .
The innocent suffer
too, as his mother
and grandfather are
bereaved, despite
accepting the god.
•What principles fuel
the conflict between
Pentheus and
Dionysus?
•Are these inevitable
conflicts of the
human soul?
•What is wisdom,
according to the
Dionysiac
perspective?
•Maenads’ speech p. 277 ff – what is happiness?
What are the driving forces of their lives?
•How do Tiresias and Cadmus feel about
Dionysus? What are their reasons for following
him despite the fact that it makes them
ridiculous?
•What views about morality and how to
enforce it, arise in the conversation of
Dionysus and Pentheus on p. 281-2?
•What does the end of the play, with the
destruction of Pentheus, say about the nature
of Dionysus in specific, and the gods in general?
So hail to you,
Dionysus, rich in
grape clusters; grant
that we may in our
joy go through
these seasons again
and again for many
years. Homeric Hymn
to Dionysus
Finis