Dionysus: A Short Story

One of the myths, Dionysus is the “tragic god” because his wild, primal life exists in the shadow of his inevitable death every winter. He lives fully and gloriously despite his fate to be torn apart. Life in the face of a brutal fate becomes the subject of many of the later Greek tragedies, which were originally inspired by Dionysus himself.For example, when Pentheus, the king , refused to worship him and even imprisoned Dionysus. As punishment Dionysus drove Pentheus’ mother and sisters mad, so that they thought Pentheus was a mountain lion and tore him apart with their bare hands.Dionysus, like many of the gods, shares this capricious temper when it comes to being insulted by mortals. In this case the punishment is far worse than the crime. The idea of justice is shaky when it comes to the God of Wine.

Odysseus is the king of Ithaca. Pi is the underdog. Everyone respects Odysseus and has his back. There is no one is there for Pi. They both made it out of the heart wrenching journey alive, and the stories are surprisingly parallel to each other.

The artwork I chose to write about is The Indian Triumph of Dionysus which I came across on my visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. The artwork was commissioned by a wealthy Roman during the end of the second century A.D. Although the Dionysus cult may hold many mysteries it is known that this artwork originated in Rome. The individual who funded that creating of this sarcophagus desired to commemorate his beliefs. Desiring for others to know what he associated himself as is what gave birth to this masterpiece.

Greek drama was performed in the late 6th century BCE in ancient Greece. Tragedians like Euripides wrote very influential and popular plays such as the Bacchae. Greek tragedies lead to Greek comedies such as Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. Many of the Greek dramas have similar concepts, one of being duality. Without duality, the nature of our lives and the environment around us remains unbalanced.

In Greek literature of mythology, we have examined Odysseus. Students and scholars alike have held debates about Odysseus. The discussion is whether Odysseus was a true hero, as read in The Odyssey. There is abundant supportive evidence to verify all sides of the debate and opinions held about Odysseus. Odysseus had encompassed many qualities that I believe make him a hero. The qualities he embodied were mental strength, physical strength, and spiritual strength. I would like to advocate for why Odysseus was a hero.

For generations, heroes have always fascinated people and people have strived to achieve certain qualities of their heroes. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is considered the hero of the story. While Odysseus does demonstrate some qualities that are not heroic, he is still defined as a hero because of his better, more heroic qualities in which he is far superior in than any other man. The qualities in which define Odysseus as a hero are courage, intelligence, and leadership.

The chosen art piece, from Roman origin, is titled “Dionysus” and portrayed Dionysus, the god of wine, with his follower Pan. This artwork is a great example of Greek art’s influence in Roman artwork. The main elements of Greek’s naturalistic art, specifically of High Classical period, are rendered beautifully in this piece combined with distinctive elements from verism, unique to Roman art. So, the idealism of Greek art and the individualism of Roman art come together to create an art piece that is divine, mythical, and yet very human and therefore, relatable.

The guards’ ropes fell apart, their latches opened, and they realized that they could not imprison Dionysus and his followers. Dionysus was taken to Pentheus, and tried to explain his worship. Pentheus only listened to his own anger, and insulted Dionysus. “Dionysus gave up and left Pentheus to his doom. Pentheus pursued Dionysus followers up into the hills where they had gone after walking away from his prison. Many of the local women including Pentheus’ mother and sister had joined them there. Then Dionysus appeared to his followers in his most

The messenger is discussing Pentheus’ death and says, “... when the stranger vanished and there came a great voice out of heaven -- Dionysus’, it must have been crying: ‘ Women , I bring you the man who mocks at you and me and at our holy mysteries. Take vengeance upon him.’ And as he spoke a flash of awful fire bound earth and heaven...his own mother...fell upon him first... Ignoring his cries of pity she seized his left arm at the wrist... she pulled wrenching away the arm at the shoulder-- not by her own strength, for the god had put inhuman power in her hands...

This reflected the not only Dionysus’s gift of wine, but the ritual structure that came to surround its consumption as well. The statuette instead places the focus on the sensual nature of the god, by depicting him as an androgynous youth cut in soft marble. This shift reflected not only the material limitations of the mediums, but the shift in Dionysus’s role in Greek mythology as

My Greek God is Dionysus. He was also known as the god of wine and agriculture. In the myth of Dionysus he went to the underworld in search for his mother. When he found her he had to bargain with hades to release her. In the end hades released her and then they went to live on mount olympus. Dionysus mother is Semele and his dad is the greek god king the great Zeus. Dionysus is the only greek god to have a mortal parent and that would be his mother Semele. Dionysus was born in the place in Thebes. They say he was born of fire and nursed by rain. He also went by another name and it was Bacchus. This is what the romans called him. Dionysus is known to bring joy, happiness, rage, and anger when ever he pleases. Dionysus also was once said to of toarn a king to pieces and ate him.

A hero is something everyone wants to be. A hero back in the Greek times meant that they were brave, loyal to their allies and their family, and respectful of Gods. Odysseus is an epic hero in the poem “The Odyssey”. “The Odyssey” focused on one soldier(Odysseus) who fought in the trojan war returning home after 19 years, it is about his adventures going home and visiting different people and islands while returning home. Odysseus portrayed both traits of being a hero and not a hero because he helped his men during hard times but sometimes risked their lives. He was also unloyal to his wife Penelope who stayed loyal to him for 19 years.

While the women in “The Bacchae” worshiped Dionysus because he possessed them, his worship nevertheless served as an outlet for them to escape the chains of social subordination. This is the same reason Dionysus sought women as his followers. As in most societies during the time of “The Bacchae,” the ranking of women in this setting was extremely low. In Arthur Evan’s “The God of Ecstasy: Sex Roles and The Madness of Dionysus,” Evans relates on the lives females endured and the roles they played in ancient Athenian society: “women had no vote, were not allowed to speak on their own behalf in public assemblies and courts of law, and were kept in guarded seclusion within the innermost chambers of the house” (Evans 16). Women were forced to spend

In a way, when Dionysus went to warn Pentheus this was nice enough considering this does not happen to many people especially it being a warning and a God going out of his way to help a mortal. However, Dionysus is this God of wine and like it says in the book wine is both good and bad. It is good tasting after a while, but can be very bitter as well. Looking at it in a health perspective, wine can be very good for you in moderation, but can also be very bad for you in excess. It is finding that balance that makes a good wine and in this case a good

In Greek Mythology a rivalry always occurs between certain Gods and Goddesses. In the case of Apollo and Dionysus there is no exception. They are half brothers, both sons of Zues and they compete just as most brothers do. Though the two Greek Gods, Apollo and Dionysus, were actually very similar in some ways, they severely contrasted in others.