Dionysus

Despite the parallels between the chorus and Agave, there is also a clear separation of Agave from the chorus because she is a new follower of Dionysus instead of a long time one the way the women in the chorus are. The chorus members are humoring her and tolerating her excitement and existence; they are not as excited about her catch as they were about Dionysus’ violent power. This division exposes the hierarchical tendencies ingrained into their world. Even though Agave is married to the king…

Anthesteria is the festivals in honour of Dionysus, the God of wine. Anthesteria is held each year for three days in the month of Anthesterion (February–March) celebrating the beginning of spring and the maturing of the wine stored from previous years. On the first day of the festival (Pithoigia, or “Jar Opening”) tributes were offered to Dionysus from the newly opened wine. The second day (Choes, or “Wine Jugs”) was a time of popular merrymaking typified by wine-drinking contests in which even…

Pentheus and the God Dionysus. Perhaps what makes this play so startling, in addition to the graphically brutal murder of Pentheus, is the wild yet captivating all-female chorus. Typically, the chorus is intrinsic to the play as it represents the voice of the community, reflecting on ethical and moral issues. However, in Bacchae, the chorus consists of fifteen women who are referred to as maenads or “mad-women,” and also are characterized as “frenzied female worshipers of Dionysus” (205). The…

but the sweet sound of his horn kept people curious. Pan was different from other gods. Although he was feared by many, Pan was an important character in this period of time. ABOUT PAN Pan’s parents are unknown. His father could have been Zeus, Dionysus, Hermes, or Apollo. His mother may have been a nymph named Dryope, Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, or Aphrodite (Pan). He was worshiped in outside settings like caves. People believed that…

The Bacchae, written by Euripides, and Euthyphro, recorded by Plato, are both centered around the issue of piety and what constitutes piety. The Bacchae delves a little further into piety by also elaborating on the repercussions of being impious. Both works were written around 400 BCE and share a common thread in regards to attempting to convert people to their respective ways of thinking. However it can certainly be concluded that the two works take very different approaches in order to gain…

Shortly after an unknown man enters the bar who Dionysus seems to recognize but cannot quite remember. The unknown man talks about that he is on a journey that he knows what it will lead to but does not know the way. He also talks about why his father God does such things (making Zeus for a while think…

Pentheus is one of two main characters in “The Bacchants” the other being the god Dionysus. Upon the beginning of the play Pentheus is immediately established as a clever man, but an arrogant one and one who cares only for himself. When he learns of the stranger preaching Dionysus’s doctrine and that the prophet Tiresias supports Dionysus’s ascendancy to godhood, he scoffs at him saying “ It is he that says Dionysus is a god and was once sewn up in the thigh of Zeus-the child that was burnt up…

was a goat. As we know Grover couldn’t be a goat since he has the top features of a human, so he has to be a satyrs, which Grover admits later. In Greek mythology, satyrs were half-man and half-horse or goat, satyrs and maenads are followers of Dionysus, credited with the invention of wine. After Percy asked his mother who was after him, Grover said “Just the Lord of the Dead and few of his blood-thirstiest minion.” The allusion “Lord of the Dead” make reference to Hades, the ruler of the…

constraints, namely through his presentation of ambiguous gender roles and gender identity. In the Bacchae, madness echoes the duality of man by being portrayed as a double headed beast. Madness parallels the nature of the god who inspires it—Dionysus. Dionysus’ dual-sided nature is best highlighted through his patronization of Greek theater. In Ancient Greece, only males were allowed to take part in the production of plays; as a result, female characters were…

After reading both Wasps by Aristophanes and Bacchae by Euripides, I realized that words can be just as powerful as a god. Athenian government officials, such as Cleon, in Wasps and Dionysus from Bacchae had total control over others. The people the Athenian government and Dionysus controlled were manipulated to believe that they had power. Within Wasps, readers are introduced to Procleon, a man who has an obsession with being a juror for the Athenian government. Procleon’s obsession is…