Lenaia

The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honour of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedies and comedies. It was the second-most important festival after the Panathenaia. The Dionysia was actually comprised of two related festivals, the Rural Dionysia and the City Dionysia, which took place in different parts of the year. They were also an essential part of the Dionysian Mysteries. Dionysia - Rural Dionysia. The Dionysia was original ...

Including:

• Dionysia - Rural Dionysia
• Dionysia - City Dionysia
• Dionysia - Origins
• Dionysia - Pompe and Proagon
• Dionysia - Dramatic performances
• Dionysia - Significance
• Dionysia - Notable winners of the City Dionysia
• Dionysia - Tragedy
• Dionysia - Comedy
• Dionysia - Sources

Read more here: » Dionysia: Encyclopedia - Dionysia

In Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mother of Dionysus (the god and his votaries were both identified as "Bacchus") by Zeus, in one of the two parallel origin-myths of Dionysus. The name Semele, like other elements of Dionysiac cult (thyrsus, dithyramb) are manifestly not Greek (Burkert 1985), apparently Thraco-Phrygian (Kerenyi 1976 p 107; Seltman 1956); the myth of Semele's ...

Including:

• Semele - Reference

Read more here: » Semele: Encyclopedia - Semele

Dionysus or Dionysos (Ancient Greek: Διώνυσος or Διόνυσος; also known as Bacchus in both Greek and Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficent influences. He is viewed as the promoter of civilization, a lawgiver, and lover of peace — as well as the patron deity of both agriculture and the theater. Greeks borrowed Dionysus' figure and within the Olympian tradition he i ...

Including:

• Dionysus - Worship
• Dionysus - Bacchanalia
• Dionysus - Appellations
• Dionysus - Birth
• Dionysus - Childhood
• Dionysus - Midas
• Dionysus - Other stories
• Dionysus - Consorts/Children
• Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity
• Dionysus - Modern interpretations
• Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism
• Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus
• Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia - Dionysus

Dionysus is a god of mystery religious rites, such as those practiced in honor of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis near Athens. In the Thracian mysteries, he wears the "bassaris" or fox-skin, symbolizing new life. His own rites the Dionysian Mysteries were the most secretive of all (See also Maenads) Many scholars believe that Dionysus is a syncretism of a local Greek nature deity and a more powerful god from ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Worship

Dithyrambs were sung by a chorus of up to 50 men or boys dancing in circular formation (there is no certain evidence that they may have originally been dressed as satyrs) and probably accompanied by the flute. They would normally relate some incident in the life of Dionysus. The leader of the chorus later became the solo protagonist, with lyrical interchanges taking place between him and the rest of the chorus. Competitions between groups singing dithyrambs were an important part of festivals such as the Dionysia and Lenaia. Each trib ...

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Dithyramb, Dithyramb - Form, Dithyramb - History

Read more here: » Dithyramb: Encyclopedia II - Dithyramb - Form

Dionysia - Origins. The City Dionysia (Dionysia ta en Astei, also known as the Great Dionysia, Dionysia ta Megala) was the urban part of the festival, possibly established during the tyranny of Pisistratus in the 6th century BC. This festival was held about three months after the rural Dionysia, during the month of Elaphebolion (corresponding to the end of March and the beginning of April), probably to celebrate the end of winter and the arrival of the new growing season. According to tradition the ...

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Dionysia, Dionysia - Rural Dionysia, Dionysia - City Dionysia, Dionysia - Origins, Dionysia - Pompe and Proagon, Dionysia - Dramatic performances, Dionysia - Significance, Dionysia - Notable winners of the City Dionysia, Dionysia - Tragedy, Dionysia - Comedy, Dionysia - Sources

Read more here: » Dionysia: Encyclopedia II - Dionysia - City Dionysia

Dionysus was often seen as the god of everything uncivilized, of the innate wildness of humanity that the Athenians had tried to control. The Dionysia was probably a time to let out their inhibitions through highly emotional tragedies or irreverent comedies. During the pompe there was also an element of role-reversal - lower-class citizens could mock and jeer the upper classes, or women could insult their male relatives. This was known as aischrologia or tothasmos, a concep ...

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Dionysia, Dionysia - Rural Dionysia, Dionysia - City Dionysia, Dionysia - Origins, Dionysia - Pompe and Proagon, Dionysia - Dramatic performances, Dionysia - Significance, Dionysia - Notable winners of the City Dionysia, Dionysia - Tragedy, Dionysia - Comedy, Dionysia - Sources

Read more here: » Dionysia: Encyclopedia II - Dionysia - Significance

Dionysia - Tragedy. 484 BC - Aeschylus 472 BC - Aeschylus (The Persians) 471 BC - Polyphrasmon 468 BC - Sophocles (Triptolemus) 467 BC - Aeschylus (Seven Against Thebes) 463 BC - Aeschylus (The Suppliants) 458 BC - Aeschylus (The Oresteia) 449 BC - Herakleides 441 BC - Euripides 431 BC - Euphorion, son of Aeschylus, Sophocles took 2nd place 428 BC - Euripides (Hippolytus) ...

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Dionysia, Dionysia - Rural Dionysia, Dionysia - City Dionysia, Dionysia - Origins, Dionysia - Pompe and Proagon, Dionysia - Dramatic performances, Dionysia - Significance, Dionysia - Notable winners of the City Dionysia, Dionysia - Tragedy, Dionysia - Comedy, Dionysia - Sources

Read more here: » Dionysia: Encyclopedia II - Dionysia - Notable winners of the City Dionysia

Dionysus had an unusual birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was Semele (daughter of Cadmus), a mortal woman, and his father Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus's wife, Hera, a jealous and vain goddess, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant. Appearing as an old crone(in other stories a nurse), Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her husband was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus th ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Birth

It is possible that Dionysian mythology would later find its way into Christianity. There are many parallels between Dionysus and Jesus; both were said to have been born from a mortal woman but fathered by a god, to have returned from the dead, and to have transformed water into wine. The modern scholar Barry Powell also argues that Christian notions of eating and drinking "the flesh" and "blood" of Jesus was influenced by the cult of Dionysus. Certainly the Dionysus myth contains a great deal of cannibalism, in its links to Ino (however, on ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity

In his book The Birth of Tragedy, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche contrasted Dionysus with the god Apollo as a symbol of the basic, unrestrained life force versus the world of reason, form and beauty represented by the latter. In contrast, the Russian poet and philosopher Vyacheslav Ivanov elaborated the theory of Dionysianism, which traces the roots of literary art in general and the art of tragedy in particular to ancient Dionysian mysteries. His views were expressed in the treatises The Hellenic Religion of the Suffering God (1904), ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Modern interpretations

The legend goes that Zeus took the infant Dionysus and gave him in charge to the rain-nymphs of Nysa, who nourished his infancy and childhood, and for their care Zeus rewarded them by placing them as the Hyades among the stars (see Hyades star cluster). Alternatively, he was raised by Maro. When Dionysus grew up he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice; but Hera struck him with madness, and drove him forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth. In Phrygia the goddess Cybele, better kn ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Childhood

Dionysus had an unusual birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was Semele (daughter of Cadmus), a mortal woman, and his father Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus's wife, Hera, a jealous and vain goddess, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant. Appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her husband was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in al ...

See also:

Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Birth

Once, Dionysus found his old school master and foster father, Silenus, missing. The old man had been drinking, and had wandered away drunk, and was found by some peasants, who carried him to their king, Midas (alternatively, he passed out in Midas' rose garden). Midas recognized him, and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with politeness, while Silenus entertained Midas and his friends with stories and songs. On the eleventh day he brought Silenus back to Dionysus. Dionysus offered Midas his choice of whatever r ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Midas

When Hephaestus bound Hera to a magical chair, Dionysus got him drunk and brought him back to Olympus after he had passed out. For this act, he was made one of the twelve Olympians. Acis, a Sicilian youth, was sometimes said to be Bacchus' son. A satyr named Ampelos was a good friend of Bacchus. Callirhoe was a Calydonian woman who scorned a priest of Dionysus who threatened to inflict all the women of Calydon with insanity (see Maenad). The priest was ordered to sacrifice Callirhoe but he killed himself instead. Callirhoe thre ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Other stories

Modern Neopagans view Dionysus in different lights, depending largely on the individual sects and the other gods worshipped by a sect. Dionysus is often seen as the god of Earthly Delights and is thought to play a role in euphoria. In the United States, some Hellenistic Neopagan sects forbid the worship of Dionysus, because Dionysus worship is associated with hedonism. Sects which worship Hera and Themis in particular may forbid Dionysus worship. However, there are sects that make Dionysus a central figure of their faith ...

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Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism

It is possible that Dionysian mythology would later find its way into Christianity. There are many parallels between the legends of Dionysus and Jesus; both were said to have been born from a mortal woman but fathered by a god, to have returned from the dead, and to have transformed water into wine. The modern scholar Barry Powell also argues that Christian notions of eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Jesus in order for individual followers to feel Jesus within them was influenced by the cult of Dionysus. Certainly the Dionysus myth ...

See also:

Dionysus, Dionysus - Worship, Dionysus - Bacchanalia, Dionysus - Appellations, Dionysus - Birth, Dionysus - Childhood, Dionysus - Midas, Dionysus - Other stories, Dionysus - Consorts/Children, Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity, Dionysus - Modern interpretations, Dionysus - Dionysus in Neopaganism, Dionysus - names with the origin Dionysus, Dionysus - Bibliography

Read more here: » Dionysus: Encyclopedia II - Dionysus - Parallels with Christianity

The Dionysia was originally a rural festival in Attica (Dionysia ta kat' agrous), probably celebrating the cultivation of vines. It was probably a very ancient festival perhaps not originally associated with Dionysus. This "rural Dionysia" was held during the winter in the month of Poseideon (roughly corresponding to December). The central event was the pompe, the procession, in which phalloi were carried by phallophoroi. Also participating in the pompe were kanephoroi (young girls carrying baskets), ...

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Dionysia, Dionysia - Rural Dionysia, Dionysia - City Dionysia, Dionysia - Origins, Dionysia - Pompe and Proagon, Dionysia - Dramatic performances, Dionysia - Significance, Dionysia - Notable winners of the City Dionysia, Dionysia - Tragedy, Dionysia - Comedy, Dionysia - Sources

Read more here: » Dionysia: Encyclopedia II - Dionysia - Rural Dionysia