| Names: | Dionysus; Bacchus; Iacchos; Zagreus; Dithyrambos; Bromius (Thunderous); Lyaeus (Releasing); Lat. Liber (Free). |
| Epithets: | Eleutherios (Liberating); Twice-Born; Ivy-Curled; Melanaigis
(Black Goat); Bull;
Omophagos (Raw-Eater). |
| Powers: | Collective ecstasy (enthousiasmos); illusion; freedom. Can not be chained or confined. Mystery passions: persecution and rejection; death and rebirth; triumph and epiphany. |
| Attributes and symbols: | Thyrsus (long pine-coned staff); ivy, vine and grapes; long garments;
leopard pelt
mantle; tympanum; flutes; snakes; panther; lion; bull; ship & dolphins; wild hunt (Agrionia); sparagmos and omophagy. |
| Gifts to mortals: | Vine cultivating and wine-making; theater (Greek amphitheater
is a temple of
Dionysus.) Orphic mysteries of death & rebirth. |
| Origin: | Son of Zeus from Semele, who was incinerated by lightnings. Zeus had the fetus sewn in his thigh, carried it to term and gave birth to Dionysus from his thigh. |
| Loves: | Ariadne, et al. |
| Spouse: | Ariadne. |
| Children: | Deianeira (wife of Heracles), et al. |
| Chosen people/ places: | Brought his rites from Asia; traveled from India to Egypt. Native of Thebes, had suffered rejection in his own city before it became the center of his rites. Orpheus is regarded as the Dionysiac mystagogue (Orphism). |
| Pageant: | Procession of Bacchants (Bacchanal); Maenads (=Bacchae); satyrs; papa-Silenus. |
| Allies/ favorites: | Demeter and Kore; Cybele; Papa-Silenus. Taught cultivation of vine to Icarius and his daughter Erigone in Atica. Returned a favor by granting a wish to Phrygian king Midas. |
| Adversaries: | Pirates, Licurgus; Minyas; Pentheus, et al. |
| Victims: | Orpheus; Pentheus (torn apart by the crowd of bacchant women); family of Licurgus; daughters of Minyas (driven insane), sea pirates (turned into dolphins), et al. |
| Notes: | Savior-god. Rose his mother Semele from her grave and took her
to Olympus.
Married Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos. Together with Apollo, represents the essence of tragedy (tragodia: goat-song). |