The Bacchae Questions

By Euripides

Name:___Andrew Vessel ___________________

1. What is the location of the opening scene?...place /time

The scene opens with Dionysus on Mt. Cithaeron in the 4th Century BCE.

2. Who are the following characters?

Pentheus is the young king of Thebes and the son of Agaue. He is also the cousin
of Dionysus.

Cadmus is the former King of Thebes and the father of Semele and Agaue, which
makes him the grandfather of Pentheus and Dionysus.

Semele is the daughter of Cadmus, the sister of Agaue, the mother of Dionysus,
and died at the hands of Zeus.

3. Why has Dionysus come back home?

He has returned home to demand that Pentheus worship him as a God.

4. Who doesnt believe he is a real god?

Pentheus believes that Dionysus birth is not that of esteem, which is not the
manner in which gods are born.

5. What is Dionysus plan for those who do not believe in him?

Dionysus entices Pentheus to his death by offering to show him what occurs on Mt.
Cithaeron. There, he will let his followers destroy Pentheus.

6. How does he plan to accomplish his goal?

He tricks Pentheus into dressing like a woman and spying on the possessed
maenads on Mt. Cithaeron. There, they will destroy and sever Pentheus.

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7. What do the followers of Dionysus need to do in order to worship him?

The followers must revel in orgiastic celebrations on top of Mt. Cithaeron.

8. Who is Tiresias?...What are he and Cadmus planning to do?

Tiresias is the blind soothsayer and he and Cadmus plan to dress in fawn skins and
worship Dionysus on Mt. Cithaeron.

9. Pentheus is upset at the sorcerer with golden curlswho is always surrounded

by womenwho is he referring to and what does Pentheus plan to do to him?

Pentheus is referring to Dionysus and plans to cut his locks, destroy his belongings
and lock him up.

10. While imprisoned, what does Dionysus warn Pentheus will happen if he does
not listen?

Dionysus warns Pentheus that no matter how much he tries, gods will always
prevail. If he does not listen, Pentheus will face his downfall.

What is Pentheus response?

Pentheus ignores the warning and locks up Pentheus anyway.

11. How does Dionysus trick Pentheus and then escape?

Dionysus tricks Pentheus into locking up a bull instead of him and escapes while
Pentheus imagines an earthquake occurring.

12. As Pentheus then pursues Dionysus, he is met by whom?

What is the scene that he sees on Mt. Cithaeron?

Pentheus is met by a shepherd, who sees Pentheus mother and her sisters napping
in a field on Mt. Cithaeron. They wake up and notice the shepherds and go after

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them. The shepherds, however, are saved by the cattle between them and the
women. The women destroy and tear the cattle to shreds.

13. What does Dionysus warn Pentheus not to do?

Dionysus warns Pentheus not to go up Mt. Cithaeron and spy on the Bacchants.

14. Pentheus, blind to his errors, is convinced he needs to spy on the Bacchants
How does he disguise himself?

Pentheus disguises himself as a woman, a fellow Bacchant.

15. Pentheus fatal outcome is revealed by the messenger. What happens to him?

Pentheus ends up being destroyed by his own mother, who believed she was
killing a mountain lion, a prize she was proud of hunting down. As she comes to a
sober state, Agaue realizes her fatal mistake and is abhorred with her actions.