Bacchae, Euripides

Dionysus
1. Birth

• Son of Semele (half goddess; daughter of Harmony) and Zeus

• Born in Thebes yet came to Greece as a foreigner from Phrygia, Persia
• Humans confused Dionysus’ etymology by creating a story in which he was sewn
into Zeus’s thigh since the god was once hostage to Hera (237-9)
▪ However, in truth, Zeus simply handed Hera a portion of the ether
(bright, shining matter surrounding the air of the atmosphere) which he
had sculpted to appear solid.
• Could be suggested that from his birth, Dionysus was in disguised

2. Contradicting personality correlates with his ambiguous and deceitful

nature
• Quote to represent claim: 'most terrifying and most gentle to
mortals'

Depicted in a Positive Light

• "Mortal" and Greek

• Born in Thebes
• Major role in play which is uncommon in Euripides’ narrations where the divine only
delivers the prologue
• Calls himself a “moral man” on multiple occasions

• Gentle
• Solider depicts the stranger as gentle (glimpse of Dionysus' illusionary supernatural
powers)
• Wears a mask which portrays a serene smile
• Lightness in tone and temper (usage of a poetic diction due to his use of verbal irony
and riddles)
• The Chorus praises Dionysus for his modesty, reverence and pleasure for wine and
peace

• Male with feminine features

• Long blond locks (correlation with animal ritual)
• Effeminate beauty
• Link with his Persian features
 • Allusions to other “good” gods (Eastern fertility divinities)
• Mother Rhea: Zeus’ mother, linked with the Cybele (Asiatic goddess) and both are
worshipped as earth goddesses
• “Great mother Cybele”: Persian mother-goddess embodying fertility of the earth
(compared with Demeter)
• Demeter: represents fertility and bounty of the earth
• Corybants are spirits of nature associated with Cybele and Dionysus and in the play
they’re identified as Curetes (minor divinities which played music at Zeus’ birth)
• Frenzied satyrs: traditional companions of Dionysus and associated with sexual
freedom, wine, music, and ecstatic dances
• Actaeon: Artemis (goddess of hunting) turned Actaeon (symbol: hunting) into a stag and
was later torn apart by his hounds on Mount Cithaeron. Euripides adapts Actaeon’s story
by blaming his nemesis and arrogance for his death.
• Aphrodite and Desire (Aphrodite's son) to a certain extent
• Graces (goddess of art, nature, and beauty) long associated with Dionysus
• Tiresias compares Apollo’ prophetic gifts with Dionysus's “makes those who are
possessed tell the future” (242)

• Symbolisms of nature and fertility

• The thyrsus: fennel staff with ivy leaves pressed into its hollow end.
o Not sharpened yet was used as a form of weapon by maenads
o “Spear of ivy” poetic phrase with perhaps an ominous meaning behind it
• “Staff of wildness” although wildness and holiness seem to juxtapose each other, their
combination perfectly expresses Dionysus’s worship
• Earth responds to Dionysus’ fertile magic, flowing with milk, wine, and honey +
consumption of raw meat by bacchants

Depicted in a Negative Light

• Severely condemns punishments: Transgressions punished with proportional violence.
• “Yes, for I am god, and I was insulted by you”.
The divine power surpasses that of human beings and so does their anger.
o Disregard for divine power could not be tolerated and Greek audiences would
not expect Dionysus to be merciful when treated with contempt (+ perhaps
mention that the gods are slow in their moves, yet their punishments are
inevitable)
• Use of divine mockery with Pentheus

• Foreign
• Wears exotic Persian clothing + dresses his people in fawnskin
o Greek stereotypes view Persians as uncivilized, effeminate, and rather
ridiculous which is clearly displayed in Dionysus' appearance.
• “Garlands of snakes” The reason that the maenads entwine snakes in their hair derives
from the fact that Zeus “crowd [his] child with garlands of snakes”
• Named “a stranger” throughout the play: his acts and ideas are alien, shocking and often
inexplicable to the other humans around him
 o exacerbates his tyrannical behavior
• Campaigns for traditional core Greek values to emphasize the authority of the divine yet
Dionysiac worship is a fairly new concept

• Allusions to gods who hold great power

• Ares who's known for his terror and ability to “scatter an army even when it is fully armed
and arrayed for battle before anyone touches a spear” (243) parallel with Dionysus'
control over maenads
• Athene tricks Ajax into impotent madness
• Additionally, mention that he's a ssociated with the bull (dominant animal incarnation)

• Dionysus' grim actions

• Lycurgus, who refused to worship Dionysus, was sent into madness, killed his son and
finally was punished by his own people
• Orpheus (who was half-mad with grief due to his wife's death) was mistaken as an
enemy by Dionysus, who at the time was possessing a band of bacchants

Paradoxical behavior

• the despair and tragic events seem all the darker because of the recurring theme of
joyful and lyrical dialogue that has preceded it
• Throughout the play, Dionysus promises joy will yet at the end produces only suffering
and horror

3. Religious authority vs political power

Negative side of Dionysus' worship

• Reinstates the chorus

• Mount Cithaeron is the location of Bacchants worship and is the location of many
tragic myths (Oedipus’ abandonment and the scene of Actaeon’s death)
▪ Foreshadows climactic event/sheds negative light on Dionysian
worship
• Bacchants underline the uncertain tension between human reason and order with
the potential for destruction, violence, and madness in civilization

• Profoundly disrupts the polis’s social structure

• Earthquake at the palace is a turning point as it symbolizes the change in power
• Chorus destroying the city’s agricultural life and community

Pentheus represents Sophist ideals by challenging Dionysus

(I was too lazy to write a whole ass paragraph on this)