What is Bacchic frenzy? When a conflict between the sexes arises, the women immediately take the upper hand, asserting their dominance despite the traditional passive role of the Greek woman. In their frenzy, they become violent and destructive, as if they were men at war.
Full Answer
What is a Dionysian frenzy?
DIONYSIAC FRENZY. The greatest extant literary work centered on Dionysus, Euripides' Bacchae, evokes and clarifies the primordial qual- ities of the god, especially the frenzy that characterizes him and his worshipers.
What is a Bacchic celebration?
Bacchanalian is used to describe any event that Bacchus would have enjoyed. The Romans celebrated Bacchus with wine, songs, dances and more wine — not the kind of behavior you would expect from self-respecting adults (and probably not the kind of thing they would tell their kids about).
Who is Semele's dad?
Semele (/ˈsɛmɪli/; Ancient Greek: Σεμέλη Semelē), in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.
Is Semele the goddess?
SEMELE THYONE was the mother of Dionysos and the goddess of the Bacchic frenzy which seized female devotees of the god during the Orgies. Thyone's mortal name was Semele. She was a Theban princess loved by the god Zeus.
What happens during a bacchanal?
The nocturnal version of the Bacchanalia involved wine-drinking to excess, drunkenness and the free mingling of the sexes and classes; the rites also involved loud music.
Who created the bacchanal?
P.P. Rubens created The Bacchanal (fig. 4) with a very unflattering image of the debauched Silenus and his consorts.
Who was the ugliest god?
Facts about Hephaestus Hephaestus was the only ugly god among perfectly beautiful immortals. Hephaestus was born deformed and was cast out of heaven by one or both of his parents when they noticed that he was imperfect. He was the workman of the immortals: he made their dwellings, furnishings, and weapons.
Is silenus a Satyr?
The occurrence of two different names for the creatures has been explained by two rival theories: that Silenus was the Asian Greek and Satyr the mainland name for the same mythical being; or that the Sileni were part horse and the Satyrs part goat.
Who put Zeus in his thigh?
SemeleZeus had already promised to grant Semele her every wish and thus was forced to grant a wish that would kill her: the splendour of his firebolts, as god of thunder, destroyed Semele. Zeus saved their unborn child, Dionysus, from the womb and kept him in his thigh until the baby was ready to be born.
How did Zeus seduce Semele?
Zeus fell in love with Semele while watching her sacrifice a bull on his altar and visited her many times afterwards. When Semele became pregnant, Hera found out and jealous of her husband's affair, set out a plan to punish Semele.
Why did Athena destroy Arachne's tapestry?
The transformation into a spider That, however, was not enough to calm down Athena who was incensed by Arachne's humiliating portrayal of the gods. At last, Athena destroyed in anger Arachne's tapestry and loom. Arachne, like many other foolish mortals, had dared to question the supremacy of the gods.
What were the two births of the god Dionysus?
Dimetor Διμήτωρ ("twice-born") Refers to Dionysus's two births. Dendrites Δενδρίτης ("he of the trees"), as a fertility god. Dithyrambos, Διθύραμβος used at his festivals, referring to his premature birth. Eleutherios Ἐλευθέριος ("the liberator"), an epithet shared with Eros.
FAMILY OF SEMELE THYONE
KADMOS & HARMONIA (Hesiod Theogony 940, Pindar Dithyrambs, Pindar Pythian 3, Apollodorus 3.25, Pausanias 9.5.2, Diodorus Siculus 4.2.1, Hyginus Fabulae 179, Nonnus Dionysiaca, et al)
ENCYCLOPEDIA
THYO′NE (Thuônê), the name of Semele, under which Dionysus fetched her from Hades, and introduced her among the immortals. (Hom. Hymn. v. 21; Apollod. iii. 5. § 3; Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 23; Pind. Pyth. iii. 99; Diod. Sic. iv. 25; Apollon. Rhod. i. 636.)
CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES
Pindar, Dithyrambs Heracles the Bold (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Kadmos (Cadmus) by high design won sage Harmonia, as his wedded wife, who obeyed the voice of Zeus, and became the mother of Semele famed among men."
What is the meaning of the Bacchanalia?
For the painting, see Bacchanalia (painting). The Bacchanalia (or Bacchanal / Carnival) were Roman festivals of Bacchus based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia. They seem to have been popular and well-organised throughout the central and southern Italian peninsula. They were almost certainly associated with Rome's native cult ...
Where did the Bacchanals originate?
Despite their official suppression, illicit Bacchanals persisted covertly for many years, particularly in Southern Italy, their likely place of origin. The reformed, officially approved Bacchic cults would have borne little resemblance to the earlier crowded, ecstatic and uninhibited Bacchanalia.
What was the second Bacchanalia scandal?
The second belonging to the sexual frenzy and unpolitical cult, which focuses on the release of the sexual tension among people to appease their desires to feel connected to Bacchus.
What is the Bacchanalia cult?
Like all mystery cults, the Bacchanalia were held in strict privacy, and initiates were bound to secrecy; what little is known of the cult and its rites derives from Greek and Roman literature, plays, statuary and paintings.
What era was Bacchus in?
Bacchus, Liber and Dionysus became virtually interchangeable from the late Republican era ( 133 BC and onward ), and their mystery cults persisted well into the Principate of Roman Imperial era .
What was Livy's account of the Bacchanalia?
Livy's account of the Bacchanalia has been described as "tendentious to say the least". As a political and social conservative, he had a deep mistrust of mystery religions, and probably understood any form of Bacchanalia as a sign of Roman degeneracy.
What was the Senate's intervention with the Bacchanalia?
The senatorial intervention with the Bacchanalia had nothing to do with the deity Bacchus, as they were accepting of all religions. However, the Senate was under the impression that initiates of the Bacchanalia weren't just bringing praise to the god, but planning a revolt against the Senate.
