Hearing this name, we seem to see a bunch of grapes, a river of young wine, we hear the sounds of universal fun. The dark side of the Greek god is usually rarely made public.
Until recently, it was believed that the cult of Dionysus originated in Thrace - in the Balkan Mountains, on the border of what is now Greece and Bulgaria. Recent studies have shown that he was worshiped throughout Greece from time immemorial, even before the arrival of the Ionian tribes. Bacchus-Dionysus is older than all the Olympic gods combined.
He was originally considered the god of the productive force of nature, and winemaking was just one of his attributes. In the most ancient images - Bacchus with a bull's head and the body of a beautiful youth. A horned tiara adorned the heads of Mediterranean rulers. This is also worn by the popes today.
Another symbol of Dionysus was the mask. Putting it on, the priest became a living Dionysus - the head and manager of the bacchanalia. Archaeologists have discovered huge masks, sometimes as tall as a person. Twined with ivy and hops, they were central objects of worship, unlike the cold marble statues of other Olympian gods. Historians believe that the masked Mysteries of Dionysus served as a prototype for Greek theater and modern masquerades.
In the classical era of Greek poets and philosophers, when myths were perceived more like a fairy tale, Bacchus returned. Terrible and unbearably beautiful, sometimes surrounded by silent silence, sometimes accompanied by a wild roar.
Enlightened Greece, which had forgotten about the gods, shuddered, realizing that the divine was near. That it can penetrate into every city, into every house, shake off the dream of everyday life and whirl in a frantic round dance that does not know decency.
At the call of the mad god, exemplary wives and loving mothers abandoned their children and rushed into the wild forests and mountains, where they indulged in dances and frenzied orgies for weeks. The Bacchae ate the raw meat of the captured animals. They could have killed a person who inadvertently got in the way. Greek historians describe cases when maenads possessed by Dionysus tore their own children apart or kill their husbands. The cult of Bacchus-Dionysus was dangerous and was banned in Greek cities.
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… But what does the human prohibition mean for the great god?
Bacchanals and festivals dedicated to Dionysus lasted until the 5th century AD. e., when they were swept away by the advancing Christianity. The new god has won, but Dionysus comes back again and again. We see his presence in medieval witches' sabbaths and in the orgy of a modern nightclub.
Think of Dionysus as you pour yourself a glass of wine. He's somewhere near.
Mikhail Zharovsky, religious scholar