Editing Semele (section)

== Mythology ==
[[File:Sebastiano Ricci - Dionysus (1695).jpg|thumb|left|240px|''Jove and Semele'' (1695) by [[Sebastiano Ricci]]. Galleria degli Uffizi. Florence]]

=== Seduction by Zeus and birth of Dionysus ===
In one version of the myth, Semele was a priestess of Zeus, and on one occasion was observed by Zeus as she slaughtered a bull at his altar and afterwards swam in the river [[Asopus]] to cleanse herself of the blood. Flying over the scene in the guise of an eagle, Zeus fell in love with Semele and repeatedly visited her secretly.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' 7.110-8.177 {{Harv|Dalby|2005|pp=19–27, 150}}</ref>

Zeus's wife, [[Hera]], a goddess jealous of usurpers, discovered his affair with Semele when she later became pregnant. Appearing as an old [[crone]],<ref>Or in the guise of Semele's nurse, Beroë, in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' III.256ff and [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]''167.</ref> Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her lover was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele asked Zeus to grant her a boon. Zeus, eager to please his beloved, promised on the [[River Styx]] to grant her anything she wanted. She then demanded that Zeus reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his divinity. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he was forced by his oath to comply. Zeus tried to spare her by showing her the smallest of his bolts and the sparsest thunderstorm clouds he could find. Mortals, however, cannot look upon the gods without incinerating, and she perished, consumed in a lightning-ignited flame.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' III.308–312; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 179; Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 8.178-406</ref>

Zeus rescued the fetal [[Dionysus]], however, by sewing him into his thigh (whence the [[epithet]] Eiraphiotes, 'insewn', of the [[Homeric Hymn]]). A few months later, Dionysus was born. This leads to his being called "the twice-born".<ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' 3.4.3; [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 4.1137; [[Lucian]], ''Dialogues of the Gods'' 9; compare the birth of [[Asclepius]], taken from [[Coronis (mythology)|Coronis]] on her funeral pyre (noted by L. Preller, ''Theogonie und Goetter'', vol I of ''Griechische Mythologie'' 1894:661).</ref>

When he grew up, Dionysus rescued his mother from [[Hades]],<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Astronomy'' 2.5; [[Arnobius]], ''Against the Gentiles'' 5.28 {{Harv|Dalby|2005|pp=108–117}}</ref> and she became a goddess on [[Mount Olympus (Mountain)|Mount Olympus]], with the new name ''Thyone'', presiding over the frenzy inspired by her son Dionysus.<ref>Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 8.407-418</ref> At a later point in the epic ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', Semele, now resurrected, boasts to her sister Ino how Cronida ('Kronos's son', that is, Zeus), "the plower of her field", carried on the gestation of Dionysus and now her son gets to join the heavenly deities in Olympus, while Ino languishes with a murderous husband (since Athamas tried to kill Ino and her son), and a son that lives with maritime deities.<ref>Verhelst, Berenice. ''Direct Speech in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca''. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill. 2017. pp. 268-270. {{ISBN|978-90-04-33465-6}}</ref>

===Impregnation by Zeus===
[[File:Zeus, Semele und Hera. Flämisch, 3. Viertel 17. Jahrhundert (Erasmus Quellinus II oder Jan Erasmus Quellinus).jpg|thumb|right|300px|Zeus, Semele und Hera. 17th century (Erasmus Quellinus II or Jan Erasmus Quellinus)]]
There is a story in the ''Fabulae'' 167 of [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], or a later author whose work has been attributed to Hyginus. In this, Dionysus (called Liber) is the son of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and [[Proserpina]], and was killed by the [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]]s.  Jupiter gave his torn up heart in a drink to Semele, who became pregnant this way.  But in another account, Zeus swallows the heart himself, in order to beget his seed on Semele.  Hera then convinces Semele to ask Zeus to come to her as a god, and on doing so she dies, and Zeus seals the unborn baby up in his thigh.<ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae4.html#167 ''Fabulae'' 167.1]</ref>
As a result of this Dionysus "was also called Dimetor [of two mothers]&nbsp;... because the two ''Dionysoi'' were born of one father, but of two mothers"<ref>([[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Library of History'' 4. 4. 5, quoted in the  [http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Zagreus.html Theoi.com] collection of Zagreus sources])</ref>

Still another variant of the narrative is found in [[Callimachus]]<ref>Callimachus, Fragments, in the etymol. ζαγρεὺς, ''Zagreos''; see [[Karl Otfried Müller]], John Leitch, ''Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology'' (1844), p.319, n.5</ref> and the 5th century CE Greek writer [[Nonnus]].<ref>Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 24. 43 ff'' — translation in [http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Zagreus.html Zagreus]</ref> In this version, the first Dionysus is called [[Zagreus]]. Nonnus does not present the conception as virginal; rather, the editor's notes say that Zeus swallowed Zagreus' heart, and visited the mortal woman Semele, whom he seduced and made pregnant. Nonnus classifies Zeus's affair with Semele as one in a set of twelve, the other eleven women on whom he begot children being [[Io (mythology)|Io]], [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]], [[Pluto (mother of Tantalus)|Pluto]], [[Danaë]], Aigina, [[Antiope (mother of Amphion)|Antiope]], [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]], [[Dia (mythology)|Dia]], [[Alcmene]], Laodameia, the mother of [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]], and [[Olympias]].<ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Text/NonnusDionysiaca7.html Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 7.110–128]</ref>