Editing Dionysus (section)

===Captivity and escape===
[[File:Neptune et les pirates.jpg|thumb|right|North African Roman mosaic: Panther-Dionysus scatters the pirates, who are changed to dolphins, except for [[Acoetes (Bacchic myth)|Acoetes]], the helmsman; second century AD ([[Bardo National Museum (Tunis)|Bardo National Museum]])]]
The [[Homeric hymns|''Homeric Hymn 7 to Dionysus'']] recounts how, while he sat on the seashore, some sailors spotted him, believing him a prince. They attempted to kidnap him and sail away to sell him for ransom or into slavery. No rope would bind him. The god turned into a fierce lion and unleashed a bear on board, killing all in his path. Those who jumped ship were mercifully turned into dolphins. The only survivor was the helmsman, [[Acoetes (Bacchic myth)|Acoetes]], who recognized the god and tried to stop his sailors from the start.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/DionysosWrath.html#Tyrrhenian |title=Theoi.com" Homeric Hymn to Dionysus |publisher=Theoi.com |access-date=29 June 2014}}</ref>

In a similar story, Dionysus hired a [[Tyrrhenians|Tyrrhenian]] pirate ship to sail from [[Icaria]] to [[Naxos (island)|Naxos]]. When he was aboard, they sailed not to Naxos but to Asia, intending to sell him as a slave. This time the god turned the mast and oars into snakes, and filled the vessel with ivy and the sound of flutes so that the sailors went mad and, leaping into the sea, were turned into dolphins. In [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]],'' Bacchus begins this story as a young child found by the pirates but transforms to a divine adult when on board.

Many of the myths involve Dionysus defending his godhead against skeptics. Malcolm Bull notes that "It is a measure of Bacchus's ambiguous position in classical mythology that he, unlike the other Olympians, had to use a boat to travel to and from the islands with which he is associated".<ref>Bull, 245–247, 247 quoted</ref> Paola Corrente notes that in many sources, the incident with the pirates happens towards the end of Dionysus' time among mortals. In that sense, it serves as final proof of his divinity and is often followed by his descent into Hades to retrieve his mother, both of whom can then ascend into heaven to live alongside the other Olympian gods.<ref name="corrente2012" />