Editing Dionysus (section)

==Iconography and depictions==
===Symbols===
[[File:Dioniso seduto, officina neoattica, I sec dc, 6728.JPG|thumb|right|Ancient Roman relief in the Museo Archeologico (Naples) depicting Dionysus holding a thyrsus and receiving a libation, wearing an ivy wreath, and attended by a panther]]
[[File:Dionysos panther Louvre K240.jpg|thumb|right|Dionysus on a [[Panther (legendary creature)|panther]]'s back; on the left, a [[papposilenus]] holding a tambourine. Side A from a red-figure bell-shaped crater, c. 370 BC.]]
The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a mature male, bearded and robed. He holds a [[Ferula|fennel]] staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a ''[[thyrsus]]''. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth: the literature describes him as womanly or "man-womanish".<ref>{{cite book |last=Otto |first=Walter F. |title=Dionysus Myth and Cult |year=1995 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-20891-2 }}</ref> In its fully developed form, his central cult imagery shows his triumphant, disorderly arrival or return, as if from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilized. His procession ''([[thiasus]])'' is made up of wild female followers ([[maenads]]) and bearded [[satyrs]] with [[ithyphallic|erect penises]]; some are armed with the ''thyrsus'', some dance or play music. The god himself is drawn in a chariot, usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers, and is sometimes attended by a bearded, drunken [[Silenus]]. This procession is presumed to be the cult model for the followers of his [[Dionysian Mysteries]]. Dionysus is represented by city religions as the protector of those who do not belong to conventional society and he thus symbolizes the chaotic, dangerous and unexpected, everything which escapes human reason and which can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods.<ref>{{cite book|title=Gods of Love and Ecstasy|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QDQK7l13WIIC&pg=PA15|first= Alain |last = Daniélou |page =15|publisher = Inner Traditions|location = Rochester, Vermont|date = 1992|isbn = 9780892813742}}</ref>

Dionysus was a god of resurrection and he was strongly linked to the [[Bull (mythology)|bull]]. In a cult hymn from [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], at a festival for Hera, Dionysus is invited to come as a bull; "with bull-foot raging". [[Walter Burkert]] relates, "Quite frequently [Dionysus] is portrayed with bull horns, and in [[Kyzikos]] he has a tauromorphic image", and refers also to an archaic myth in which Dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and impiously eaten by the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]].<ref>Burkert, p. 64.</ref>

[[File:Temple Dionysus Delos Stoivadeion 130086.jpg|thumb|left|220px|A sculpted phallus at the entrance of the temple of Dionysus in [[Delos]], Greece]]
The snake and [[phallus]] were symbols of Dionysus in ancient Greece, and of Bacchus in Greece and Rome.<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Charlesworth|title=The Good And Evil Serpent: How a Universal Symbol Became Christianized|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cJlmWuXCCecC&pg=PA222 |year=2010|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-14273-0|pages=222–223}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Walter Friedrich|last1=Otto|first2=Robert B.|last2=Palmer|title=Dionysus: Myth and Cult|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCDvuoZ8IzsC&pg=PA164 |year=1965|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20891-0|pages=164–166}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Leo|last=Steinberg|title=The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5DeBQAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-22631-6|pages=47, 83 with footnotes}}</ref> There is a procession called the ''phallophoria'', in which villagers would parade through the streets carrying phallic images or pulling phallic representations on carts. He typically wears a panther or leopard skin and carries a thyrsus. His iconography sometimes includes [[maenad]]s, who wear wreaths of ivy and serpents around their hair or neck.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jennifer R.|last=March|title=Dictionary of Classical Mythology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v5jwAwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Oxbow|isbn=978-1-78297-635-6|pages=164, 296}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Csapo |first=Eric |title=Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual, and Gender-Role De/Construction |journal=Phoenix |volume=51 |issue=3/4 |year=1997 |pages= 256–257, 253–295 |doi=10.2307/1192539 |jstor=1192539 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Dietrich |first=B. C. |title=Dionysus Liknites |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=8 |issue=3–4 |year=1958 |pages=244–248 |doi=10.1017/S000983880002190X |s2cid=246876495 }}</ref>

The cult of Dionysus was closely associated with trees, specifically the [[fig tree]], and some of his [[Epithet|bynames]] exhibit this, such as {{lang|grc-Latn|Endendros}} "he in the tree" or {{lang|grc-Latn|Dendritēs}}, "he of the tree". Peters suggests the original meaning as "he who runs among the trees", or that of a "runner in the woods". Janda (2010) accepts the etymology but proposes the more cosmological interpretation of "he who impels the (world-)tree". This interpretation explains how ''Nysa'' could have been re-interpreted from a meaning of "tree" to the name of a mountain: the [[axis mundi]] of [[Indo-European mythology]] is represented both as a [[world-tree]] and as a [[world-mountain]].<ref>see Janda (2010), 16–44 for a detailed account.</ref>

Dionysus is also closely associated with the transition between summer and autumn. In the Mediterranean summer, marked by the rising of the dog star [[Sirius]], the weather becomes extremely hot, but it is also a time when the promise of coming harvests grow. Late summer, when [[Orion (constellation)|Orion]] is at the center of the sky, was the time of the grape harvest in ancient Greece. Plato describes the gifts of this season as the fruit that is harvested as well as Dionysian joy. Pindar describes the "pure light of high summer" as closely associated with Dionysus and possibly even an embodiment of the god himself. An image of Dionysus' birth from Zeus' thigh calls him "the light of Zeus" (''Dios phos'') and associates him with the light of Sirius.<ref name=Kerenyi/>

===Classical art===
[[File:Table support with a Dionysiac group (AD 170-180) (3470740119).jpg|thumb|left|Marble table support adorned by a group including [[Dionysos]], [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]] and a [[Satyr]]; Dionysos holds a [[rhyton]] (drinking vessel) in the shape of a panther; traces of [[Red hair|red]] and [[Blond|yellow colour]] are preserved on [[Hair color|the hair]] of the figures and the branches; from an [[Asia Minor]] workshop, 170–180 AD, [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]], Greece]]
[[File:Antakya Archaeology Museum Drunken Dionysus mosaic in 2008 0009.jpg|thumb|Mosaic of Dionysus, 4th century.]]
[[File:10 2023 - Terme (Baths of) Caracalla, Arte Romana, Viale Guido Baccelli, Rome, Roma, Lazio, 00154, Italy - Photo Paolo Villa - FO232114 correzioni gimp - Domus Arte Romana - pitture parietali.jpg|thumb|Fresco of Dionysus from triclinium ceiling of home incorporated into Baths of Caracalla (Rome)]]
The god, and still more often his followers, were commonly depicted in the painted [[pottery of Ancient Greece]], much of which made to hold wine. But, apart from some [[relief]]s of [[maenad]]s, Dionysian subjects rarely appeared in large sculpture before the Hellenistic period, when they became common.<ref>Smith 1991, 127–129</ref> In these, the treatment of the god himself ranged from severe archaising or [[Neo Attic]] types such as the [[Dionysus Sardanapalus]] to types showing him as an indolent and androgynous young man, often [[nude]].<ref>as in the [[:File:Dionysus and Eros.jpg|Dionysus and Eros]], [[Naples National Archaeological Museum|Naples Archeological Museum]]</ref> ''[[Hermes and the Infant Dionysus]]'' is probably a Greek original in marble, and the [[Ludovisi Dionysus]] group is probably a Roman original of the second century AD. Well-known [[Hellenistic sculpture]]s of Dionysian subjects, surviving in Roman copies, include the [[Barberini Faun]], the [[Belvedere Torso]], the ''[[Resting Satyr]]''. The [[Furietti Centaurs]] and ''[[Sleeping Hermaphroditus]]'' reflect related subjects, which had by this time become drawn into the Dionysian orbit.<ref>Smith 1991, 127–154</ref> The marble [[Dancer of Pergamon]] is an original, as is the bronze [[Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo]], a recent recovery from the sea.

The Dionysian world by the Hellenistic period is a hedonistic but safe [[pastoral]] into which other semi-divine creatures of the countryside have been co-opted, such as [[centaur]]s, [[nymph]]s, and the gods [[Pan (god)|Pan]] and [[Hermaphroditus|Hermaphrodite]].<ref>Smith 1991, 127, 131, 133</ref> "Nymph" by this stage "means simply an ideal female of the Dionysian outdoors, a non-wild bacchant".<ref>Smith 1991, 130</ref> Hellenistic sculpture also includes for the first time large genre subjects of children and peasants, many of whom carry Dionysian attributes such as ivy wreaths, and "most should be seen as part of his realm. They have in common with satyrs and nymphs that they are creatures of the outdoors and are without true personal identity."<ref>Smith 1991, 136</ref> The fourth-century BC [[Derveni Krater]], the unique survival of a very large scale Classical or Hellenistic metal vessel of top quality, depicts Dionysus and his followers.

Dionysus appealed to the Hellenistic monarchies for a number of reasons, apart from merely being a god of pleasure: He was a human who became divine, he came from, and had conquered, the East, exemplified a lifestyle of display and magnificence with his mortal followers, and was often regarded as an ancestor.<ref>Smith 1991, 127</ref> He continued to appeal to the rich of Imperial Rome, who populated their gardens with Dionysian sculpture, and by the second century AD were often buried in [[sarcophagi]] carved with crowded scenes of Bacchus and his entourage.<ref>Smith 1991, 128</ref>

The fourth-century AD [[Lycurgus Cup]] in the [[British Museum]] is a spectacular [[cage cup]] which changes colour when light comes through the glass; it shows the bound King [[Lycurgus (Thrace)|Lycurgus]] being taunted by the god and attacked by a satyr; this may have been used for celebration of Dionysian mysteries. Elizabeth Kessler has theorized that a mosaic appearing on the [[triclinium]] floor of the House of Aion in [[Nea Paphos]], Cyprus, details a monotheistic worship of Dionysus.<ref>Kessler, E., ''Dionysian Monotheism in Nea Paphos, Cyprus,''</ref> In the mosaic, other gods appear but may only be lesser representations of the centrally imposed Dionysus. The mid-Byzantine [[Veroli Casket]] shows the tradition lingering in [[Constantinople]] around 1000 AD, but probably not very well understood.

===Early modern art===
[[File:Michelangelo Bacchus.jpg|220px|thumb|right|''[[Bacchus (Michelangelo)|Bacchus]]'' by [[Michelangelo]] (1497)]]
Bacchic subjects in art resumed in the [[Italian Renaissance]], and soon became almost as popular as in antiquity, but his "strong association with feminine spirituality and power almost disappeared", as did "the idea that the destructive and creative powers of the god were indissolubly linked".<ref>Bull, 227–228, both quoted</ref> In [[Bacchus (Michelangelo)|Michelangelo's statue]] (1496–97) "madness has become merriment". The statue tries to suggest both drunken incapacity and an elevated consciousness, but this was perhaps lost on later viewers, and typically the two aspects were thereafter split, with a clearly drunk Silenus representing the former, and a youthful Bacchus often shown with wings, because he carries the mind to higher places.<ref>Bull, 228–232, 228 quoted</ref>

[[File:Hendrick Goltzius, Dutch (active Haarlem) - Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|[[Hendrik Goltzius]], ''[[Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus]]'' (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze)'', c. 1600–1603, the "Philadelphia pen painting''|alt=Hendrik Goltzius, 1600–03, ''Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus'' (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze). c. 1600–1603, ink on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art]]
[[Titian]]'s ''[[Bacchus and Ariadne]]'' (1522–23) and ''[[The Bacchanal of the Andrians]]'' (1523–26), both painted for the [[Camerini d'alabastro|same room]], offer an influential heroic pastoral,<ref>Bull, 235–238, 242, 247–250</ref> while [[Diego Velázquez]] in ''[[The Triumph of Bacchus]]'' (or ''Los borrachos'' – "the drinkers", c. 1629) and [[Jusepe de Ribera]] in his ''[[Drunken Silenus (Ribera)|Drunken Silenus]]'' choose a genre realism. [[Flemish Baroque painting]] frequently painted the Bacchic followers, as in Van Dyck's [[Drunken Silenus (van Dyck)|''Drunken Silenus'']] and many works by [[Rubens]]; [[Poussin]] was another regular painter of Bacchic scenes.<ref>Bull, 233–235</ref>

A common theme in art beginning in the sixteenth century was the depiction of Bacchus and Ceres caring for a representation of love – often Venus, Cupid, or Amore. This tradition derived from a quotation by the Roman comedian [[Terence]] (c. 195/185 – c. 159 BC) which became a popular proverb in the [[Early Modern period]]: ''[[Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus]]'' ("without [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] and [[Bacchus]], [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] freezes"). Its simplest level of meaning is that love needs food and wine to thrive. Artwork based on this saying was popular during the period 1550–1630, especially in [[Northern Mannerism]] in [[Prague]] and the [[Low Countries]], as well as by [[Rubens]]. Because of his association with the vine harvest, Bacchus became the god of autumn, and he and his followers were often shown in sets depicting the seasons.<ref>Bull (page needed)</ref>

===Modern literature and philosophy===
[[File:Los borrachos o el triunfo de Baco 1629 Velázquez.jpg|thumb|''[[The Triumph of Bacchus]]'', [[Diego Velázquez]], c. 1629]]
[[File:Cornelis de Vos - El triunfo de Baco.jpg|thumb|''The Triumph of Bacchus'' by [[Cornelis de Vos]]]]
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Dionysus has remained an inspiration to artists, philosophers and writers into the [[modern era]]. In ''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]'' (1872), the German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] proposed that a tension between [[Apollonian and Dionysian]] aesthetic principles underlay the development of [[Greek tragedy]]; Dionysus represented what was unrestrained chaotic and irrational, while Apollo represented the rational and ordered. This concept of a rivalry or opposition between Dionysus and Apollo has been characterized as a "modern myth", as it is the invention of modern thinkers like Nietzsche and [[Johann Joachim Winckelmann]], and is not found in classical sources. However, the acceptance and popularity of this theme in Western culture has been so great, that its undercurrent has influenced the conclusions of classical scholarship.<ref>Isler-Kerényi, C., & Watson, W. (2007). "Modern Mythologies: 'Dionysos' Versus 'Apollo'". In ''Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding through Images'' (pp. 235–254). Leiden; Boston: Brill. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w76w9x.13</ref>

Nietzsche also claimed that the oldest forms of Greek Tragedy were entirely based upon the suffering Dionysus. In Nietzsche's 1886 work ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'', and later ''[[The Twilight of the Idols]]'', ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'' and ''[[Ecce Homo]]'', Dionysus is conceived as the embodiment of the unrestrained [[will to power]]. Towards the end of his life, Nietzsche famously went mad. He was known to sign letters as both Dionysus and "The Crucified" in this period of his life.  In ''The Hellenic Religion of the Suffering God'' (1904), and ''Dionysus and Early Dionysianism'' (1921), the poet [[Vyacheslav Ivanov (poet)|Vyacheslav Ivanov]] elaborates the theory of [[Dionysianism]], tracing the origins of literature, and [[tragedy]] in particular, to ancient Dionysian mysteries. Ivanov said that Dionysus' suffering "was the distinctive feature of the cult" just as Christ's suffering is significant for Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rosenthal|first=Bernice Glatzer|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGpOo6IV74IC&pg=PA344|title=Sacred Stories: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Russia|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-253-21850-6|editor-last=Steinberg|editor-first=Mark D. and Heather J. Coleman|location=Bloomington and Indianapolis|page=344|language=en|chapter=Chapter 13. A New Spirituality: The Confluence of Nietzsche and Orthodoxy in Russian Religious Thought}}</ref> [[Karl Kerényi]] characterizes Dionysus as representative of the psychological life force (Greek ''Zoê'').<ref>Kerenyi, K., ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' (Princeton/Bollingen, 1976).</ref> Other psychological interpretations place Dionysus' [[emotionality]] in the foreground, focusing on the [[joy]], [[Fear|terror]] or [[hysteria]] associated with the god.<ref>Jeanmaire, H. Dionysus: histoire du culte de Bacchus, (pp. 106ff) Payot, (1951)</ref><ref>Johnson, R. A. 'Ecstasy; Understanding the Psychology of Joy' HarperColling (1987)</ref><ref>Hillman, J. 'Dionysus Reimagined' in The Myth of Analysis (pp. 271–281) HarperCollins (1972); Hillman, J. 'Dionysus in Jung's Writings' in Facing The Gods, Spring Publications (1980)</ref><ref>Thompson, J. [http://www.mythopoetry.com/mythopoetics/scholar09_thompson.html 'Emotional Intelligence/Imaginal Intelligence'] in Mythopoetry Scholar Journal, Vol 1, 2010</ref><ref>Lopez-Pedraza, R. 'Dionysus in Exile: On the Repression of the Body and Emotion', Chiron Publications (2000)</ref> [[Sigmund Freud]] specified that his ashes should be kept in an Ancient Greek vase painted with Dionysian scenes from his collection, which remains on display at [[Golders Green Crematorium]] in London.

J. M. Tolcher's autobiography, ''Poof'' (2023), features Dionysus as a character and a force of modern liberation in [[Australia]], incorporating traditional myth and Nietzschean philosophy to represent [[homophobia|queer suffering]].<ref>Tolcher, J. M. (2023). ''Poof''. ISBN 9780646875873.</ref><ref>Dayton, P. (1 August 2023). "Pain and Prejudice". ''DNA Magazine'', 283, 76–78.</ref>

===Modern film and performance art===
[[File:Las Incantadas Louvre Ma1393 side B.jpg|thumb|right|[[Las Incantadas]] Dionysus, large relief from the agora of [[Thessalonica]], now in the [[Louvre]].]]

In 1969, an adaption of ''The Bacchae'' was performed, called ''[[Dionysus in '69 (theatrical production)|Dionysus in '69]]''. A [[Dionysus in '69|film]] was made of the same performance. The production was notable for involving audience participation, nudity, and theatrical innovations.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Greenspun|first1=Roger|title=Screen::De Palma's 'Dionysus in 69'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E01E2D81638EE34BC4B51DFB566838B669EDE|access-date=1 August 2017|newspaper=New York Times|date=23 March 1970}}</ref>

In 1974, Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove adapted Aristophanes' comedy ''The Frogs'' into a [[The Frogs (musical)|modern musical]], which hit broadway in 2004 and was revived in London in 2017. The musical keeps the descent of Dionysus into Hades to bring back a playwright; however, the playwrights are updated to modern times, and Dionysus is forced to choose between [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[William Shakespeare]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Murray|first1=Matthew|title=The Frogs|url=http://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/world/Frogs.html|website=Talkin' Broadway|access-date=2 August 2017}}</ref>

In 2019, the South Korean boy band [[BTS]] released a [[rap-rock]]-[[synth-pop]]-[[hip hop music|hip hop]] track.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1">{{cite magazine|last1=Lipshutz|first1=Jason|date=17 April 2019|title=How BTS' 'Dionysus' Demonstrates the Group's Musical Ambition|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/8507685/bts-dionysus-musical-ambition|access-date=22 April 2019|magazine=Billboard}}</ref> named "[[Dionysus (song)|Dionysus]]" as part of their album ''[[Map of the Soul: Persona]]''. The naming of this song comes from the association of the namesake with debauchery and excess, this is reflected in its lyrics talking about "getting drunk on art" – [[Pun|playing on the Korean words]] for "alcohol" (술 ''sul'') and "art" (예술 ''yesul'') as an example – alongside expressions about their stardom, legacy, and artistic integrity.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |last1=Daly |first1=Rhian |title=All the biggest talking points from BTS' global press conference: Jungkook's missing mixtape, Suga's next prophecy, and the meaning behind 'Map Of The Soul: Persona' |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/bts-map-of-the-soul-persona-global-press-conference-2477824 |website=[[NME]] |access-date=17 April 2019 |date=22 April 2019}}</ref>

In 2024, French actor and singer [[Philippe Katerine|Phillippe Katerine]] portrayed a blue and near naked Dionysus at the [[2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony]] in France.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Michel |date=27 July 2024 |title=Paris ceremony 'Last Supper' parody sparks controversy |url=https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/paris-ceremony-last-supper-parody-sparks-controversy-2024-07-27/ |website=[[Reuters]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=28 July 2024 |title=Paris Olympics organizers 'sorry' for any offense over opening ceremony |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2024/07/28/paris-olympics-organizers-sorry-for-any-offense-over-opening-ceremony_6702640_9.html |access-date=30 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kaloi |first=Stephanie |date=28 July 2024 |title=Paris Olympics Producers Say 'The Last Supper' Inspired That Opening Ceremony Scene: 'Many Have Done It Before' |url=https://www.thewrap.com/paris-olympics-producers-last-supper-inspired-opening-ceremony/ |access-date=31 July 2024 |website=TheWrap |language=en-US}}</ref>