Editing Dionysus (section)

==Origins==
[[File:Gaziantep_Zeugma_Museum_Dionysos_Triumf_mosaic_1921.jpg|thumb|left|Dionysus triumph, a mosaic from the House of Poseidon, [[Zeugma Mosaic Museum]].]]

Academics in the nineteenth century, using study of [[philology]] and [[comparative mythology]], often regarded Dionysus as a foreign deity who was only reluctantly accepted into the standard Greek pantheon at a relatively late date, based on his myths which often involve this theme—a god who spends much of his time on earth abroad, and struggles for acceptance when he returns to Greece. However, more recent evidence has shown that Dionysus was in fact one of the earliest gods attested in mainland Greek culture.<ref name=iconography/> The earliest written records of Dionysus worship come from [[Mycenaean Greece]], specifically in and around the [[Palace of Nestor]] in [[Pylos]], dated to around 1300 BC.<ref name=Kerenyi>Kerényi, Karl. 1976. ''Dionysus''. Trans. Ralph Manheim, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0691029156|978-0691029153}}</ref> The details of any religion surrounding Dionysus in this period are scant, and most evidence comes in the form only of his name, written as ''di-wo-nu-su-jo'' ("Dionysoio" = 'of Dionysus') in [[Linear B]], preserved on fragments of clay tablets that indicate a connection to offerings or payments of wine, which was described as being "of Dionysus". References have also been uncovered to "women of Oinoa", the "place of wine", who may correspond to the Dionysian women of later periods.<ref name=Kerenyi/>

[[File:0320 - Archaeological Museum, Athens - Golden naiskos - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 11 2009.jpg|thumb|right|Golden naiskos with Dionysus, 2nd cent. BC.]]

Other Mycenaean records from Pylos record the worship of a god named Eleuther, who was the son of Zeus, and to whom oxen were sacrificed. The link to both Zeus and oxen, as well as etymological links between the name Eleuther or Eleutheros with the Latin name [[Liber|Liber Pater]], indicates that this may have been another name for Dionysus. According to [[Károly Kerényi]], these clues suggest that even in the thirteenth century BC, the core religion of Dionysus was in place, as were his important myths. At [[Knossos]] in Minoan [[Crete]], men were often given the name "Pentheus", who is a figure in later Dionysian myth and which also means "suffering". Kerényi argued that to give such a name to one's child implies a strong religious connection, potentially not the separate character of [[Pentheus]] who suffers at the hands of Dionysus' followers in later myths, but as an epithet of Dionysus himself, whose mythology describes a god who must endure suffering before triumphing over it. According to Kerényi, the title of "man who suffers" likely originally referred to the god himself, only being applied to distinct characters as the myth developed.<ref name="Kerenyi" />

The oldest known image of Dionysus accompanied by his name is found on a [[dinos]] by the Attic potter [[Sophilos]] around 570 BC and is located in the [[British Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1971-1101-1 |title=dinos |publisher=British Museum |date= |accessdate=18 July 2022}}</ref> By the seventh century, iconography found on pottery shows that Dionysus was already worshiped as more than just a god associated with wine. He was associated with weddings, death, sacrifice, and sexuality, and his retinue of satyrs and dancers was already established. A common theme in these early depictions was the metamorphosis, at the hand of the god, of his followers into hybrid creatures, usually represented by both tame and wild [[satyr]]s, representing the transition from civilized life back to nature as a means of escape.<ref name="iconography">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w76w9x.7 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w76w9x.7 |jstor-access=free |chapter=An Iconography in Process |last1=Isler-Kerényi |first1=Cornelia |last2=Watson |first2=Wilfred G. E. |title=Dionysos in Archaic Greece |year=2007 |pages=5–16 |publisher=Brill}}</ref>

A Mycenaean variant of Bacchus was thought to have been "a divine child" abandoned by his mother and eventually raised by "[[Nymph|nymphs]], [[Goddess|goddesses]], or even animals."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Janson |first1=Horst Woldemar |title=History of Art: The Western Tradition |last2=Janson |first2=Anthony F. |publisher=[[Pearson Education]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-13-182622-0 |editor-last=Touborg |editor-first=Sarah |edition=Revised 6th |volume=1 |location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey |page=105 |author-link=Horst Woldemar Janson |editor-last2=Moore |editor-first2=Julia |editor-last3=Oppenheimer |editor-first3=Margaret |editor-last4=Castro |editor-first4=Anita}}</ref>