Dionysus (The Early Years)
Dionysus (The Early Years)
In a Nutshell
Dionysus was a total rock star. This god made it his mission to go around the world inspiring everybody he met to jam out with him and his groupies, the Maenads and satyrs. In a lot of cases, it didn't take much convincing, since he was also giving the world its first taste of wine. Just as any tabloid will tell you, though, there's always a dark side lurking beneath the glam and glitz If people refused Dionysus... well, let's just say he got more than a little ornery.
In this story, you not only get the dirt on the D-man's meteoric rise to super-stardom, but also his seriously crazy beginnings. You can look at it as a "behind the music" on one the most intense gods of all time. Trust us, it's way more exciting than some he-grew-up-in-the-suburbs-and started-taking-guitar-lessons-when-he-was-12 kind of story. Our buddy Dionysus had an explosive birth that launched him into an equally explosive reign as the god of wine and rebirth.
Shmoop Connections
Explore the ways this myth connects with the world and with other topics on Shmoop
Dionysus fills us in on the details of his birth before getting some revenge in Euripides' grisly tragedy, The Bacchae.Ovid can't keep his Roman hands off the story of Dionysus's homecoming in his mega-influential, mega-awesome collection of myth-y poems, The Metamorphoses.
Dante gives Dionysus's mother, Semele, a shout out in everybody's favorite visitor's guide to Hell, The Inferno.
Can't get enough Dionysus? Check him out as the irritable Mr. D, director of Camp Half-blood in the Percy Jackson series.
Ernest Hemingway and was not stranger to the benefits and dangers of the god of wine. Don't believe us? Just check out his novel, A Farewell to Arms.