Dionysus biography. Dionysus - ancient Greek god

The god of fertility, winemaking and vegetation Dionysus is one of the most controversial inhabitants of Olympus. A charming young man jokes a lot and amuses others. Laughter and joy accompany younger son. But it is worth disobeying or offending the careless young man and rivers of blood will be shed upon the earth. Dionysus does not forgive misdeeds and does not listen to the arguments of reason. Wild dances and bloody spectacles do not suit a beautiful deity!

History of creation

The Greek god of viticulture took his own place in the pantheon of gods rather late compared to the rest of the famous characters. The cult of Dionysus came to Greece from the Thracian or Asia Minor territory. The first mention of an unusual god dates back to the 14th century BC - the name of Dionysus is imprinted on the tablets of the Cretan script.

For a long time Greek mythology belittled the status of the patron saint of winemakers and fruit trees. The cult developed only in the 7th century AD. Initially relaxed and uninhibited worship of Dionysus turned into a frenzy. wrote:

"At first he was simple but cheerful, but later his festivities became more and more noisy and unbridled."

Night holidays, which the inhabitants of Greece dedicated to the charming god, turned into awesome spectacles. In small towns, priestesses of the cult dressed in animal skins and ate raw meat, glorifying the name of Dionysus.

cultural centers Greece kept the original message of the festivities. The Feasts of the Great Dionysius took place at the end of March. Singers and actors chosen by the people dressed in goatskins and acted out dramatic and comedic skits. For such events, special theaters of Dionysus were built. One of these architectural wonders is still located on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis.

The Greeks believed that the gift of Dionysus, called wine, bestows creative people inspiration. Therefore, artists often painted portraits and genre scenes in which God participated. The patron of vegetation was depicted as a young and attractive young man, surrounded by satyrs and priestesses of the cult. At least Dionysus was painted as an adult man with a thick beard and luxurious curls. But in any case, the god of winemaking is accompanied by a cheerful crowd.

Dionysus in mythology

The birth of Dionysus is shrouded in mystery and speculation. The parents of a handsome young man are Zeus and the daughter of the king of Thebes, Semele. The Lord of Olympus, once again captivated by the beauty of a young girl, often visited the princess. A new hobby did not hide from the wife of the Thunderer.

The insidious appeared before her mistress and invited Semele to find out what Zeus really looks like. The interested girl persuaded her beloved to appear before her in his true form. The majestic god did not refuse. As a result, the chambers of Semele caught fire, and the princess began premature birth. To save the weak newborn, Zeus sewed his son into his own thigh. After a couple of months, Dionysus got stronger and was born a second time.

This outcome did not suit Hera. A jealous woman pursued the boy, wanting to get rid of the baby. But, knowing the nature of his wife, Zeus assigned to Dionysus, who always managed to save the child. In the end, the son of the Thunderer was given to be raised by the goddess Cybele, who was not inferior in power to Hera (according to other sources, God gave the child to the nymphs).

A little matured boy, unexpectedly for his relatives, made friends with a satyr named Ampelius. The old bully often talked with the little god and spent a lot of time playing with the bored Dionysus. Such an unusual friendship ended sadly - Ampelius died from the horns of a bull. Young Dionysus tried to resurrect his friend, but all the measures taken did not help. The body of the satyr turned into a vine, the frustrated young man squeezed the juice from the fruit, and called the resulting liquid wine.

The young and carefree god went on a journey around the world. Wherever Dionysus came, grapes ripened around him. The journey of the youngest son of Zeus lasted three years. God even visited India and descended into the Kingdom of the Dead, from where he took his own mother.

True, such a procession caused a lot of trouble for the inhabitants of Greece. Together with wine, Dionysus gave people madness. Being in a drunken delirium, the inhabitants of the cities committed massacres. Those who did not recognize the god in the young man, Dionysus killed with his own hands. Many women were torn to pieces by worshipers and subordinate deities.

The young man often walked the Earth, accompanied by friends, his retinue is numerous. Dionysus is surrounded by satyrs (goat-legged demons of fertility) and maenads (priestesses and worshipers of God). With great pleasure, Silenus, the teacher of Dionysus, accompanies his ward.

During one of these walks, an attractive young man was noticed by sea robbers. While the retinue of the young god was resting, the villains stole Dionysus and delivered the young man to the ship. One of the crew members, seeing that the chains with which the robbers bound the prey, did not hold on to the hands of the young man, was frightened. The man asked to let the stranger go, claiming that God was in front of them.

The robbers did not believe their brother in arms. And Dionysus, turning into a lion, tore the captain of the ship to pieces. The young man turned the remaining members of the team into dolphins. The only one who did not suffer was a shrewd bandit who stood up for the young god.

The beauty could not resist the charm of the patron saint of winemakers. The woman was in secret for some time. love affair with a cheerful deity. The fruit of love was the god of fields and gardens Priapus.

Prior to his marriage, Dionysus often entered into relationships with specific women. AT love victories oh god is listed as Avra. The daughter of a titan gave birth to twins from a man, one of which she ate. The second, fortunately, was saved.

Despite the windiness and love of fun, Dionysus turned out to be a good husband. She became the wife of the god of winemaking, famous for her skein of thread. After parting with her lover, the girl suffered from grief. Passing by, Dionysus lost his head from the beauty of the princess of Crete. The young god immediately took possession of a new acquaintance, and a little later he married a girl.

Rumor has it that Theseus did not plan to leave his beloved. But at night, the brave hero dreamed of Dionysus, who ordered the young man to leave the girl, since Ariadne should go to God. Married to Dionysus, the girl gave birth to a son, Foant. After the daughter of the king of Crete became immortal - such a gift was made by Zeus to his beloved son.

1. The meaning of the name of the deity is consecrated by the god. In ancient Roman mythology, the god is called Vachus (or Bacchus). And the nickname of Dionysus is the god with bull horns (the man liked to transform into a bull).
2. Myths claim that among the love victories of Dionysus, Hermaphrodite is also listed - the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.
3. The most recognizable and famous image of the deity is a sculpture called "Bacchus". The monument depicts a drunk god of winemaking accompanied by a satyr.

"Twice Born". Dionysus appeared on Olympus later than other gods. He was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, the beautiful Theban princess Semele. Zeus swore to her to fulfill any request - and now, at the instigation of Hera, Semele asked Zeus to appear before her in all the grandeur of the god of thunder. This request was thoughtless: when Zeus appeared in the roar of thunder and the brilliance of lightning, the fire engulfed the palace and Semele, who lived in it. A curious woman died, but she was soon to have a child, but could Zeus allow the death of his own? born son? He snatched the child out of the fire, and since the baby was too small and weak to live on his own, Zeus sewed him into his thigh. Dionysus got stronger in the body of his father and then was born a second time from the thigh of the Thunderer Zeus. Therefore, Dionysus was called "twice-born".

Dionysus brings his mother to Olympus. As for Semele, Dionysus, of course, could not accept the fact that his mother was in the kingdom of Hades. When he got a place on Olympus, he made a descent into the world of the dead. There he found Semele and brought her to Olympus, where she became a goddess and was revered under the name of Tion. Therefore, Dionysus himself was sometimes called Tionian - the son of Tion.

Dionysus is sheltered from Hera. After the new birth, Dionysus was transferred to the upbringing of King Athamas and his wife Ino, sister of Semele, with whom he lived for some time, disguised as a girl. However, even dressing up could not hide him from Hera, who was not satisfied with the death of Semele and transferred her hatred to her child. Hoping that Athamas would kill Dionysus, she sent madness on him. However, he killed only his son, mistaking him for a deer, and Dionysus was carried away from danger by Hermes.

Wanting to better hide Dionysus from persecution by Hera, Hermes took him to the nymphs on Mount Nisa (at the same time, so that Hera would not notice him, Dionysus was turned by Zeus into a kid). The Nisean nymphs settled Dionysus in a cool mountain grotto, looked after him, fed him honey. For this concern for his son, Zeus later placed the Nisean nymphs in the sky among the stars, where they can still be seen today in the form of the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus. And the child of Zeus, in memory of his stay on Nisa, received a name that consists of the name of the father (Dius, that is, Zeus) and the name of the place where he was brought up; that's how his name came about.

Dionysus makes drinks. It was on Nisa that Dionysus made his most important discovery - he learned how to make a drink that amuses the soul from grape juice. Therefore, when he grew up, he became a cheerful, powerful god of wine, which gives people strength and joy. Wanting to bestow his discovery on people, Dionysus went around almost all inhabited earth teaching everywhere to grow grapes and make wine out of them; and in those countries where grapes do not grow, Dionysus taught people to make another, no less fragrant, drink from barley - beer. [For this, in many countries where God made life more pleasant, he was awarded the highest honors.]

The first tragedy is because of the wines. The first person whom Dionysus treated to wine and taught him how to make it was a farmer from Attica named Icarius. He liked the drink, and he decided to introduce other people to it. It was then that the first tragedy happened. The shepherds, to whom Icarius brought wine, were delighted - they had never drunk anything like this, and therefore they drank too much of an unusual drink.

After getting drunk, they felt bad and thought that Icarius had poisoned them. They violently attacked him and killed him. Icarius had a daughter named Erigone. When her father did not return home, the girl went to look for him and, with the help of a faithful dog, found him - but dead. Erigona's grief was so great that she hanged herself from a tree over her father's body.

But Dionysus, who treated Icarius well, did not leave his death without revenge. He sent madness on the Athenian girls, and they began to commit suicide, as did Erigone. The inhabitants of Athens asked Apollo why the gods were angry with them, and received the answer that the reason for this was the murder of Icarius. Then the Athenians punished the murderous shepherds, and in memory of Erigona, at the festival in honor of Dionysus, the Athenian girls began to arrange swings on the trees and swing on them. And the gods placed the dead Ikaria and Erigone in the sky, and he became the constellation Arcturus, and she became the constellation Virgo. There was also a place in the sky for the faithful dog that helped Erigone in search of her father - this is now the star Sirius.

Bacchantes. In his wanderings Dionysus was accompanied by a crowd of admirers, not only men, but also women. In a wreath of grapes, he walked or rode a panther, and after him and around him in a violent dance rushed maenads (they are also called Bacchantes, because one of the names of Dionysus was the name Bacchus) - women who devoted themselves to the service of Dionysus. In their hands were thyrses - wands entwined with ivy, the same as those of Dionysus himself; they were dressed in deer skins and girded with strangled snakes. In holy madness, they crushed everything that came in their way. With cries of "Bacchus, Evoe!" they beat tympanums, with their hands tore to pieces the wild animals that came across to them, carved milk and honey out of the earth and rocks with their thyrsae, uprooted the trees they met. Their violent procession carried away all the people they met and was dedicated to Dionysus Bromius, that is, the "Noisy".

Satires. In addition to the maenads, Dionysus was accompanied everywhere by satyrs - creatures similar to humans, but with bodies covered with wool, goat legs, horns and horse tails. They were mischievous, crafty, always cheerful, often drunk; in life, except for wine and beautiful nymphs, they were not interested in anything. Accompanying Dionysus, they performed simple melodies on pipes and flutes, and the piercing sounds of this music reverberated around the neighborhood, announcing the approach of a merry god.

Old Silenus. In this noisy procession, which was called fias, the old man Silenus, the tutor of Dionysus, rides on a donkey. He is quite funny in appearance - bald, pot-bellied, snub-nosed, always sitting on a donkey. Silenus likes the drink invented by his pupil so much that no one has seen Silenus sober for a long time. However, he did not drink away his mind, and sometimes he suddenly utters words full of wisdom in a completely sober voice. Dionysus loves his tutor very much; at his command, satyrs constantly watch and care for him.

Midas. Despite these precautions, Silenus disappeared one day. When a forest bump fell under the donkey's feet, and he stumbled, Silenus fell from him, and remained lying in the roadside bushes. No one noticed this, and Silenus himself slept peacefully in the place where he fell off the donkey.

In the morning, the servants of King Midas found him and brought him to the palace. The king immediately understood who was in front of him, and therefore he surrounded him with all kinds of honor, let him sleep, and then helped him return to Dionysus. For this, God offered Midas to ask for any reward. He, not distinguished by a special mind and imagination, asked to make sure that everything he touches turned into gold. “I’m sorry, Midas, that you didn’t come up with anything better, but have your way!” With these words, Dionysus let Midas go home.

The king was beside himself with happiness. Still would! He will now become the richest man on earth! He broke a branch from a tree, and the branch in his hands became golden. Picked up a stone from the ground - and the stone turned into gold. But now the time has come for the king to dine. He took bread from the table - and that too became golden. Only now did Midas understand how terrible the gift of Dionysus was: all food turned into gold in his hands, and he was now threatened with starvation. Then Midas prayed to Dionysus, begging him to take his gift back, and Dionysus, not harboring malice towards him, agreed. He ordered him to go to the river Tmol and bathe in it, wash away the magic power from himself. Midas did just that, and after bathing he could safely touch anything - he no longer turned it into gold. And since then, people began to find golden sand in the Tmol River.

Case in Thebes. Beautiful and eternally young Dionysus; long, wavy blue-black hair falls on his shoulders, dark blue eyes shine. To the sounds of flutes and pipes, his procession-fiass moves from one country to another, and everywhere Dionysus teaches people to plant grapes and make wine from his heavy, ripe bunches. Not everyone and not everywhere liked it; sometimes they did not want to consider Dionysus a god, and then he brought down terrible punishments on the wicked. This is what happened, for example, in Thebes, in the homeland of Semele, the mother of Dionysus.

Semele had a sister, Agave. When she died, incinerated by the lightning of Zeus, Agave began to say that Semele died deservedly: she spread rumors that Zeus himself honored her with marital intercourse, and as punishment he destroyed her. The same was said by the son of Agave, Pentheus, who became the Theban king: there is no god Dionysus, all these are fictions of idle people. Then Dionysus himself decided to stand up for the honor of his mother. Taking the form of a beautiful young man, he appeared in Thebes and there infected Agave and other Theban women with Bacchic frenzy. With wild exclamations of "Bacchus, Evoe!" they rushed off into the mountains and there they began to lead the life of violent maenads.

Dionysus before Pentheus. Enraged, Pentheus ordered that a stranger be brought to him, from whom this disaster came. And here Dionysus, bound in chains, stands before the king. He smiles, watching how Pentheus rages, how, wanting to shackle his captive even more tightly, he ties a bull, which seems to him to be Dionysus, with strong bonds. Suddenly the whole palace shook, the columns staggered, and in the place where Semele had once died, a pillar of fire appeared, illuminating the whole palace with its radiance. Pentheus, seized with madness, thought that the palace was on fire and ordered water to be carried to extinguish the fire, and on Dionysus, so that he would not escape his revenge, he rushed with a drawn sword. It seemed to him that he had dealt a mortal blow to the stranger, but when he ran out of the palace, he again saw him surrounded by a crowd of Bacchantes.

God Dionysus

Pentheus becomes a victim of madness. More and more madness grips Pentheus. When a shepherd came from the mountains, who told about the way of life that the Bacchantes lead there, the king ordered the army to prepare for the campaign - all the Bacchantes will be captured by force and killed! The king himself decided, disguised as a woman, to personally look at them in the forest. However, when he came to the forest, the women noticed him.

Dionysus made it so that they did not understand that a man was in front of them, deciding that they were seeing a wild beast. The whole crowd attacked the unfortunate man and tore him to pieces. Agave, planting the head of Pentheus on her rod, entered the city with this prey, urging everyone to look at the head of the ferocious lion she had killed. When the madness passed and she realized what crime she had committed, Agave left her native city and died in a foreign land, and all the Thebans from now on had no doubt that Dionysus was a real god, and Semele was the wife of Zeus.

Dionysia.

Since Dionysus was associated with the cultivation of grapes, it is natural that the time of the holidays in his honor was largely associated with work in the vineyards. These works ended in December; at this time the feast of the Lesser Dionysius fell. It was a joyful celebration in honor of the god of wine and fun, full of fun and jokes. On this day, noisy processions went through the Greek villages, in which everyone participated - both men and women, both free and slaves. Those who participated in these processions carried sacred objects and symbols of Dionysus - vine branches and vessels with wine. At the temple of Dionysus, sacrifices were made, and then feasts and entertainment began. It was on this day that Icarius and Erigone were honored, on this day the youth indulged in a cheerful and noisy game: it was necessary to stay on one leg on an inflated leather bag, lubricated with oil. The winner received the same bag as a reward, but already filled with wine.

In February, another holiday was celebrated - Lenei, and soon after them - Anthesteria. According to tradition, it was customary to try young wine on the days of this holiday. At this time, vessels with wine were decorated with garlands from the first spring flowers; Children were also decorated with flowers, to whom it was customary to buy and give various toys on this day. Adults during this holiday organized competitions in drinking wine. The winner was the one who drank his cup faster.

But the main holiday in honor of Dionysus was the Great Dionysia, which was celebrated in late March - early April. It lasted a whole week and was celebrated with great pomp. But, perhaps, it is not this splendor that is more important for us, but the fact that the birth of the theater is connected with this holiday. Tragedy and comedy later arose from those scenes that their mummers played in the Dionysian processions. On the Great Dionysia, tragedies were played in theaters for four days, and comedies were staged in the theaters of ancient Greece on Leney.

According to legend, Dionysus owes his appearance to the militant Hera, who was fiercely, although not without reason, jealous of her husband Zeus. She prompted Semele to ask him to appear before her in his warlike guise: on a chariot with fire-breathing horses, surrounded by flames. Zeus gave the go-ahead and soon appeared in front of Cadmus, the palace of the girl's father. Lightnings wrapping around the chariot flew towards the formations and burned them. Semele herself suffered from the fire, who during the fire gave birth to a premature baby - Dionysus, and she herself passed into the world of the dead.

However, the child of Zeus did not die in the flames, he was protected by ivy. Seeing the child, God sewed him into his thigh, where he completed his development and later came into the world at the right time. Little Dionysus was transferred to the upbringing of Semele's sister - Ino and brother-in-law - Afamanta, last Hera doomed to insanity.

According to another version, Dionysus and his mother Semele were imprisoned in a barrel by their father Cadmus, where they spent several days, after which they crashed against the rocks, and only the child survived.

The path of education and growing up

In order to protect the young God from the wrath of Hera, his adoptive parents began to raise him as a girl. However, as mentioned above, the father fell ill mental disorder(not without the help of Zeus's wife, of course) and began to kill his own children, and even attempted on Dionysus.

Then the future patron of winemakers ended up in the caves of Nis - Hermes himself brought him there transformed into a kid. The nymphs hid the child from Hera and contributed to his upbringing. However, Silenus played the greatest role in the formation of Dionysus as a God: the mentor taught the young man the business of winegrowers and instilled a love for agriculture.

After reaching adulthood, the ruler of Olympus decided to thank the nymphs of Nis and elevated them to heaven.

Madness of Dionysus

Inviting madness is the most insidious and most frequent revenge of Hera, this punishment did not pass and Dionysus. Under the influence of her charms, he goes on a long journey through Asia and Africa. His presence in different countries had both positive and negative effects. He taught the inhabitants of Egypt, Syria, India and Asia Minor aspects of agriculture, revealed to them the secrets of productive cultivation of various crops. Along with the useful skills with which the patron of vegetation enriched the life of the owners of the fields, those who did not believe in his ability had a hard time.

According to the legends, the embittered god of fertility could send madness to his victim or even kill him. According to other sources, Hera led Dionysus through the deserts, and she surrounded him with madmen. Worst of all were young mothers with babies who were sent to the mountains, where they ate raw meat with pleasure.

Why are the "three-year sacrifices" made to Dionysus?

The fact is that God traveled through India for three years. His initial motives were confrontation, battle, and a small number of sources even speak of his death during a duel and burial without honors.

The number 3, as it were, marks Dionysus, therefore it is customary to arrange bacchanalia for him every 3 years and collect donations in a three-year volume.

Among the significant events in the life of the patron of agriculture, one can also single out a visit to the Kingdom of Hades, from where he brought his mother and subsequently made her the Goddess Fiona.

Tyrrhenian pirates

Tyrrhenian pirates, namely two of their society - Aket and Alkimedon, attacked the trireme of Dionysus on the way to Naxos. They captured the God of winemaking, tied him up, chained his hands and feet, their plan was to transfer God to Asia, where, in turn, to sell for a huge sum.

Alas, the plans of the Tyrrhenian pirates did not coincide with the vision of the future patron of agriculture. In an instant, the chains fell from his arms and legs, the masts and oars turned into fierce snakes and wrapped around the invaders. The whole ship was covered with a vine, and Aket and Alcimedon jumped into the ocean in flight. According to one legend, they turned into dolphins.

Love of Dionysus

God married Ariadne, a Cretan beauty, the daughter of King Minos, although initially the girl was not intended for him at all. Her husband was supposed to be Theseus, whom she led out of the labyrinth with the help of a ball of magic threads. However, the young man turned out to be not very honest and left Ariadne on the way to Athens. Dionysus immediately noticed the young lady unearthly beauty and took it with him.

There is also an alternative version, where the legend was sent to the patron of winegrowers that Ariadne would become his wife and he personally challenged Theseus to fight in order to win back the beauty.

We are accustomed to seeing in this God a person who would be completely absorbed in agriculture and the creation of tart wines, but there are less common but more exciting records of his existence:

• Beer is also a creation of Dionysus
• The mountain in Messenia is called Eve, because it was precisely this cry that the girls surrounding God reproduced, being at its foot.
• Thanks to Dionysus, the donkey is considered a sacred animal. The story is this: he and Hephaestus went to fight the Giants, sitting on donkeys. The animals let out a terrible roar that frightened even huge creatures, thereby driving them away.
• To please his wife Hera and divert her attention from the real patron of agriculture, Zeus gave her a ghost in the guise of Dionysus.
• It is believed that he invented the first plow and independently plowed the land with it.

Dionysus is the last of the twelve Olympic Gods Nevertheless, it is in his honor that the brightest and most cheerful festivities are held. There is a competition between comic and tragic poetry, theatrical performances. There is always a lot of wine and snacks on the tables. During the bacchanal period, many weddings take place and everything around is filled with an atmosphere of fun.

Initially, it was the personification of a luxurious abundance of plant power, manifested by the juiciness of herbs and fruits, producing clusters on the vine, giving a wonderful taste to the juicy fruits of fruit trees, and the juice of grapes, the ability to amuse a person. The vine and its clusters were for the ancient Greek the most complete manifestation of this abundance of plant power; therefore they were a symbol of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of winemaking. “In this plant, the essence of Dionysus is most clearly manifested,” says Preller. – Grape juice is a combination of moisture with fire, the result of a combination of earthly dampness with solar warmth, and in an allegorical sense, a combination of tenderness and courage, pleasure and energy; these are the essential features of the idea of ​​Dionysus. The founder of winemaking and horticulture, Dionysus, was in Ancient Greece, like Demeter, a god who taught people to lead a settled, comfortable life, to which he gives fun with grape juice. In the myths of Ancient Greece, he is the god not only of winemaking, but also of joy, the brotherly rapprochement of people. Dionysus is a powerful god, overcoming everything hostile to him. In myths, he harnesses lions and panthers to his chariot, pacifies the wild spirits of the forest, softens and heals the suffering of people.

Dionysus with a drinking goblet. Depiction on an Attic amphora, ca. 490-480 BC

Like Apollo, Dionysus gives inspiration, excites a person to sing, creates poetry; but the poetry that comes from him has a more passionate character than the poetry of Apollo, his music is noisier than Apollo's. Dionysus gives thoughts an enthusiasm that rises to a dithyramb, gives them liveliness, by the power of which dramatic poetry and theatrics are created. But the exaltation caused by the god of winemaking leads to the darkening of the mind, to orgiastic madness. In the ancient Greek cult of Dionysus, in the myths about him, and especially in the holidays of Dionysius, various feelings aroused in a person by the course of changes in plant life found expression: the fun given to a person at that time of the year when everything turns green, blooms, fragrant, the joy of the ripening of fruits, sadness at wilting, with the death of vegetation. The combination of joyful and sad agitations of the soul under the influence of the mystical rites of the Eastern service to the forces of nature gave rise among the ancient Greeks to exaltation, manifested by the holidays of maenads. In the myths of Ancient Greece, the symbol of the generative power of nature, the phallus, belonged to the cult of Dionysus.

Myths of ancient Greece. Dionysus (Bacchus). Alien in hometown

Initially, Dionysus was the god of the villagers, the giver of wine and fruits, and they praised him at rural feasts with cheerful songs, joked, and danced in places filled with wine. But little by little the importance of Dionysus grew. Periander, KlisFen Sikyon, other tyrants transferred to his service the brilliance with which the military gods of the aristocrats were served. Songs and processions of holidays in honor of Dionysus gradually assumed, under the influence of Eastern religions, an exalted character.

Dionysus. The birth of the theatre. video film

Feasts of Dionysus

Everywhere in ancient Greece, where grapes and fruit trees grew, there was a service to Dionysus, holidays were held for him, which had big influence to the development of ancient Greek civilization. Particularly important for cultural life acquired the feasts of Dionysus, which took place in Attica, Boeotia and on the island of Naxos, which were the main centers of this cult. ancient temple Dionysus in Athens was Lenaion, who stood at the foot of the Acropolis in a damp lowland, which was called Limne (Swamp). Shortly after the end of the grape harvest, the feast of the "Small" or "rural" Dionysius took place in ancient Athens. This was fun party peasants who amused themselves with jokes, dressing up, various village amusements in a common, rude taste. About time winter solstice there was a holiday "Lenya", "squeezing" juice from grapes - a holiday of the end of this work. Celebrating this celebration, they decorated the temple of Dionysus with ivy, put on wreaths of ivy, made sacrifices, feasted, drank grape juice at the feast, walked in processions, and amused themselves with jokes.

When the first green of the returning spring was showing, in Attica, in the Greek Isles, in Greek colonies celebrated in honor of Dionysus Anthesteria; they lasted three days; on the day of the “uncorking of the barrels”, masters and slaves drank new wine together, had fun together; on the day of the "bottling" of new wine, they put on wreaths, feasted with singing, with music, with symbolic rites, celebrating the return of the gods of the earth from its depths to life under the light of day; joked, arranged competitions in drinking wine. The women of the most noble Athenian families went in procession to the Lena temple and performed the mystical rite of marriage of the wife of the archon-king with Dionysus; this rite acquired the patronage of Dionysus olive trees "and the vineyards of Attica. On the third day, sacrifices were made in memory of the dead. A month later, in March, the feast of the Great, or city, was celebrated in Athens. Dionysius was a brilliant spring festival, in honor of Dionysus, the liberator from winter poverty. Among the rites of this ancient Greek festival was a magnificent procession in honor of Dionysus, the procession of which was accompanied by the singing of noisy dithyrambs; singers walked with ivy wreaths on their heads; girls carried baskets of flowers and new fruits, citizens and meteki carried wineskins; they were accompanied by disguised ones; bands thundered, ahead of the procession they carried a wooden image of Dionysus and a phallus attached to a pole, a symbol of fertility. The splendor of the great Dionysius attracted the settlers of Attica and many foreigners to this holiday in Athens. With the development of ancient Greek culture, the celebration became more and more luxurious and elegant. All the dramatic poetry of the Greeks - and tragedy, and comedy, and satirical drama developed from the rites and gaiety of the Athenian holiday of the Great Dionysius.

Dionysus and satyrs. Painter Brigos, Attica. OK. 480 BC

Feasts were held in honor of Dionysus on the ancient Greek islands, rich in vineyards: on Crete, Chios, Lemnos; but especially magnificent was his feast on the island of Naxos, where Dionysus was married to Theseus Ariadne (Ariagne, "Most Holy"), abandoned there, a beautifully curly goddess who was the personification of the earth awakening from winter sleep. Dionysus was the main god of popular religion on this island. His holiday began with rituals expressing sadness for the abandoned Ariadne, ended with joyful songs of her marriage to Dionysus. Dionysus is not always the god of the luxurious development of vegetation: nature is temporarily immersed in the sleep of death; at this time he is a suffering, slain god, the god of the underworld. In this capacity he bears the mystical name of Zagreus. In ancient Greece, sacrifices were made to Dionysus Zagreus with the performance of symbolic rites expressing sorrow for the death of the god of the generative force of nature; these mystical holidays had an exalted character. In the cold of winter, women and girls from Delphi, neighboring places, and even from Attica, converged on the heights of Parnassus, covered with snow, to celebrate the festival of Maenads, and circled, ran around there in sacred ecstasy, like drunks. Waving thyrsos and torches, with snakes in their loose hair and in their hands, these servants of Dionysus, maenads or fiyyades (thyiades), or, as they were otherwise called, Bacchantes, with beating tambourines and to the piercing sounds of flutes, frantically scoured the forests and mountains, they danced, they jumped, they squirmed. Ancient Greek myths said that Dionysus strikes with madness all those who resist him, refusing to participate in his noisy processions. The feasts of the maenads were an imitation of the processions of which the myths told.

Cult of Dionysus

The nature of the cult of Dionysus in different areas of Ancient Greece was different, in accordance with the difference in the education of their population: in some places it was rude, in others elegant, favorable for the development of art and poetry. In the Peloponnese, especially in Argos, Achaia, Elis and Taygetus, nightly orgies, rites of atonement, sacrifices in memory of the dead were the accessories of the cult of Dionysus. On the islands in ancient times, people were even sacrificed. The maenads who served Dionysus tore into pieces goats, young deer, and other animals; these were symbolic actions, meaning that nature was dying a painful death from the cold of winter. Dionysus was sometimes depicted as a bull or with bull horns. Women in Elis exclaimed at his feasts: “Come, O lord, to your temple, come with the Charites to your holy temple, knocking with a bull’s foot!” In ancient Greece, a goat, a representative of voluptuousness, was dedicated to Dionysus.

In Asia Minor, the orgiastic cult of Dionysus was combined with the exalted rites of the feast of the "Great Mother," Cybele. Therefore, the fantastic creatures that made up the retinue of this goddess: curets, corybantes, kabirs, dactyls of Mount Ida - were also transferred to the myths about Dionysus. Excellent works of art have come down to us, the motifs of which are taken from the orgiastic festivals of Dionysus: the artists liked to depict maenads in the ecstasy of passionate excitement. The orgiastic cult also supplied the ancient Greek poets with material for legends that symbolically expounded philosophical thoughts. The feasts of the cult of Dionysus were not celebrated every year, but every two years; therefore it was called Trietherian (biennial). At the basis of all his rites lay the idea that the god of the luxurious development of vegetation was killed by the power of winter and that he would soon rise again, to awaken the dead nature to a new life.

When the ancient Greeks got acquainted with other countries, they brought all the rituals closer to the cult of Dionysus, reminding them of his holidays. They found such rites in Macedonia, Thrace, Lydia, Phrygia. Processions, races with torches, noisy songs, thunder of music, frantic dances, fantastic costumes at the holidays of the Pessinunte "Great Mother" and the Syrian goddess of birth inspired them with the idea that this was a cult of Dionysus. The same impression was made on them in Egypt by the feast of Osiris: the crowds who went at night with torches to look for the body of the murdered Osiris, other fantastic rites, the phallus, seemed to the ancient Greeks to belong to the service of Dionysus. When the Greeks, who were in the army of Alexander, saw in India endless magnificent processions of people in colorful clothes, saw decorated animals in these festive processions, saw chariots drawn by panthers and lions, when they found ivy and wild grapes on a mountain whose name seemed to them similar to the name of Nisa - all this was transferred to the myths about Dionysus and his cult. Thus, in ancient Greece, the legend of the victorious campaign of Dionysus through all the lands from Greece to the Indus and to the Arabian desert gradually formed; it provided material for the glorification of Alexander and his successors who went to India: they were likened to Dionysus. Therefore, in Macedonian time, as many bas-reliefs of that era prove, one of the favorite objects of art was the myth of the campaign of Dionysus with his retinue (thiasos) of satyrs, silens, centaurs and other fantastic creatures, personifying the generative forces of nature and the rampant revelry of the villagers when picking grapes. Through the addition of foreign legends to the former Greek myth about Dionysus received enormous proportions. The fantasy of ancient Greek artists and poets expanded the cult of Dionysus with new episodes; along with the legends, the number of mystical and orgiastic rites grew. But in the teachings of the sacraments, the Greeks reserved for the myth of Dionysus its main meaning, the idea of ​​the eternal cycle of the emergence, death and rebirth of plant life.

Contrary to popular belief about the ancient Greek religion, the main god there was not at all Zeus. That is, of course, Zeus was the head of the pantheon, the father of the gods, etc. However, the worship of Zeus was not religious in the modern sense of the word, it was rather political and resembled the payment of taxes in favor of the reigning ruler.

The force that really made the soul of the ancient Greek tremble and filled it with a mystical feeling was Dionysus - a god almost forgotten in modern times, who was “lowered” to the level of the patron of winemaking.

Dionysus was the oldest Thracian god. The Thracians were much less civilized than the Greeks, who treated them like barbarians. Like all peoples with an agricultural culture, the Thracians had their own fertility cults, as well as a god that promotes fertility - Dionysus.

The religion of Dionysus enjoyed tremendous popularity, primarily because it restored the intensity of feeling destroyed by prudence, the world appears before him full of pleasure and beauty, his imagination is suddenly freed from the prison of everyday worries. The civilized urban dweller of Greece, weary of reason, was incapable of intense experiences(as well as modern man). The spirit of the urban dweller, orderly and prudent, found expression in the cult, which we have already discussed.

The cult of Dionysus cast aside prudence, it gave rise to the so-called "enthusiasm", etymologically meaning the incorporation of god in a person who worships him, who believes in his unity with God. This element of intoxication, a certain departure from prudence under the influence of passion, has a place in many of the greatest achievements of mankind. Life would be flat and lean without the Dionysian element, but its presence makes it dangerous.

The cult of Dionysus, which came from Thrace and is only mentioned in Homer, contained in its infancy a completely different way of studying the relationship of man to the world. The Greeks saw in the phenomenon of ecstasy a confirmation that the soul is something more than an insignificant double of the "I", and that only "outside the body" the soul can manifest its true nature.

“Dionysism preached a fusion with nature, in which a person completely surrenders to her. When dancing among the forests and valleys to the sounds of music brought the Bacchant into a state of frenzy, he bathed in the waves of cosmic delight, his heart beat in harmony with the whole world. Then the whole world seemed intoxicating with its good and evil, beauty and ugliness. Everything that a person sees, hears, touches and smells is a manifestation of Dionysus. It is spilled everywhere. The smell of slaughterhouse and a sleepy pond, icy winds and debilitating heat, delicate flowers and a disgusting spider - everything is divine. The mind cannot put up with it, it condemns and approves, sorts and chooses. But what are his judgments worth when the "sacred madness of Bacchus", caused by an intoxicating dance under blue sky or at night by the light of stars and lights, reconciles with everything! The distinction between life and death disappears. Man no longer feels cut off from the Universe, he has become identified with it and, therefore, with Dionysus.” ( Alexander Men. "History of Religion".)

The myth of Dionysus two-part. As in many other cases, this god had two incarnations: "older" and "younger". Elder Dionysus, Dionysus Zagreus or Dionysus Sabaziy("Sabazius" probably means "savior", also a common root with Greek σέβειν, to honor) was an ancient Phrygian deity.

At first, he was called the "Lord of the Universe." Nevertheless, like other peoples, this one did not crown the pantheon, although it was deeply revered by the people.

Later myths tell that passionately in love with his own mother, Zeus satisfied his passion by taking the form of a bull; then, under the guise of a penitent and as if having castrated himself, he put mutton kernels into the bosom of his mother, and Demeter gave birth to a daughter, Persephone, for whom Zeus again inflamed with passion and, in the form of a snake, united with his own daughter; the fruit of this relationship was a boy Zagreus with a bull's head.

Dionysus as natural god was subject to the primordial forces of Fate and Necessity.

As soon as he was born, Dionysus sat on the throne of his father Zeus and, having received a scepter from Zeus, began to shake the worlds and throw lightning with his hand. This angered Hera, who persuaded the Titans to kill Dionysus. The titans attacked the divine child while he was looking into the mirror. Hera eliminated the guards with gifts and, with the help of rattles and a mirror, lured the baby from the throne. For some time, Dionysus managed to escape from his pursuers, turning in turn into Zeus, then into Kron, then into a young man, then into a lion, then into a horse, then into a snake. When Dionysus took the form of a bull, the titans overtook him and tore him to pieces, smearing his face with white honey. They placed seven pieces of the body in a tripod vessel, boiled, roasted and ate.

Tearing up a wild animal and devouring it raw meat The Bacchantes later regarded it as a reproduction of what the Titans had done to Dionysus himself, and the animal, in a certain sense, acted as the incarnation of God. The titans were of deep earth birth, but after they ate a god, they became the owners of the divine spark.

Athena saved only the heart, which was still trembling, and brought it to Zeus, and he gave it to the mortal woman Semele, from whom Dionysus was born - another, young Zagreus. Zagreus is a constant epithet of Dionysus "first" as the son of Zeus and the Underground Queen, torn to pieces by the titans immediately after his birth. Zeus incinerated the titans, and from the ashes formed from the bodies of the titans and Zagreus, people were created.

Having swallowed the heart of his son, Zeus again produces Dionysus from Semele (daughter of the Theban king Cadmus). At the instigation of the jealous Hera, Semele asked Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness, and he, appearing in a flash of lightning, incinerated the mortal Semele and her towers with fire. Zeus snatched out of the flame Dionysus, who was born prematurely, and sewed him into his thigh. In due time, Zeus gave birth to Dionysus, having opened the seams on his thigh, and then gave Dionysus through Hermes to be raised by Nisean nymphs or Semele's sister Ino. Perhaps the word "Dionysus" means "Zeus' lameness" for the god must have limped as he carried the child in his thigh. The role of the obstetrician in these unusual births was played by Hermes.

The nymphs raised Dionysus in the cave of Niss (therefore, another version of the origin of the name Dionysus is "Divine Nisa".)

There is a teacher of Dionysus Silenus revealed to him the secrets of nature and taught him how to make wine. Silenus is usually depicted as an elderly good-natured and slightly tipsy elderly man with a horse's tail and hooves.

This "new" god passed from Hellas through Syria to India and back through Thrace to Hellas. According to myths, Dionysus not only traveled the whole earth, he descended into Hades.

When the young Dionysus wanted to bring his mother out of Hades, a certain Prosimnus showed Dionysus the entrance to the kingdom of the dead, demanding a fee for this: to enjoy the body of Dionysus. This entrance was located near the swamp of Alcyonia. Dionysus agreed, but when he returned, Prosimnes had already died. Then Dionysus cut off a branch of a fig tree, gave it the shape of a man's penis, and sat on it. According to Clement of Alexandria, as a remembrance of this, the phalluses of Dionysus were erected, every year at night on the banks of the Alcyonia swamp, the festivals of Dionysus were celebrated. From Hades, he brought his mother Semele, who became the goddess Fiona. In addition, there was a tradition that Ancient Zagreus existed ghostly in Hades until Dionysus was reunited with him, during his descent into Hades, so that the purpose of this descent was to acquire the fullness of Dionysus' nature.

Madness was a constant companion of Dionysus. So, according to one version of the myth, King Lycurgus, who rejected Dionysus, killed his son in a fit of madness with an ax, convinced that he was cutting down the vine of Dionysus. The daughters of Minius, King Pentheus, were also torn to pieces by the distraught Bacchantes. The mother of the unfortunate king herself was among these women; she fixed the bloody head of her son on the thyrsus, convinced that it was the head of a lion cub. In Argos, Dionysus also drove the women into madness. They fled to the mountains infants on their hands and began to devour their meat.

Similar problems arose among women who rejected Dionysus: so the daughters of the kings Proyt and Minyas, distraught, tore their own sons apart.

When Dionysus returned from India, the goddess Cybele(or Rhea; both pre-Olympian great mother goddesses) cleansed him of the murders committed during his bouts of insanity and, most importantly, taught him her mysteries and initiation rituals. Thus Dionysus was not only a god himself, but also a priest of the Great Goddess.

Such epithets as "born of a cow", "bull", "bull-shaped", "bull-faced", "bull-faced", "bull-horned", "horny-bearing", "two-horned" were applied to the god. In Athens and in the Argolithic city of Hermigon, there was a cult of Dionysus, "wearing the skin of a black goat." And in the myth about the upbringing of Dionysus by Ino, Zeus turned the young god into a kid (sometimes a lamb is mentioned) in order to save Hera from the wrath. The connection with the goat, as well as the connection with the generative force and nature, is indicated by the constant companions of Dionysus - the satyrs.

In addition to the bull as the main animal symbolically associated with Dionysus, predatory cats like cheetahs and lions, bears, and snakes appear in myths in connection with this god.

Dionysus was also identified with plants, especially grapes, as a raw material for wine, and trees. Almost all Greeks made sacrifices to Dionysus the Wood. One of the nicknames that the Boeotians gave to the god was the name Dionysus-in-the-Tree. This god was often depicted as a pillar in a cloak, whose face was a bearded mask with leafy shoots.

According to the myth, once, while hunting, Dionysus saw a very beautiful satyr skillfully playing the shepherd's flute. Satyr was called Ampelos. Dionysus liked him very much and became his devoted friend and companion. But one day Ampelos fell off a cliff and crashed. God wept for a long time over his grave and began to beg Father Zeus to return his friend to life. Zeus took pity and turned the dead satyr into a vine, which began to bear fruit, the taste of which was similar to the taste of nectar. In the fruits was contained the juice of the earth, born from sunlight, moisture and fire. It was in memory of this that Dionysus began to travel the world and teach people to grow a vine, from the fruits of which one could make a divine drink - wine, which gives freedom to feelings. On behalf of the satyr Ampelos, the Greek name for grapes appeared - ampelos.

Wine is an attribute of Dionysus, the same as thyrsus, kantharos, ivy, grapes, a snake, a retinue of animals, satyrs and maenads, a general idea of ​​\u200b\u200bfreedom, irresponsibility, abundance, happiness and equality, or as a feeling drug intoxication, varying from light "tipsy" to ecstasy and violent insanity.

Traditionally distinguished Dionysus and his retinue from any other deities and people ivy, which in Greece in winter (during the festivities of Dionysus) does not shed its leaves.

Roman name for Dionysus Bacchus- inexplicable from the Greek language. The place of education of Dionysus - Nisa - was placed either in Egypt or in India, cities with such a root appeared all over Europe (for example, Nice). The name of the clothes of Dionysus - bassara - is not of Greek origin. The name of Dionysus is read on a tablet from Pylos, which dates back to the second millennium BC. e.

The procession of Dionysus, which was of an ecstatic nature, was attended by Bacchantes, satyrs, maenads or bassarids (one of the nicknames of Dionysus is Bassarei) with thyrsus (wands) entwined with ivy. Girdled with snakes, they crushed everything in their path, seized by sacred madness. With cries of "Bacchus, Evoe" they praised Dionysus - Bromius ("stormy", "noisy"), beat tympanums, reveling in the blood of torn wild animals, carving honey and milk from the earth with their thyrsus, uprooting trees and dragging crowds along with them. women and men.

When the god Dionysus unexpectedly appeared before his followers, a monstrous noise arose - turning into a dead silence, filled with the deepest sadness, when he just as suddenly disappeared. At the appearance of Dionysus, his maenads entered into a state of delight and ecstasy, began to dance madly and fell into an indomitable rage.

On Parnassus, every two years, orgies were held in honor of Dionysus, in which fiads - Bacchantes from Attica participated. In Athens, solemn processions were held in honor of Dionysus and the sacred marriage of the god with the wife of the archon basileus was played out.

In Rome, Dionysus was revered under the name of Bacchus (hence Bacchantes, Bacchanalia) or Bacchus. Later he was identified with Osiris, Serapis, Mithra, Adonis, Amon, Liber.