Cult of Dionysus

The exact historical basis of the Cult of Dionysus and Dionysian rites still remains unknown, however there are some speculations. Dionysus may have traveled throughout Greece as an orpheotelestae, or a traveling healer, curing illnesses through ecstatic dance. The people interpreted this image as Dionysus himself seeking the establishment of his worship there. == Women in the cult of Dionysus ==

Women played an especially prominent role in the cult of Dionysus, in part due to the Dionysian effect he had on women. Homer's Hymn 1 references Dionysus as "gynaimanes", or "he who drives women insane." Known as maenads, women followers of Dionysus performed ecstatic forms of worship, including participation in the orgeia. Human maenadic dancers engaging in ecstatic worship were popularly depicted on Greek vases. The oreibaia, or winter dance, was a popular form of maenadic Dionysian worship that was scheduled biannually in winter. Oftentimes, for these forms of worship, Maenads would dress in fawnskin and ivy wreaths. Maenads would run into the woods and, imbued with enthousiasmos, call for Dionysus or yell "ewoi", a Bacchic cry of frenzy. Hair tossing, dance, and thyrsos wielding was also a common occurrence during the oreibaia. In the second century, Pausanias referenced maenads who submitted Mount Parnassus, and Plutarch's De primo frigido discussed maenads worshiping and getting caught in a snowstorm, illustrating that maenads were not mythological figures in Greek culture, but rather real women. Violence was a prevalent facet of maenadic frenzies. Maenads would catch, kill, and eat wild animals, from snakes to bears and wolves, in the forest during their ecstatic trances, engaging in sparagmos and omophagia. The Bacchae by Euripides also references the violent tendencies of maenadic worship, in which maenads mistook King Pentheus for a lion and killed him. The maenads usually killed their prey by hand, but depictions of weapons, such as a sword, have been portrayed on pyxes. The appeal the Cult of Dionysus had towards women specifically also captures the reversal of the socio-biological realm of ancient Greece. Women could not participate in much of public life, including drinking and hunting, and were forced towards domestic obligations centering the home and children. Participating in ecstatic and violent rites suggests the subversion of the established division of labor and the occupation of a dominant role, a notion common in other festivals like the Roman Saturnalia. ==Bacchanalia==

'' by Caravaggio Introduced into Rome (c. 200 BC) from Magna Graecia or by way of Greek-influenced Etruria, the bacchanalia were held in secret and attended by women only, in the grove of Simila, near the Aventine Hill, on 16 and 17 March. Subsequently, admission to the rites were extended to men, and celebrations took place five times per month. The notoriety of these festivals, where many kinds of crimes and political conspiracies were supposed to be planned, led in 186 BC to a decree of the Senate—the so-called Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Calabria (1640), now at Vienna—by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the Senate. In spite of the severe punishment inflicted on those found in violation of this decree, the Bacchanalia were not stamped out, at any rate in the south of Italy, for a very long time. Dionysus is equated with both Bacchus and Liber (also Liber Pater). Liber ("the free one") was a god of fertility, wine, and growth, married to Libera. His festival was the Liberalia, celebrated on 17 March, but in some myths the festival was also held on 5 March. ==Appellations==

, Rome Dionysus sometimes has the epithet Acratophorus', by which he was designated as the giver of unmixed wine, and worshiped at Phigaleia in Arcadia. In Sicyon he was worshiped by the name Acroreites. As Bacchus, he carried the Latin epithet Adoneus', "Ruler". Aegobolus, "goat killer", was the name under which he was worshiped at Potniae in Boeotia. As Aesymnetes ("ruler" or "lord") he was worshiped at Aroë and Patrae in Achaea. Another epithet was Bromios, "the thunderer" or "he of the loud shout". As Dendrites, "he of the trees", he is a powerful fertility god. Dithyrambos is sometimes used to refer to him or to solemn songs sung to him at festivals; the name refers to his premature birth. Eleutherios ("the liberator") was an epithet for both Dionysus and Eros. Other forms of the god as regarding fertility include the epithet in Samos and Lesbos Enorches' ("with balls" or perhaps "in the testicles" in reference to Zeus' sewing the infant Dionysus into his thigh, i.e., his testicles). Evius is an epithet of his used prominently in Euripides' play, The Bacchae. Iacchus (Greek: ), possibly an epithet of Dionysus, is associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; in Eleusis, he is known as a son of Zeus and Demeter. The name Iacchus may come from iacchus, a hymn sung in honor of him. With the epithet Liknites ("he of the winnowing fan"), he is a fertility god connected with the mystery religions. A winnowing fan was similar to a shovel and was used to separate the chaff from the grain. In addition, Dionysus is known as Lyaeus ("he who unties") as a god of relaxation and freedom from worry and as Oeneus, he is the god of the wine press. In the Greek pantheon, Dionysus (along with Zeus) absorbs the role of Sabazios, a Phrygian deity. In the Roman pantheon, Sabazius became an alternate name for Bacchus. ==See also==