#dionysus religion

[loverofdoves]

lineart of a piece i'm working on of Lord Dionysus! i'm super happy with how it's turning out!

[cameron-possibly]

ἥκω Διὸς παῖς τήνδε Θηβαίων χθόνα Διόνυσος, ὃν τίκτει ποθ᾽ ἡ Κάδμου κόρη Σεμέλη λοχευθεῖσ᾽ ἀστραπηφόρῳ πυρί

"I have come, the child of Zeus, to this land of Thebes. I, Dionysus, whom Semele the daughter of Cadmus once bore, brought forth by the fire of lightning."

Bacchae - Euripides

[mythologyofthepoetandthemuse]

The Derveni Krater, a masterpiece of ancient metalwork. Found in Derveni, near Thessaloniki, in 1965. The funerary inscription on the krater writes it's dedicated to Astiouneios, son of Anaxagoras, from Larissa, an aristocrat. Some believe that this elaborate artefact was made in Athens while others suppose that it could be created in the Macedonian court, the date of its creation isn't clear as well, generally categorised as Hellenistic. What is most important though is the krater's vivid, playful and sensual decoration with satyrs, maenads and the pair of Dionysus and Ariadne. Usually, when someone died unmarried and the family had the means, such a depiction of a happy mated afterlife was preferred so to comfort the relatives for their loss. The relationship depicted between Dionysus and Ariadne seems more than sensual, the transparency of her clothing, along with his nakedness and their stances are more than revealing of their common passion.

Now at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece. The Derveni Krater may seem gold but it's actually made of bronze.

[zagreusian]

Temple of Bacchus at Baalbek, Lebanon

The Temple of Bacchus is part of the Baalbek archaeological site, in the Beqaa Valley region of Lebanon. The temple complex is considered an outstanding archaeological and artistic site of Roman Architecture and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. This monument to Bacchus is one of the best preserved and grandest Roman temple ruins; its age is unknown, but its fine ornamentation can be dated to the second century CE.

[lionofchaeronea]

Polychrome terracotta sculpture of the god Dionysos, holding an egg and a rooster. The unusual attributes may hint at a connection to Orphism, which held that the first deity, Phanes or Protogonos ("First-Born"), was hatched from a cosmic egg. Adherents of Orphism saw humankind as the descendants of Dionysos (under the name "Zagreus"), created when the Titans devoured the young Zagreus and were then struck by Zeus' thunderbolt. Artist unknown; created in Tanagra, Boeotia (an important center of terracotta production) ca. 350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.

[gigisluigi]

Crazy to think that by now, Dionysus should have transitioned from a god of ecstasy to one of social refinement and polite gatherings if it weren't for ancient Greek religion losing its prevalence.

And I mean that Dionysus, as a god who promotes madness and disinhibitions, is what's left of a time when wine was our strongest alcoholic beverage, a time of maenads and symposiums. Nowadays, we have liquor (spirits), far better for getting drunk, and beer, as the always cheaper alternative, so in a "let's get drunk moment," wine isn't picked. That way, the beverage has been left to the sophisticated: culinary connoisseurs, elegant dinner parties, wine enthusiasts, elites, and intellectuals.

And if that's our perception of wine, shouldn't that also be the dominion of its god?

[midnightmindcave]

I don’t even know if I want to talk about the relationship (classical, mythological) between Orpheus and Dionysus, but I kind of do want to very much. So many Kaos fans have picked up on Orpheus becoming a priest of Dionysus and how Orpheus discovers the Dionysian mysteries but… do y’all know how the story of that partnership ends? Does anyone want to talk about whether or not it will come into play in the series? Is Orpheus really going to fuck off in his dirty old car and never be seen or heard from again? Because I devoted almost five years of my life to studying and writing about Orpheus (amateur, dilettante) and… there’s a lot more to their story.

I’m tempted to start a sideblog or a community over this series…

[zenowitchstuff]

Pinterest has a collage feature now so i’ve been having some fun making some offerings/ devoting some time to the Gods!

[dian-and-the-gods]

The drawing grew, I drew more deities. It's on my altar now

[prolibytherium]

There's a LOT of things people do wrong when constructing fantasy beliefs in pantheons of gods, but one of the more specific is having only one god related to fertility and it kind of being just a horny sex thing.

Like you'll have one in the entire bunch whose sphere is listed as fertility and it's basically like Yeah this is the sex one. She's always depicted naked (but not TOO naked because censorship and/or the writer's own skittishness). She's going to have the exact body type epitomized in contemporary western beauty standards and there's usually no chance in hell that she's gonna be fat (unless MAYBE they're referencing 'venus' figurines). Her thing is fertility, which means having sex and making babies. Might be a goddess of beauty or love or marriage too, because these are kinda sex things, but that's probably it. And yeah that sort of thing is virtually nonexistent in real life.

Like the concept of fertility is so fundamentally important to the function of most societies in human history in ways that it is just Not in industrialized imperial core countries. Most people are getting food from stores, and not having to worry about harvesting crops or breeding livestock or foraging for food or having enough animals to hunt, so fertility only really comes up as a concern if you're trying to have kids (and there is certainly societal pressure to have children, but your wellbeing and survival is rarely going to Depend on it). And I think writing only from that perspective and not even trying to learn about WHY fertility is so conceptually important is why you see this trend.

There's no absolute universal statement about how people believe in gods but it's broadly accurate that systems with many deities will Usually have more than one deity associated with fertility, and these associations will certainly include human reproduction but also the fertility of livestock/hunted animals, plants, the land itself.

Some fertility deities may also be heavily associated with seasonal changes or environmental factors that agriculture or foraging is dependent on (spring/summer/fall, seasonal rains, seasonal flooding, rain itself, sunlight, good soil, rivers, wetlands, etc). Some certainly might be related to love, marriage, sex, and beauty, but that's VERY RARELY going to be the sole way the concept of fertility is embodied. And they'll often will have other associations not directly about fertility, or related to fertility in culturally specific ways.

[selenophiliiaaa]

got a new book from a local witchy store and i am So Excited to read it - its “Secrets of Greek Mysticism; a modern guide to daily practice with the Greek gods and goddesses” by George Lizos,,, im only a couple chapters in but it seems like itll be a really good read !!

[loverofdoves]

💜 altar update! i cleaned everything and did some organizing, i’m quite happy with how everything turned out 💜

[caintooth]

available here

[patience-and-prayers]

Dionysus:

[brimo5]

He is at an Egyptian-Roman fashion show😭

[lionofchaeronea]

The god Dionysos, holding a kantharos (two-handled drinking cup) in his right hand and a grapevine in his left. Side A of an Attic red-figure amphora attributed to the Berlin Painter and dated between 490 and 480 BCE. Found at Vulci; now in the Louvre.