#my baccha

[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

[jekyllandhamlet]

A Mother's Daughter

unlit close up + original painting (Italian Fruit Seller) + small explanation under the cut!

I saw this painting and immediately knew I wanted to turn it into something Dionysus themed, and of course I soon landed on The Bacchae. This drawing being Agave with parts of Pentheus- Now, here I could go on about the idea of looking at the Bacchae through a transgender lens, I solidly see Pentheus as Agave's daughter though he doesn't know that until Dionysus gives him a taste of it, but I think I'll write a post about that on it's own some day. For now, I just intend this to show the violence in the play from mother to child, but also from self to self (as Agave intentionally looks a bit like Pentheus, being his mom, and I've dressed her in a fawn pelt just the same.), it's also intentionally showing it in a sort of 'mad' way with the gore being synonymous with the grapes of Dionysus- blending into each other, skin blending into leaves, in a way that doesn't quite make sense.

[nyuiarantes]

Silly little Dionysus :)

(Pentheus is all over the floor)

[sanska]

“My hair is Holy,

I grow it for the god.”

- Bacchae, Euripedes

Hair in the Bacchae is like a really minor thing but I was plagued by this vision the whole afternoon!! I need to banish these scenes from my head and work on my actual research subjects or I’ll go insane fr

Early on in the play Penthus roughly grabs Dionysus’ hair and cuts it, and later he is given a long wig and has a loose lock of hair gently fixed by Dionysus when he dresses up as a maenad. Isn’t that something? Violence juxtaposed against tenderness and how Pentheus slowly forgets his self clothed like a follower of the very god he opposes. I coloured the ends of the wig purple because making the wig from the hair Pentheus cut is hilarious and probably something Dionysus would do ngl

Anyway I can already tell the proportions/hands/quality is fried but idc I needed to draw this and yell at the void a little, y’all can enjoy it too I guess <3

[classicslesbianopinions]

any number of people but remember you can only get so many hands on the boar at a time. consider both strength and ability to not be impeded by the boar's movements. feel free to factor in the potential effects of a bacchic frenzy/being really really drunk.

for further reading on boars: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar

[fruitjuucy]

“There is no cure for madness when the cure itself is mad” | Illustration for Euripides’ The Bacchae

linktree

[terpsikeraunos]

λέγουσι δ᾽ ὥς τις εἰσελήλυθε ξένος, γόης ἐπῳδὸς Λυδίας ἀπὸ χθονός, ξανθοῖσι βοστρύχοισιν εὐοσμῶν κόμην, οἰνῶπας ὄσσοις χάριτας Ἀφροδίτης ἔχων... - And they say that some foreigner has arrived, a sorcerer, an enchanter from the land of Lydia, with sweet-smelling hair in tawny curls, the wine-dark charms of Aphrodite in his eyes...

Euripides, Bacchae 233-236

[thoodleoo]

the maenads were the original fag hags and you will not change my mind on this

[finelythreadedsky]

greek tragedy is like. if you put on clothes you are doomed. if you take off clothes you are doomed. good luck.

[plagued-by-visions]

Dressing in a god honoring way but the god is Dionysus. Drape yourself in animal skin while you dance in his rites. Dress yourself garments not seen in the lands before. Do drag. Cross dress. Bull horns and feather boas.

[mulletlich]

finally finished this portrait of dionysus for class!

[summerscaries]

Putting my text post hands to classical use

✨main characters in my working thesis on Greek tragedy: there’s a murder in the oikos✨

(pt2)

[nyuiarantes]

"And you seem to lead me, being like a bull and horns seem to grow on your head" - The Bacchae

[apollomes-supremacy]

Dionysos

[dionysianfreak]

Euripides, The Bacchae

It will be said, I lack the dignity of my age, To wear this ivy-wreath and set off for the dance. Not so; the God draws no distinction between the young and old, to tell us which should dance and which should not.

He desires equal worship from all men: His claim to glory is universal; no one is exempt.

[fruitjuucy]

Pentheus and the Maenads

Scene from Euripides’ The Bacchae

linktree