Greek Mythology

For any one you can think of see this site -

http://www.medeaslair.net

http://www.medeaslair.net/myths.html


Lovely pictures and well laid out.  For example -

Tales of Dionysus

"At Thebes Alone Do Mortal Women Bear Immortal Gods"

Semele

There have alwayd been many mysteries surrounding Dionysus, the Greek god of the vineyard. He is an intricate and complex individual who, due to the odd nature of his birth is often called Twice Born. In one account Zeus came to Persephone in the form of a snake. The two spent the night together and before long Persephone realized she was pregnant. It was decided that the babe would be called Zagreus, but when the news reached the ears of Zeus' wife Hera, the jealous goddess flew into a rage and petitioned the Titans to murder the child. The infant was to be torn into little pieces, and then in order to hide all traces of the crime, the parts were to be promptly devoured.

The Titans carried out Hera's bidding but before the horrific act could be completed, the goddess Athena appeared and succeeded in saving the unfortunate boy's heart. This she ground into a fine dust and swiftly carried off to her father Zeus.
The god secretly slipped the powdered organ into the cup of Semele, the daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. After drinking the magical elixer, the princess became pregnant and eventually gave birth to baby Dionysus. It is because of the god's second birth in Thebes that he is given the title Twice Born.
Another version once again brings us to the land of Thebes. After being seduced by Zeus, Semele found herself to be with child. Furious over her husband's affair with the mortal, Hera disguised herself as the girl's nurse, and proceeded to plant a fateful seed in Semele's mind. "If Zeus really loved you, he would not refuse anything you were to ask of him" she whispered in the maiden's ear. "Why not ask him to appear to you in all his Olympian glory, just as he does for his wife?" Knowing that a mortal would never be able to withstand the divine brilliance of a god, Hera thought this a sure way of ridding herself of yet another rival. Semele pondered over the odd proposition and patiently waited for Zeus to pay her another visit. In due time Zeus came to call upon his new love. Remembering the words of the goddess, she asked him to swear an oath on the River Styx that he would grant her anything that she desired.
Zeus laughed and readily took the sacred oath that not even a god could break, but when Semele uttered her request he drew back in horror. Knowing he was eternally bound by the vow he took, Zeus could do nothing else but fulfill her wish. He stood before her covered in the blazing light of his divinity, and in an instant poor Semele burst into flames.
Zeus was able to save the infant as he fell from his mother's womb. He then sewed the baby into his own thigh, where it remained until he was ready to greet the world. When the child was fully developed, Zeus removed the stitches and received his new son Dionysus. Once again this mysterious god of the vine had earned the title of Twice Born. Hermes took the baby and brought him to Semele's sister Ino to raise as her own. In order to keep Dionysus safe from the wrath of Hera, Ino was instructed to dress the child as a girl. This is another example of the duality of the god, for he is sometimes represented with feminine traits, the most common being female breasts. Though Ino agreed to take the child, she and her sisters Agave and Autonoe did not believe he was truly the son of Zeus, and therefore chose not acknowledge him as one of the immortals.

The Wanderings of Dionysus

To keep the child safe from Hera, Zeus transformed the young Dionysus into a goat. Hermes then carried him to Mount Nysa where the nymphs living there hid him deep inside a cave. When he later regained his human form, these nymphs became his followers and were known throughout Greece as Maenads. When they grew old, Dionysus asked Medea to give them back their youth, which she did by boiling them in her famous caldron. One day a pirate ship happened to stop on the Isle of Icaria. Seeing the young Dionysus, they believed him to be the son of a wealthy family. When the boy requested a ride to the nearby Island of Naxos, the pirates saw for themselves an easy way to make some extra money.

They brought Dionysus aboard, but as soon as the youth was settled in they changed the ship's course of direction and informed their passenger that he was being held for ransom. Because of the god's beauty, many of the sailors attempted to have their way with him. All that is, except for the helmsman Acoetes, who had a feeling that this was no mortal youth being held captive upon the ship.

Though there was a sharp breeze blowing through her sails, the vessal suddenly came to an abrupt stop. With that, the sounds of phantom flutes filled the air and grapevines amazingly started to twist themselves around the boat's oars.
When wild beasts appeared on the deck and began to devour the crew, the sailors, who were overwhelmed with fear took to jumping overboard. But misfortune did not stop there, for as soon as the unlucky men hit the water, they were instantly transformed into dolphins. As a reward for his efforts to save Dionysus from the hands of his captors, Acoetes was spared and went on to sail the ship to Naxos.
Dionysus was not always lucky enough to escape the fury of Hera. While still in his youth, the envious goddess sent a madness upon him, causing the god to run away from his nurses. He wandered aimlessly throughout Egypt, Syria and many other lands, until finally stopping in Phrygia, where he was cured by the mother goddess Cybele. It was at this time that Dionysus chose to institute many of his own rites. His traveling companions were always made up of large bands of maenads and satyrs. It was common for his male followers to dress in the same flowing robes as the females. This allowed everyone to have the same effeminate look. After leaving Pyrygia, Dionysus made his way across the Eastern Mediterranean. It was here that he continued to establish his own form of worship and sacred mysteries. Those that honored him were blessed with the knowledge of grape cultivation and the pleasures of wine drinking, while those that opposed him were met with destruction.

Dionysus and His Followers

During their celebrations, the followers of Dionysus dressed in animal skins and carried poles called "thyrsi", which were entwined with ivy and topped with pinecones. Cult worship involved nocturnal and orgiastic rites usually performed in the solitude of the surrounding mountains. The attendees were usually under the influence of wine, and at the height of there religious frenzy often saw visions of the god in the form of a bull or a goat. Sexual acts were common during these ceremonial rites, as well as acts of profound violence. Women were known to leave children at home and retreat to the hilltops where they would openly suckle fawns and kids. They would then pull the animals apart with their bare hands and to complete the ritual, the raw flesh would be consumed. In the early Mysteries of Dionysus it was believed that by eating the raw flesh of the victim, one was actually ingesting part of the god himself.

The practice of using the hands to manually dismember a sacrificial victim was not solely reserved for animals. There are accounts of crazed women who after engaging men in sexual acts proceeded to shred their limbs from their bodies.

In the later Mysteries the undertaking of consuming raw flesh was viewed as a great sin and was done away with. You can read more about this by going over to the page dedicated to Orpheus.

Pentheus

Upon the return of Dionysus to Thebes, the women of the city were stricken with madness. They abandoned their homes and joined the bands of maenads, willfully participating in their wild rites. Cadmus had relinquished the throne of Thebes to his grandson Pentheus, who was outraged by this unfamiliar god and his strange group of followers. Refusing to honor the new deity, he decided to have the entire group imprisoned. It would not be long before Pentheus would discover his earthly jail could do little to hold this powerful new god.
Dionysus put to use his charming ways and convinced Pentheus to accompany him to the mountain tops. He promised the new king a night of great excitement, for together they would spy on the women as they practiced their secret rites of worship.
Very anxious for these secrets to be revealed to him, Pentheus dressed himself up as a maenad and followed after the god. He then climbed atop a giant pine tree and watched in amazement as the women danced and devoured the raw flesh of animals.
At the peek of their frenzy, the women discovered Pentheus hiding among the branches. Dionysus created a blue mist to cloud their eyes, causing them to mistake the curious king for a lion. With their bare hands the crazed women tore him to pieces and scattered his body parts across the vast mountainside. Included among the band of maenads was none other than Agave, Pentheus' own mother. While still in a deep trance, she placed the head of the slain king on the end of her thyrus and marched proudly into Thebes. It was at that moment the influence of the god left her and Agave became aware that she had just murdered her own son. Without hesitation, she was thrown from the city gates. Also exiled were her parents Cadmus and Harmonia, who were being punished for previously refusing to accept Dionysus as a god. Pentheus was succeeded by his Uncle Polydorus, and it was during this time that Thebes became the principal Greek center for the cult of Dionysus.

Cadmus and Harmonia were not the only ones penalized for refusing to pay homage to the new god. Dionysus also punished the daughters of King Minyas of Orchomenus, for instead of participating in the holy rites, they chose to go about their normal household duties.

Dionysus drove them mad, causing the sisters to tear to pieces one of their infant sons. After the ordeal was over, the frantic women were transformed into bats. A similar tragedy followed the footsteps of Dionysus into Argos. Here the daughters of Proetus were also driven mad for refusing to worship the new deity. Believing themselves to be cows the sisters murdered and then devoured their own children.

Dionysus and King Midas

A well known tale of Dionysus involves an elderly friend of the god named Silenus. One day Silenus, who was known to be a drunkard, went missing as the army of Dionysus was crossing the land of Phrygia. He was returned to the worried god a few days later by one of the guards of Midas, King of the Mygdonians. It seems that Silenus was blessed with an unquenchable thirst and was easily captured when the king set out bowls filled with sweet wine as bait. Midas had been quite hospitable to his guest, and to show his gratitude Dionysus rewarded him by granting the king one wish.

In a foolish outburst Midas requested that everything he touched would turn to gold. Reluctantly Dionysus agreed, but it was not long before the famished king returned begging the god to take back his bequest.
You see, everything was turning to gold, even the royal dinner. Feeling satisfied that the greedy Midas had learned a valuable lesson, Dionysus agreed to withdraw his gift. He instructed Midas to bathe in the Pactolus River, and as the water washed over his body so would the golden touch be washed away. This proved to be true and to this day the sand along the river bed still bears the color of gold.

The Children of Dionysus

Like his father Zeus, Dionysus had many children by mortal women. While visiting Aetolia, he had the pleasure of sleeping with Althaea, the wife of King Oeneus. Althaea gave birth to Deianeira, the future wife of Heracles. Read more by visiting my page on Chiron . Dionysus was said to have four sons by Ariadne of Crete. Dionysus also had a son with the goddess Aphrodite. The youth was called Priapus and was said to be a satyr type creature with abnormally large genitals. He was known to be a god of gardens, bees, goats and sheep, but unlike other woodland deities never reached a position of notoriety in the Greek stories.

Erigone

A rather sad tale of Dionysus concerns an Athenian named Icarius and his daughter Erigone. Icarius welcomed Dionysus to Athens, and for his hospitality the god decided to reward the old man by teaching him how to make wine. Icarius loaded his wagon with wineskins and along with his beloved dog Maera, set out to spread the new teachings throughout the city. When Icarius saw some shepherds standing by the roadside, he stopped and offered them a taste of the wine. The unexperienced men quickly drank down the unwatered brew and before long became very light in the head.
Being unfamiliar with the effects of fermented beverages, the men began to suspect they had been poisoned. In a drunken rage they beat Icarius to death with a club and buried his body under a nearby tree.

Erigone frantically looked for her missing father, but it was Maera who finally led her to where he had been interred. Erigone was so overcome with grief that she made a noose and hung herself from a tall tree that stood over her father's grave. With both of his masters gone, the faithful dog Maera also chose to end his life by jumping into a nearby well. Dionysus was enraged over the untimely death of his loyal followers, and eagarly sought vengenance against their murderers.

As a punishment for the torment inflicted upon Icarius and Erigone, the god caused a madness to come over every girl residing in the city Athens. After finding a number of lifeless bodies, the desparing Athenians consulted an oracle and learned of the dreadful murder of Icarius and his daughter. The assassins were quickly found and rightfully punished for their wicked deeds. In honor of the two friends of Dionysus, the Athenians instituted a rite which they called The Swinging Festival.
In imitation of Erigone, young women gathered and played on swings that were suspended from trees. Dionysus also honored his friends by placing them in the sky as constellations; Icarius as Bootes, Erigone as Virgo, and Maera as the Dog Star.