Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 41

 Dionysus/Bacchus

Dionysus, also known as Bacchus, was the Greek and Roman god of wine, fertility, and wine-induced ritual madness.  You may think of gods as ageless, but Dionysus started out as a baby.  He was the son of Zeus and, depending on the myth, his mother was Persephone, Demeter, or the mortal woman Semele.  In any case, the statue above shows Dionysus' foster-father, the satyr Silenus, holding the baby Dionysus.

Then Dionysus grew up to become the god of wine and wine-induced merriment.  The bronze statue above was dredged up from the river Tiber in Rome.  It's said to date from the 2nd century AD.

Someone thoughtfully provided a close-up shot of the Tiber Dionysus' butt.

Renaissance artists also portrayed Dionysus.  This is Bacchus by Jacopo Tatti, c. 1511.

And this shapely posterior belongs to a statue of Bacchus in the Bargello Museum, Florence.

Above is Triumphal Procession of Bacchus by Maarten van Heemskerck, c. 1536.  But the actual celebrations of Bacchus were much more rowdy – the drunken revelries known as bacchanalia.

To give you an idea of what went on, these phalluses from the sanctuary of Dionysus were used in bacchanalia in the 3rd to 2nd century BC.

Dionysus/Bacchus was involved in a number of myths.  Above is Midas and Bacchus by Nicolas Poussin, c. 1629.  Remember the myth about King Midas, and how everything he touched turned to gold?  It was Dionysus who granted King Midas that power.

Dionysus also had numerous affairs, mostly with women, but at least one was with a young man, Ampelos, above.  In the myth, Ampelos was gored to death by a wild bull, and Dionysus changed his body into the first grape vine and made wine from it.

But the god is mainly remembered today not for those myths but for wine and for bacchanalia.  The painting above is called A Bacchanal at Dolores Park, San Francisco, 2022.

This photo is just called Bacchanal.  Grapes, check.  Wine, check.  Naked, check.

And this series of photos is called Dionysus - The Wine Flows and the Spirit is Freed.

Followed by Dionysus - The Final Flourish.  Well, considering those phalluses that were used in the bacchanalia, I think he captured the true spirit of Dionysus.