Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility, Latin Bacchus, son of Zeus and Semele.
On the advice of the jealous Hera, who appeared to her in the shape of her wet nurse, Semele wished Zeus to appear to her in his actual form.
This one, bound by the promise to fulfill her every wish, appeared in thunder and lightning and burned bread. Her unborn child, Dionysus, rescued Zeus and carried it out, sewn into her thigh. Semele's sister Ino or the nymphs of Nys nursed and brought up Dionysus.
On the island of Naxos he married the desperate Ariadne (Ariadne thread = solution out of a confused situation). She was abandoned there in her sleep by Theseus, who had promised her marriage. The crown of Ariadne, her bridal gift from Dionysus, was transferred to the sky as a constellation ("Northern Crown").
In the wake of the wine god Satyrn and Silene, horse-like creatures, as well as nymphs were to be found. His admirers, the maenads (Greek "madmen", also called Bacchantines), roamed through the forests and mountains in ritual processions for Dionysus, dressed in the fur of the roe deer calf with torches, swinging the Thyrsos - staff with pine cones at the top - as the god's swarm dancing in rapturous rapture. In the tumult, they tore up young animals and devoured them raw.
Pentheus, king of Thebes, opposed the introduction of the Dionysus cult and wanted to prevent women from participating in the feast of God. On the advice of the god he had not recognized, whom he had imprisoned, he took part in the celebration in the mountains of the forest without permission as a spectator and was, discovered by the furious maenads, torn apart. His mother carried the bleeding head home in rapturous rapture and only realized what had happened too late.
The orgiastic, ecstatic train, also known as bacchanal, originally only allowed for women, was considerably alleviated in the official cult in Greece. Reason for this were desert, partly criminal debaucheries. At the centre of the cult was a phallic procession.
Age representation of the head of Dionysos surrounded by vines and vine leaves. Mask exhibit of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Replica original size.
The theatre (Greek "scene") was an existential part of Greek culture and civilization.
Since the end of the 6th century B.C., tragedies, comedies and satyr games have been performed in Athens every year. These events, similar to those held in other parts of Greece, had grown out of primitive ritual performances in honour of the god of wine and fertility, Dionysus, and initially only took place during the Great Dionysia in March, and since the second half of the 5th century BCE also on the Lenaeen in January as part of the state festivals.
Five comedies were performed in a random order on one day and three tetralogies, each consisting of three tragedies and one satyr game, were performed on the following days. The pieces to be performed were selected by city officials. They made the actors available to the poet and named a choir rain, which had to ensure the organizational and financial performance. The poet himself directed the production. After the performance, a jury decided on the order of the dramas and distributed the prizes in the form of tribrachs, natural objects, etc.
The audience was recruited from all social classes of the population. Entrance fees were reimbursed by the state to the less well-off, while in the Roman Empire theatre visits were completely free of charge.
The costumes of the actors corresponded to the character of the drama. In the tragedies they were long flowing colorful robes with rich decorations, the actors wore masks. A high hair attachment on the masks, as well as gusset boots (kothurne) with overstrong leather soles made her figures appear higher. In the comedies the actors also wore masks, mostly short robes, often a leather phallos. Extensive leather upholstery on the belly and back gave their bodies grotesque shapes.
The theatre masks worn by Greeks and Romans mostly consisted of model-shaped, stucco-fixed, painted canvas with eye and mouth openings and attached wig. A large number of life-size theatre masks, mainly made in terracotta, also in marble, have been preserved.
