Dionysus

Epic card · No. 5751

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus ( ; Ancient Greek: Διόνυσος Diónysos) is the god of wine-making, orchards, fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; Ancient Greek: Βάκχος Bacchos) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partook of his mysteries were believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms. Traditionally the cult of Dionysus has been said to have originated from Asia Minor and introduced...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5