ionysus was born in Thebes, the son of Zeus and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and is generally known as the god of wine and merry making. Dionysus was the only god whose parents were not both devine. The circumstances of his birth were quite out of the ordinary. Urged and tricked by her jealous rival, Hera, who pretended feelings of friendship for her, the trusting Semele begged Zeus to appear before her in all of the dazzling glory of a god. Unwilling to go back on his promise to grant any request that she made, Zeus did as she wished, although he knew what the result would be as no mortal could live after seeing him thus. Zeus visited Semele as the god of thunder, and she was immediately consumed by his lightning, but not before Zeus snatched from her their child who was three months away from birth. Zeus saved Dionysus from the flames and sewed him up in his thigh, where he kept him until it was time for him to be born properly. In his infancy, Dionysus was taken care of by his aunt, Ino, and later by the nymphs of Mount Nysa in Thrace. Hera punished Ino by causing her husband to go mad, but Zeus rewarded the nymphs by transforming them into stars, known as The Hyades.

When Dionysus grew up, Hera drove him mad, in which condition he travelled through many parts of the earth: Egypt, Syria, Asia and India. Where he was received with hospitality he responded in kind and taught people the elements of civilisation and how to cultivate the vine; where he was not accorded the respect due to him and not recognised as a god entitled to worship, he visited horible punishments upon the inhabitants, usually madness.

Midas, king of Phrygia, is the best example of Dionysus’ friendship. For treating with respect and courtesy the teacher and companion to Dionysus, the aged Silenus, King Midas was rewarded by being granted his request that everything he touch be turned into gold. When the foolish monarch found that his food turned into gold in his mouth and his daughter to gold in his arms, he begged Dionysus to revoke the gift, which the god, very obligingly did. Midas was instructed to bathe in the River Pactolus in Lydia, which ever after ran gold.

Those who incurred Dionysus’ wrath, were not only sent into a frenzy, but in that state harmed or killed themselves and those they loved, or were attacked by their loved ones. For showing scant respect to the god and for refusing to participate in his worship, Lycurgus, king of the Edones, was driven mad, in which condition he killed his own son, Dryas, whom he mistook for a vine, and chopped off his own leg under the same mistaken impression. Pentheus, grandson of Cadmus, king of Thebes, was punished for the same reason; his palace was destroyed, and he was torn to pieces by his mother and his sisters, who in a wild Dionysian frenzy took him for a wild beast. By Ariadne, the cast-off loved one of Theseus, whom he found heartbroken on the island of Naxos, Dionysus was the father of Thaos, who later became king of Lemnos.

When Dionysus returned to Thebes after his travels, he forced the women of the city to leave their homes and to take part in celebrating his wild festivals on Mount Parassus or Mount Cithaeron, both sacred to him and the latter famous as the death places of Actaeon and Pentheus. At Argos, where he was denied worship, he revenged himself by making the women mad until the city recognised his godship and set-up temples in his honour. His many female followers – the Bacchae - ran wild on the mountains, singing, shouting, screaming in an intoxicated frenzy, tearing animals to pieces, and carrying serpents, swords, and cymbals in their hands; their dishevelled appearance, their bloodshot eyes, and the snakes twisting and writhing in their hair did little to add to their attractiveness. Dionysus’ male adherents - The Satyrs – horned, goat-footed, and pug-nosed with pointed ears, were no worse than the female counterparts.

The last, and perhaps the greatest feat associated with Dionysus concerns his journey from Icaria to Naxos on a ship manned by Tyrrhenian pirates, who put him in chains while he slept; as the vessel sped along, the god awoke and realised from the conversation, that his captors were sailing in the direction of Asia, with every intention of selling him as a slave. He immediately changed the sails and oars into snakes and caused ivy to grow around the ship; his chains fell from him and he became a lion, surrounded by hungry panthers, and the air pierced on all sided by the sound of flutes. Feeling that they had seen and heard enough, the sailors, mad with fright, threw themselves into the sea and were changed into dolphins. Dionysus saved Acoetes, the ship’s captain, from the destruction of the crew, as he had tried to persuade his mutinous men to recognise Dionysus’ authority. With all of the rebellious groups and individuals brought under control, and with his godship universally recognised, it’s pleasing to know that Dionysus did not forget his mother. Like a good son, he left his home high on Mount Olympus, and visited Semele in Hades, secured her release and took her back to Olympus, where she was worshipped as Thyone.