Summary Of The Cult Of Dionysus
What Are The Main Historical Features of The Dionysiac Cult?
Introduction
Within this paper I will be exploring the many diverse aspects of the cult of Dionysus in Ancient Greece, the significance they had throughout its time, and the relevance in our present-day. This discussion will be divided into three sections stated, in order, as; the origins of the cult, the practices that took place within the religion, and the parallels with Christianity today. The opening section will address how Dionysus, the great God of wine, came to be leading into when and where this cult is speculated to have started and who participated in this worship. My next segment focuses on the festivities that took place and the teachings these gatherings had. I …show more content…
One of the informal celebrations that happened frequently was Symposiums. These are male-only parties held in honor of Dionysus where they drank, danced and had female dancers in for their entertainment. Although the symposiums were a party mostly for pleasure they done more for the participants. A common theme in Dionysiac religion is the warnings of drinking to excess with this particular cautioning, found in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae 2.36c, being particularly striking to me. It displays the order of downfall with every bowl of wine that is consumed.
“Euboulous makes Dionysus say: “three bowls only do I mix for the temperate – one to health which they empty first, the second to love and pleasure, the third to sleep. When this is drunk up wise guests go home. The fourth bowl is our no longer, but it brings violence to the fifth uproar, the sixth to drunken revel and the seventh to black eyes. The eight is the policeman’s, the ninth belongs to biliousness and the tenth to madness and hurling the furniture. Too much wine, poured into one vessel easily knocks the legs from under the
Introduction
Within this paper I will be exploring the many diverse aspects of the cult of Dionysus in Ancient Greece, the significance they had throughout its time, and the relevance in our present-day. This discussion will be divided into three sections stated, in order, as; the origins of the cult, the practices that took place within the religion, and the parallels with Christianity today. The opening section will address how Dionysus, the great God of wine, came to be leading into when and where this cult is speculated to have started and who participated in this worship. My next segment focuses on the festivities that took place and the teachings these gatherings had. I …show more content…
One of the informal celebrations that happened frequently was Symposiums. These are male-only parties held in honor of Dionysus where they drank, danced and had female dancers in for their entertainment. Although the symposiums were a party mostly for pleasure they done more for the participants. A common theme in Dionysiac religion is the warnings of drinking to excess with this particular cautioning, found in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae 2.36c, being particularly striking to me. It displays the order of downfall with every bowl of wine that is consumed.
“Euboulous makes Dionysus say: “three bowls only do I mix for the temperate – one to health which they empty first, the second to love and pleasure, the third to sleep. When this is drunk up wise guests go home. The fourth bowl is our no longer, but it brings violence to the fifth uproar, the sixth to drunken revel and the seventh to black eyes. The eight is the policeman’s, the ninth belongs to biliousness and the tenth to madness and hurling the furniture. Too much wine, poured into one vessel easily knocks the legs from under the