Dionysus

And Then There Was Wine By: Ty F.

How great would it be to be the god of wine? It would be pretty great if your name is Dionysus! Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, fertility, and ecstasy. Dionysus is a very broad topic that can be broken up into five different topics; the personality to Dionysus, whether he was a god of anything else besides wine, who his parents were, how he was born, and the reasons why he is the god of wine. This will help you learn most about the beginning of his life and what he has turned out to be later on in life.

Dionysus had two personalities, bitterness and calmness. This also resembles the quality of wine, bitterness for the taste yet calmness for the relaxation effect. The personality of Dionysus was very different than his other family members’ personality because Dionysus is what people would call "bipolar." This god would often lash out in anger, but sometimes he would be very calm and serine. Personality-wise, Dionysus normally stayed at a calm state, but every so often, he would become enraged and become bitter. Greek god Dionysus's personality was very bitter-sweet.

Besides being god of wine, fertility and ecstasy, Dionysus is also the Greek god of social and beneficial influences. He would be known to cause other people such as mortals to cut loose and not act like themselves, but to act as if they were a prime-ape. Dionysus had a "mission" and he were to fulfill his mission by causing people to put an end to all the worry in the world, to just have fun with themselves, and to just love the life they are living. Another thing that Dionysus was a god of was vines. It was said that he invented the vines that help us make wine today. With comparison to wine, if you had too much of Dionysus in your life, then that could be okay, but a little too much of him can cause serious trouble on your part.

The parents of Dionysus were the alpha god, Zeus; the god of the sky and lightning, and Semele, the mortal. Dionysus is the only god known of that is a half-blood. This makes him very unique in ways that part of him is fierce and rage-filled, while the other part of him is relaxed and passionate. The story goes where Zeus fell in love with Semele, so he came to her in the black of night while invisible and impregnated her with Dionysus. It's told that Semele was very happy to be in relations with a god, even though she did not even know what god she was making love to. Due to being a lover with Zeus, Hera became very enraged with this and visited Semele in a nurse disguise and managed to convince her she should see who her lover really is. This all came true, and when Semele finally saw Zeus for who he really was, Semele was destroyed.

The way Dionysus was born is related to the story about his parents falling in love. Dionysus had a very strange way of being born, due to being born from a thigh, but not just any thigh, but Zeus's thigh! This is very confusing for some people because it is impossible to be born from a thigh, let alone the thigh of a male. The god of wine, Dionysus, was born from Zeus's thigh because when Semele saw Zeus with her own eyes, she shattered to pieces. Zeus felt very bad about what happened, so he took the fetus and implanted it into his upper portion of his leg. When Dionysus was born, Zeus gave the small infant to a group of nymphs to be raised by.

For a lot of people, it can be very confusing why Dionysus became the god of wine. Dionysus is actually the god of wine because every glass of wine has two sides; the bitterness and rage, and the serenity and calmness. With this in mind, he became the god with two personalities. Oftentimes, Dionysus can be very relaxed and carefree, but every now and then, he will lash out in anger and cause destruction in his path. Since wine has two sides, so does Dionysus. It is also said that Dionysus is the wine god because his hair is the same color as the alcoholic drink. This god is known to be the god of ecstasy as well. He is the ecstasy god because he is known to cause mortals to go into a state of mind so strange, that only ecstasy has in common with. Dionysus is born to perform this task.

Dionysus' life was very intriguing, yet interesting because of his life and how unique he was. He was the god of wine, fertility, and ecstasy and was worshiped widely throughout ancient Greece.



Web Sources

"Dionysus." Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online. <> [Accessed December 7, 2010].

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“Dionysus.” Myth Man’s Homework Help Center-Dionysus. < []> [Accessed December 12, 2010]