#bacchic

How to Celebrate the City Dionysia

WHAT IS THE CITY DIONYSIA?

The City Dionysia (known also as the Greater Dionysia) was one of two ancient annual Athenian festivals grouped together as The Dionysia, dedicated to Lord Dionysus. The City Dionysia was held during the 10th to 17th of Elaphebolion (which roughly coincides to late March to early April) for around 8 days. The festival celebrates and honors the origin of Dionysos Eleuthereus' (which meant "The Liberator") arrival to Athens and is heavily known and famed for the theatrical competitions of Greek tragedies.

However, the god, Lyaeus, did not allow such wickedness by his followers to go unpunished. Grieved by the loss of the poet of his sacred rites, he immediately fastened down, with twisted roots, all the Thracian women who had seen the sin, since the path, that each one was on, at that moment, gripped their toes and forced the tips into the solid ground. As a bird, when it is caught in a snare, set by a cunning wild-fowler, and feels itself held, tightens the knot by its movement, beating and flapping; so each of the women, planted, stuck fast, terrified, tried uselessly to run. But the pliant roots held her, and checked her, struggling. When she looked for where her toenails, toes and feet were, she saw the wood spreading over the curve of her leg, and, trying to strike her thighs with grieving hands, she beat on oak: her breasts turned to oak: her shoulders were oak. You would have thought the jointed arms were real branches, and your thought would not have been wrong. (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 11.67-84)

▪︎ Shell (Cassis madagascariensis or helmet shell), carved in cameo over much of the surface with a bacchic procession.

Date: 19th century

Place of origin: Campania, Naples, Italy

Sorry, I've been hiding in my room for the last few months (the people around me need to stop dying. Really killing my hot girl summer vibes) here's the full hymn;

To Dionysôs

I begin to sing of Thundering Iobakkhos,

He who writhes in the climbing vine.

He, whom Semêlê bore–

Liberated by Lightning, midwived by the Holy fire of Agathos Theos.

And sown into the supplicated womb that is Kronion’s muscled-thigh.

He, who was hidden within the hills of Nysa

To be kept hidden from Jealous Híra

Who wished to bless him with her mighty wrath.

He is named Dionysôs Dimêtôr,

Twice born son of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala,

Who descended into Haidês to aid in the resurrection

Of his ill-fated Semêlê

To aid in her ascension to join Oi Theoi in eternal bliss.

Down the hills of every wild mountain.

Within the green of the ripened vine.

In the whisker of the growling leopard.

He is there, blessèd is he.

And Blessèd are those who know the mysteries of Allah.

Blessèd are those who hallow their lives in the worship of God,

Whomsoever the spirit of God possesseth is one who belongs to the most holy body of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.

Blessèd are the dancers and those who are purified in the frenzy of Dionysôs, who dances among the hills in the holiest place of God.

Blessèd are the thyrsus-bearers, who wield in their hands the holy wand of Allah.

Blessèd are those who wear the crown of the ivy of that which is sacred to He who is Divine incarnate.

Blessèd, blessèd are they: Dionysôs is their God!

He, who is honey sweet on the tongue of Ariadne

O, mighty Phallên, 

He who lives in the bed chamber cry.

Let not a noise creep from the tip of my own tongue,

If not the shout of ecstasy

In observance of your rite.

Almighty God,

Who drives men into madness,

Hear my hymn and bless me with thine own bliss

That I may throw my hands to the sun

In your ecstatic presence

That I may whisper breaths of pleasure

And be dampened in my own sweat

In the dance of Hermaphroditos.

To sing praise to Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala

From which you became God

I wipe tears from my face

And bless the ground on which I stand.

To feel you, Bromios,

In the thundering drums

As Gaia trembles

Under the assault of the Thyrsus-bearers

Who beat down the Earth in your name.

Crowned in ivy I lie beneath you

O, beautiful God,

In thanksgiving of your blessing.

The blessing of Freedom,

The blessing of He who lives in the wild brush.

I raise my arms in praise of you,

As I have before

And will do many times more

To shout the glory of your holy name.

Iobakkhos, Evohé!

Bromios, Evohé!

Mainolês, Evohé!

Phallên, Evohé!

Theoinos, Evohé!

Kissios, Evohé!

Dimêtôr, Evohé!

Sôtêrios, Evohé!

Okay so my A-levels are approaching and once again, what is the point of having this blog if I can’t exploit it for revision, and so today I am going to explain Euripides Bacchae to you all. Also this is my favourite favourite Greek tragedy and so you all have to love it too. Okay yay <3

So, in true Euripidean fashion, the play begins with a prologue that sets the scene. The one giving this speech is Dionysus who explains the complicated circumstances of his birth. His human mother, Semele, was pregnant with Zeus’ child and long story short Hera got angry and Semele dies with Dionysus still in her womb. Zeus takes the baby from the womb and sews him into his thigh, birthing it from his thigh when the time came. However, the family of Semele (especially her two sisters) did not believe the circumstances of her pregnancy. They were convinced that Semele died because she had lied about her relationship with Zeus and so they denied the fact that the child was the son of a god.

The now adult Dionysus says that he has travelled all around Asia gathering a cult of female worshipers (Maenads) to establish his right as a god. He says he has now returned to the place of his birth, Thebes, to take revenge on the ruling house of Cadmus (his mothers father) to punish them for his refusal to worship him, and to vindicate his mother. As the play begins, Dionysus has driven the women of Thebes (including his aunts Agave and Ino) to the mountains of Cithaeron and turned them into his worshippers. The only men in the city who have accepted Dionysus include the king Cadmus, and the prophet Tiresias (although there is a lot of debate over whether these two really accept Dionysus or if they are just taking the piss).

Enter the young king of Thebes, Pentheus (son of Agave and cousin of Dionysus). Guys also wait, when I first read the Bacchae (for reasons you will soon find out) I literally would shit on Pentheus, but I found out that he’s actually like 17 which changes the whole morality of the play and now I kinda feel bad for him rip. Anyways, enter Pentheus, who proceeds to ban Dionysian worship in its entirety and orders his soldiers to arrest anyone engaging in the bacchic rites. He sees the Maenads ‘divinely-inspired’ insanity as drunken cavorting as an attempt escape the moral codes of Theban society.

And then enter Dionysus, who has deliberately allowed himself to be arrested in his disguise as a the long-haired Lydian leader of the Dionysian priests (referred to as the Stranger). He is then questioned by Pentheus. However, it is clear that Pentheus (despite his apparent disgust of the Maenads) is actually very fascinated by the maenads. The reason for that is basically he thinks that the Maenads are having 0rg13s in the woods and he lowkey wants to see it. However, the Strangers refusal to reveal the full extent of the Bacchic rites angers Pentheus and so he locks him up. However, as a god, Dionysus is able to break free quickly and then basically sets fire to Pentheus’ palace. Excessive but okay king.

Guys also I know that Pentheus has banned Dionysian worship and that is seriously blasphemous of him, but you have to understand that this strange man has turned up and taken all the women of the city to the mountains and is claiming to be a god, you would be confused as well. So when he bans Bacchic worship, I don’t think he’s doing it out of malice I think (as a 17 year old) he is doing his best to protect his people.

Okay now to set the scene again, this poor confused 17 year old has just had his palace burnt to the ground and now some strange messenger arrives and tells him what the Maenads are really doing. He says that the Maenads are behaving in a superhuman manor and are performing incredible feats and miracles. The messenger tells of how the women hit the ground with their thrysus and milk and honey spring from the ground. However, when they see the male guards they are whipped into a wild frenzy, chasing after them. He says that the weapons of the guards are unable to harm them, whilst the women are able to defeat them armed only with sticks. He also says some stuff about they are suckling the wild animal cubs in the forest and also they rip up a cow and honestly, there is a lot going on. A lot.

Anyways, this makes Pentheus even more determined to see the maenads. There is some debate over whether or not Pentheus is simply curious about the maenads, or if there is some psycho-sexual thing going on here, but feel free to interpret that however you want. Anyways, Dionysus then says that if Pentheus is so eager to see the maenads, he should dress up as one and infiltrate the rites, saying this in an attempt to humiliate Pentheus.

Pentheus then dresses up as a woman and there is this whole scene where he stands there admiring Dionysus gorgeous curls and his eyelashes, and it’s all a bit homoerotic if you read the deeper meaning. When Pentheus is all dressed up, rather than being humiliated, he is quite taken by his image and asks if he looks pretty and if his wig is fixed right. Basically, this poor boy is having a moment of gender euphoria before it all goes to shit.

As you may or may not know, all violence in greek theatre happens off stage and is retold through messenger speeches. This is because theatre was incredibly sacred to the Greeks and therefore its ritual purity was not to be ruined by violence. Which leads on to the next part. A messenger enters and tells the following. He says that the god took his vengeance a step further than humiliation, helping Pentheus to the top of a tree to spy on the maenads secretly. However, Dionysus alerts the women of the arrival of a man and they proceed to shake the tree from its roots until Pentheus falls. (Trigger warning because it gets quite violent). They then proceed to rip him apart by his limbs and play catch with his head.

Agave (his mother) still possessed with Bacchic frenzy, arrives back at the palace carrying her sons head and displays it at the feet of Cadmus. The catch is, she thinks this is the head of a mountain lion that she has defeated, and has no idea what she has really done. But as the Dionysian ecstasy begins to wear off she releases what she was done and become inconsolable. Cadmus comments that the god has punished the family excessively.

Dionysus then appears in his true form and exiles Ino and Agave. Deciding that this is still not enough, he also turns Cadmus and his wife into snakes. By the end of the play, Dionysus has all but destroyed the house of Cadmus.

Okay so when I didn’t know that Pentheus was literally a child I was like, mmm slay Dionysus mwah. But now it’s maybe not his biggest slay. Also, I cant help but feel for Pentheus as a young king who is convinced he is doing the best for his people, and is being punished unjustly for the impiety of his mother and aunt. Also, i have done this play absolutely no justice so I really recommend that you all read the Bacchae, it’s a very short and very easy read!

Anyways, that was grim but it is my absolute favourite tragedy, and I hope you all enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed writing about it. Hopefully I’ll see you all next week!