Dionysus - Mythology.
Publié le 26/01/2014
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«
all his glory as a mighty god, flashing lightning and
hurling thunderbolts.
No mortal could withstand such
power, and Semele perished in flames.
Zeus snatched
the unborn child from the fire and sewed it into his
thigh so that it could mature for another three months.
In due course, Zeus gave birth to a boy, Dionysus,
who is sometimes called Dithyrambus (Child of the
Double Door), referring to his two births, once from
his mother’s body and again from his father’s body.
Some scholars believe that this myth represents
Zeus asserting his power over mortals by killing
Semele and taking her child under his protection.
The Childhood of Dionysus Zeus entrusted
the care of his newborn child to Semele’s sister, Ino,
or perhaps to the Nymphs or Mount Nysa.
Although
her rival, Semele, was dead, Hera was still jealous;
she transferred her hatred to Dionysus.
Hera caused
the child’s foster parents to become insane, but
Dionysus survived their madness, and Zeus gave him
to Hermes to take to the nymphs of Nysa, which
may have been a mountain near Helicon, the highest
point in Boeotia, or a purely imaginary spot.
The
nymphs were bacchants.
They took good care of the
child and Dionysus grew to manhood in Nysa.
Hera’s hatred of Dionysus and his mother may
reflect conservative opposition to the ritual use of wine
and the extravagant orgies of the Bacchants and Maenads.
Dionysus was eventually admitted to Olympus..
»
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Liens utiles
- From Bulfinch's Mythology: Bacchus (Dionysus) - anthology.
- Prometheus Unbound Author's Preface Percy Bysshe Shelley The Greek tragic writers, in selecting as their subject any portion of their national history or mythology, employed in their treatment of it a certain arbitrary discretion.
- Maenads Greek The crazed women who followed the god Dionysus.
- Pandora (All-giving) Greek The first woman to appear on Earth, according to Greek mythology.
- pantheon Greek and Roman In mythology, pantheon refers to all the gods of a people, particularly those considered to be the most prominent or most powerful.