Dionysus Picture

Dionysus or Dionysos (English pronunciation: /ˌdaɪ.ɵˈnaɪsəs/; Greek: Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος, pron. [di.'o.ny.sos]) is the ancient Greek god of wine, wine cups, wineskin, grapes, and fertility. The god who inspires ritual madness, joyful worship, and ecstasy, carnivals, celebration and a major figure of Greek mythology. He is included as one of the twelve Olympians in some lists. Dionysus is typical of the god of the epiphany, "the god that comes". He was also known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the Romans and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. In addition to winemaking, he is the patron deity of agriculture and the theater. Hailed as an Asiatic foreigner, he was thought to have had strong ties to the East and to Ethiopia in the South. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy or wine. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry. Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.

Prequel XII0 page 5
Dzeus - the sphinx scientist