As the god of the vine Dionysus was closely connected to the earth. Since his mother Semele was a mortal, Dionysus had the status of a demi-god. And like the grapevines that he established, Dionysus himself was dismembered and resurrected. He could inspire men with lofty visions or degrade them into raving savages through his powers of intoxication. His worship was marked by ecstatic ritual, by frenzied excesses in the wildernesses, and also by sublime dramatic festivals. He was often accompanied by the Maenads, or Bacchantes: wild women carrying rods tipped with pine cones.
When Dionysus' mother was destroyed by Zeus revealing himself in a flash of lightning, Zeus took her unborn infant and sewed it inside of his thigh. There the new god developed and had a second birth. But Hera held a grudge against the child and sent the Titans to tear him to pieces, which they did. He was brought back to life, however, by the Titaness Rhea, his grandmother. And Zeus saw to it that Dionysus was protected. Cared for by mountain nymphs, the god invented wine and in time he grew to maturity.
Then Dionysus set about his mission of establishing vine cultivation, with its mysteries and rites, throughout Asia Minor and India. He met opposition in various places but those who opposed him usually met with terrible fates. Accompanied by Maenads he visited Thebes, which was ruled by King Pentheus, his own cousin. Pentheus took an immediate dislike to this strange young man of dissolute appearance and to his enraptured retinue of women. He ordered the whole group chained and imprisoned, against the sound advice of Teiresias the seer. No earthly power could shackle the god and his followers; they escaped easily. Dionysus shattered Pentheus' palace and drove him mad. In his lunacy Pentheus decided to spy on the Maenads in their revels and went dressed as a woman. Out in the mountains he came upon the frenzied woen as they feasted on animals they had torn apart. The Maenads rushed upon Pentheus, thinking him a wild beast. Pentheus' own mother ripped his head off while the others tore him limb from limb.
On another occasion Dionysus was walking along the shore and pirates captured him, seeing in the richly dressed young man an easy source of ransom. On board the ship the pirates tried to chain him, but their attempt was fruitless, for the shackles kept falling off. The helmsman recognized the divinity of the captive and pleaded with the captain to release the god, yet the captain spurned his advice. Then Dionysus caused the ship to run with wine and a vine to entangle the mast. Moreover, he changed himself into a lion and a bear, which terrified the crew. As Dionysus mauled the captain, the crew leapt overboard, except for the helmsman, and were transformed into dolphins. The god then resumed his true form and reassured the frightened helmsman that he had found favor with the son of Zeus and Semele.
Dionysus was never a great lover, but he did comfort the princess Ariadne after the hero Theseus had deserted her. In fact Ariadne bore him several children, and when she died he set the crown he had given her in the heavens as a token of his love for her. He was also faithful to the mother he had never seen. Determined to retrieve her from the underworld, Dionysus went down, forced Death to stand aside, and brought Semele out of that gloomy region. By virtue of his connection with Zeus he was able to secure a modest place for his mother on Olympus.
