Re-Visioning Dionysus: A Modern Spin on a

Ancient Diety
Posted on July 28, 2011 by Priscilla

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l recently rediscovered my youthful love for Greek mythology. It came on suddenly while I was lecturing on
Hellenic Greek culture for my community college students, and was reminded of the many legacies of Greek
civilization and how they inspired all areas of literature, art, and philosophy to some extent in subsequent
generations. The textbook I am using, which released its 6th edition early in 2008, stresses the follies of corrupted
absolute power for the downfall of most ancient civilizations, especially Egypt, Greece and Rome. The books
latent claim is that through a study of the humanities, one can understand the dangers of hubris and how it cannot
be successfully sustained. The gods played archetypal central roles in maintaining the boundaries between
human and Olympian power. For example, one Hellenic ideal was to balance Apollo with Dionysus, or order with
chaos. In Greek literature, this dichotomy is demonstrated by the consequences a character suffers if he or she
operates under the guise of hubris and absolute power in decision-making, or Apollo, and how he or she will be
put back into ones place by Dionysus. Unfortunately, the death of theater at the end of the Hellenic era also
brought a sort of death of Dionysus. He is still around, but has had to take on a new guise, forcing us in American
society to learn a new way of experiencing the archetype.
To understand Dionysus as a god, it helps to first understand his three births as a god. In the first, he is taken from
Semele by Zeus to protect him from Heras wrath after Semele is killed by Zeuss divine presence. This birth is a
mortal birth and ties Dionysus to the mortal tension of humanity. From Semele, the infant is placed in Zeuss thigh
to bring him to full gestation. When he is ready, he emerges from Zeus thigh, a divine birth. Walter Otto remarks
that this is the reason why he is, in a great and complete sense, a godthe god of duality, as the myth of his birth
expresses it so beautifully and truly. As a true god he symbolizes an entire world whose spirit reappears in ever
new forms and unites in an eternal unity the sublime with the simple, the human with the animal, the vegetative
and the elemental (Otto 202). During his childhood, he is dismembered, cut up, stirred into a stew and fed to the
gods. He is rescued by Athena and reconstructed, an alchemical birth. Unlike the other gods, Dionysus is a
transcendent deity, with ties not only to the human realm and the divine realm, but to another realm entirety that
transcends human conception and divinity. The alchemical realm is one of mystery, due to the nature of the
transformation that takes placeone rarely resembles its original state after the process is complete.
As a god, he is identified as the god of wine, festival, and theater, all of which induce uncivilized behavior within
individuals, removing their sense of self-control and inciting chaotic behavior in Dionysian followers. Because of
the frenzied behavior not conducive to Hellenic culture, Dionysus was honored and confined within the theater and
any festivals surrounding it, such as the Dionysia in which new tragedies were performed. Dionysus is a primal
god, connected with the uncivilized aspects of human behavior. There have not been too many incarnations of this
archetype in modern times. He is associated with Christ and similar messianic figures. Joseph Campbell notes
that in Orphic cults, the ever-dying, ever-living god, who is the reality of all beings is recognized as the god
whose symbol is the vine known as Dionysus-Orpheus-Bacchus (25-6). This recognition ties Dionysus to the
earth and his presence in the plants. His death and resurrection is linked to the passing of the seasons and rites
and sacrifices to this god were meant to encourage the crops to grow. This purpose for Dionysus faded when the
Greek civilization started to prefer the Olympian deities under Zeus over the chthonic deities of the earth,
especially Dionysus and Demeter.
One way to understand Dionysus, according to Ginette Paris, is to realize that he is not simply an actor in theater,
but that he is the mask and the theater in and of themselves (49). That he cannot be confined to a polis shrine is a
testament to the primal nature in this god: one needs to let ones hair down, one has to drink or somehow release
ones sorrows or connect with ones primal nature. The flip side is one weighted down by looming depression or a
disconnect between mind and body.
The disconnect between mind and body is the fundamental basis between the argument of Apollo versus
Dionysus. This is further relevant to Hellenic life and its quest for beauty and balanced harmony in all aspects of

life, as demonstrated in the remaining artistic canon. This line of thought pits the two gods, Apollo and Dionysus,
against each other:

In Apollo all of the splendor of the Olympic converges and confronts the realms of
eternal becoming and eternal passing. Apollo and Dionysus, the intoxicated leader of
the choral dance of the terrestrial spherethat would give the total world dimension.
In this union the Dionysiac earthly duality would be elevated into a new and higher
duality, the eternal contrast between the restless, whirling life and a still, far-seeing
spirit. (Otto 208)
Dionysus, as stated, is the god of wine who often induces his followers into a frenzied state, especially women,
who often tore animals apart in their blindness. This should not be confused with hysteria, which is a medical
condition. Apollo, by contrast, is the god of truth and wisdom, and his oracle at Delphi was held in a high,
unquestioning regard, though open to human misinterpretations. The ideal balanced life would allow both gods
equal footing in an individuals life and in the greater society. If one is given more dominance over the other, then
the resulting imbalance creates an unhealthy environment. For example, too much Dionysus leads to anarchy and
nothing can be accomplished, and an unhealthy society quickly develops. Similarly, too much Apollo disconnects
one from an earthy connection and roots a person in an ethereal quest for an intangible ideology. I suggest that
the Western world is so tipped towards Apollo, that we have become an air society, and a reconnection with
Dionysus would literally bring us back down to earth.
Looking at Apollo and Dionysus as archetypes, we get another perspective of their significance. Apollo is the rigid
control of the psyche and Dionysus is the lack thereof. Apollo can be viewed as ego and Dionysus as id, or the
shadow, the unconscious counterpart or opposition to the ego. Of course, there are those for whom Dionysus is
ego and Apollo is the shadow. Jung would suggest that part of the individuation process includes striking a
balance between both energies because, otherwise, one becomes rooted in neurosis, psychosis, and pathology.
To own ones shadow is the process by which one reconciles these two forces. For example, allowing Dionysus to
drive one into a bit of frenzy from time to time, and taking a break from Apollo. The consequences of not doing this
can be tragic. Dionysus will not be denied and can surface when least expected, causing something
uncharacteristic to occur. Similarly, owning an Apollonian shadow involves introducing order and reason into ones
life. A healthy balance is resembled by a successful working professional who hosts a backyard barbecue
regularly.
Since American society is Apollonian and this is a paper on Dionysus, I would like to now compare some ancient,
Classical manifestations of Dionysus with some modern. The image of Dionysus has changed, but he still finds a
way to leak into the mainstream.
Euripides play, The Bacchae, sets Dionysus against Theban king, Pentheus, who represents an Apollonian
character. Dionysus comes to Thebes and induces his usual frenzy and chaos. Pentheus, as king, wants to rid the
polis of the unruly god and restore control and calm. To do this would mean cutting short the festival going on in
Dionysus honor, but Pentheus is determined, especially after learning that his own mother has joined the ranks of
the Maenads, or frenzied women who follow Dionysus. Since Dionysus is not going to have that, he confronts
Pentheus in disguise and convinces him to visit the Maenads in disguise and see for himself what is really
occurring amongst them. The Maenads realize Pentheus is not a woman, and thus unworthy of their ranks, but in
their frenzy they fail to recognize who he is. They tear him to pieces. After being freed from Dionysus spell,
Pentheus mother realizes her part in killing her son and is exiled. The overall theme of the play stresses that it is a
fatal mistake to try to suppress Dionysus.
Just before Thanksgiving 2008, the drama department of the community college I teach at staged a production
of The Bacchae. It was directed and adapted by an adjunct faculty "artist in residence," but it was otherwise a
student production. What started out as an excellent version of the play became a comic play at the end, when the
image manager would interrupt the scene to inform the audience that which parts of the play have been lost over
time, such as Agaves lament. The production effectively made The Bacchae into a tragic farce, with all of the
tension lost.

Catharsis is a purification of whatever is filthy or polluted in the pathos, the tragic act (Else 98). This cleansing
action, as described in Aristotles Poetics, is one of evoking feelings of fear and pity for the character (Aristotle 40).
A successful tragedy will have a character that experiences a terrible situation, often an act of fate out of control,
yet the audience feels sympathy for the outcome. Part of a successful staging is the spectacle, the extent to which
ones experience is enhanced, not detracted from catharsis. One cannot be expected to sympathize with Agave if
one is being told that her part is missing, even if the purpose of such a discourse is as a teaching tool.
In contrast to the tragedy, comedy is, according to Aristotle, an imitation of persons who are inferior; not,
however, going all the way to full villainy, but imitating the ugly, of which the ludicrous is one part (23). Not only
does comedy imitate the ugliness, but the beauty as well, in order to draw attention to them. Comedy highlights
aspects of ones character, physically or personality, that the audience would recognize. In some cases, the
emphasis helps identify a well-known character. In others, it ensures that the audience will be aware of the
trait. The Frogs does both. Aristophanes plays up the pompousness of Euripides and Aeschylus while also raising
awareness of the looming end of the Hellenic age.
Dionysus role in The Frogs, is that of a judge for the perfect tragedian, choosing between Euripides and
Aeschylus. Sophocles is recognized as immensely popular and successful, so he is not considered, which may
influenced by Aristophanes own opinion of him as a lower poet than the other two. Whoever won was permitted to
return to Athens with Dionysus. This is demonstrated by a verbal tennis match, with each delivering lines from his
work and lambasting the other. Dionysus decides by weighing the lyric and chooses Aeschylus.
At the time of Aristophanes play, tragedy was a dying form. The tragic playwrights following Euripides were either
unable or unwilling to create genuine, good plays. The glory of Athens was in decline, and through Dionysus, [he]
seeks to bring back good writing to Athens, and with it the public wisdom which, as Aristophanes maintains
against Sokrates, will always be found in the highest poetry (Arrowsmith et al., 474). While it is not possible to
actually resurrect the dead, the hope Aristophanes instills of resurrecting the glory and splendor of the Hellenic
period, offers another type of catharsis: one that releasing the audience from is own emotional vacuum. The
audience is cleaned through h the release of the filth that is associated with the bad news and downtrodden
society.
Dionysus is integral with catharsis because through the chaos he invites, one can release emotions that otherwise
have to remain contained. Frenzy is well-noted to be the opposition to productivity, which, in an Apollonian
environment, is held to a higher esteem than creativity. Indeed, the creative spirit caught in the Hellenic age and in
tragedy fell silent after a slow decline at the end of the era and remained in this manner until the Renaissance,
with a few exceptions along the way in Medieval literature.
Ginette Paris in the Dionysus chapter of her book, Pagan Grace, stresses a need for celebrations to Dionysus and
suggests that there are not enough in modern, monotheistic society. Maybe this seeming lack is due to the
extreme nature of Dionysian celebration. I can think of three sanctioned holidays: New Years Eve, Mardi Gras,
and Halloween. New Years is a one night celebration, full of parties, drinking, and sometimes a feast. It is a
restrained event, focused on counting down until midnight, not absolute frenzy.
Halloween, similarly, is a one night event, except many people prepare for weeks. For children, Halloween
involves finding and dressing in the perfect costume and seeking candy from neighbors and businesses. For
them, Dionysus is found in the masks, but especially in the candy. For adults, Halloween is a night of misbehaving
in or out of costume. Adult Halloween parties include candy, alcohol, and other vices. People who attend these
parties are allowed one night of frenzy with the comfort of anonymity.
Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, on the other hand refers to the last Tuesday before the Lent season, a period of
fasting and austerity leading to the Easter celebration. Traditionally, it is the last day before the season of
abstinence that one may eat animal fats, such as butter or lard. This festival has grown, in some places, to a
month-long celebration of costume (masks), parades, drinking (vine) and lots of people behaving badly (frenzy).
The festivities of Mardi Gras are among the few sanctioned by the Church to allow people the opportunity to lose
control without consequences, except for those outlined by the communitys law.
After a month of preparation for a single event, is there still energy for continued Dionysia? According to Paris
position, not only is there no energy, but there is no other sanctioned environment to honor Dionysus. I offer that
there is one such place that is overlooked to its nature, as noted by several critics, as a commercial, consumerist,

environment: Disneyland and the other Disney theme parks. If a tribute to Dionysus includes excess and letting
ones hair down, then Disneyland represents daily doses of Dionysus. No alcohol is served in the Magic Kingdom,
but similar excesses, such as candy, can be attributed to Dionysus. The Disneyland experience from start to finish
is one of the most extreme theatrical experiences, and one fabricated for people to experience happiness. The
park is cut off from the outside world, not affected by news of war, recession, or unemployment. The food is all
Disney themed, especially the Mickey Mouse-shaped desserts, and outside corporate influences are limited.
Dionysus is invoked in the ongoing celebrations: the parades, the cheering fans, and the overall happiness of the
place. Some families prepare for years for their pilgrimage to Disneyland, and others go regularly.
A fictional personification of Dionysus can be found in Willy Wonka from Roald Dahls book, Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Like Dionysus, Wonka was chased away from public view and isolated himself in his chocolate
factory. His presence was still felt through his chocolate, but he was otherwise a private, isolated figure. Wonka
decides to return to the public and opens up his chocolate factory for a select few, who can be "initiated" into some
of the secrets of his chocolate factory. The world as a whole launches into a Dionysian-frenzy trying to find the
Golden Ticket that would let them into the inner circle. Chocolate does not generate the same reaction as wine,
but it nonetheless does inspire people to launch into another state. Some people react amorously, which is the
realm of Aphrodite, but others, notably small children, become hyper and excited under the sugary influence, and
thus enter a Dionysian state of mind.
Two historical periods represented by Dionysus are the Sixties Counterculture, known for its excesses in San
Francisco, and the Club Kids phenomenon in Eighties New York. Both are marked with abuses of various
substances, especially psychedelics and other drugs that not only put one into another state of mind, but also
altered perceptions and experiences. In both cases, the participants were trying to avoid the rigor and control of
the established society and live entirely by the rules of Dionysus. Many were young teenagers or in their early to
mid twenties, and some were trapped in the puer stage of development and never wanted to grow up. Drugs
provided an excuse to put off the responsibilities of adulthood, or Apollo, for a little while longer. Some were able
to recover and start a new life, and others were forever stuck the cycle of addiction.
Dionysus does have a presence in modern life, even if it is not the one expected. He is no longer worshipped as a
god of the vine, to whom one must sacrifice in order for the crops to go, nor is he simply the god of the theater.
Those conceptions of Dionysus passed with the Ancient world. Sadly, so did the wealth of source material. Only a
relatively small number of plays, stories, other texts, and works of art at extant. The rest have been lost with time
or human destruction. The legacy of Dionysus lives on, however, as an archetype of excessive behavior and lack
of control. Historically, this has been demonstrated through cultural movements that prefer the life of hedonism to
the life of stoicism. Within popular culture, Dionysian energies surface in unlikely places that would not typically be
associated with the god.
It is the task of modern mythological studies, I suggest, to recognize these changes. It is easy to conclude that
myth, God, or any similar sacred or divine presence is dead in the modern, Western post-Scientific Revolution
world, because the polytheistic gods of yore are no longer worshipped. But then, those gods are those of another
era and fulfilled different cultural needs. The archetypal approach keeps the myths alive, but almost to the point of
idealizing these myths to the exclusion of the myths currently floating around culture. Recognizing the myths, such
as Dionysus in Disneyland, allows one to recognize the mythic quality of a facet of culture that could easily be
overlooked. The Hellenic playwrights did something similar, personifying Dionysus as a character in their plays,
which lowers him from a level of divinity to a level of human understanding. As the story of Semeles death and
Dionysuss birth demonstrates, it is not possible to know the gods fully, because their divine radiance is too
powerful for humans. They can only be understood through human constructs, which vary and change from
person to person.
Works cited

Aristophanes. The Frogs. Four Plays by Aristophanes: The Birds, The Clouds, The Frogs, Lysistrata.

Trans. William Arrowsmith, Richmond Lattimore, and Douglas Parker. New York: Meridian, 1994.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Gerald Else. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1967.

Arrowsmith, William. Notes. The Frogs. Four Plays by Aristophanes: The Birds, The Clouds, The Frogs,

Lysistrata. by Aristophanes. New York: Meridian, 1994.

Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Creative Mythology. New York: Penguin Compass, 1968.
Else, Gerald. Notes. Poetics. By Aristotle. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1967.
Euripides. The Bacchae. Trans. C.K. Williams. New York: Noonday P, 1990.
Otto, Walter F. Dionysus: Myth and Cult. Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1995.
Paris, Ginette. Pagan Grace: Dionysus, Hermes, and Goddess Memory in Daily Life. Putnam: Spring,

1990.
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