Dionysus - the god of wine and fun

The ancient Greek god of wine Dionysus always had an unusual eccentricity. When modern researchers studied his cult in detail, they were genuinely surprised that the Greeks, with their sober worldview, could tolerate a similar celestial with its frantic dancing, fascinating music and excessive drunkenness. Suspected even living nearby barbarians - not from their land, he appeared. However, the Greeks had to admit his brother in it and agree that Dionysus is the god of everything, but not boredom and despondency.

The illegitimate son of the Thunderer

Even the history of his birth, he stands out from the total mass of swarthy and throaty babies, born on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is known that his father, Zeus, secretly from his legal wife, Hera, had a secret passion for a young goddess named Semela. Learning about this, the legitimate half, full of anger, decided to ruin the opponent and with the help of magic inspired her with a crazy idea to ask Zeus to embrace her the way he does with her - a legitimate wife.

Semele chose the moment when Zeus was ready for any promises, and whispered to him his desire. The poor girl did not know what she was asking. No wonder he earned the reputation of a thunderer. When he pressed his beloved to his chest, then immediately he caught fire and lit up the lightning. Gere - his wife, it's possible and liked it, but Semele's poor girl did not endure such a passion and instantly burned down. Inappropriately, an ardent lover managed to snatch a premature fruit from her womb and, placing him in his own thigh, reported the remaining term. This is how an infant Dionysus was born in an unusual way.

New intrigues of Hera

Such a happy event happened, according to various sources, either on the island of Naxos, or on Crete, now no one remembers exactly, but it is known that the first teachers of the young deity were nymphs, who lived in those places a great many. So would the young Dionysus frolic among them, but suddenly the matter was complicated by the fact that Zeus learned of Hera's desire to destroy his illegitimate son. To prevent her, he gives the young man to the sister of his mother Ino and her husband, Afamanta.

But Zeus underestimated his jealous wife. Hera recognized the whereabouts of Dionysus and sent madness to Athaman, wanting him to kill a child hated by her in a fit of violence. But it was different: the victim of the unfortunate madman was his own son, and the future god of wine safely escaped, having jumped into the sea with Ino, where they were embraced by the Nereids - Greek sisters of well-known mermaids.

Apprentice of the satyr

In order to save his son from an evil wife in the future, Zeus turned him into a kid and in this guise, transferred to the nurturing of kind and caring nymphs from Nisa, a city in the territory of present-day Israel. The legend says that they hid their ward in the cave, hiding the entrance to it with branches. But it just so happened that this same place has chosen as its dwelling one old, but very frivolous satyr - a demon, a disciple of the drunkard Bacchus. It was he who taught Dionysus the first lessons of winemaking and introduced him to immoderate libations.

So from the innocuous-looking goat turned the god of wine. Further on, in the legends, disagreements begin - either Hera instilled madness into him, or the alcohol so acted, but Dionysus scattered the branches that hid the entrance to his hideout, and went wherever his eyes looked. We saw it idly staggering in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and even in India. And everywhere he taught people to make wine. But a strange thing, wherever he organized a festival, everywhere they ended in insanity and violence. As if in a juicy bunch of grapes there was something demonic.

The subsequent adventures of the god of wine

The further life of Dionysus was full of adventure. Three years he spent in a military campaign against India, and in memory of this the ancient Greeks established a noisy Bacchic feast. It was he who - the god of wine and fun - built the first bridge across the great river Euphrates, using for its production a rope from the vine and ivy. After this, Dionysus descended into the realm of the dead and safely removed his mother from it, Semelu, who entered the later mythology under the name of Fiona.

There is also a story about how the god of wine once fell prisoner to pirates. The sea robbers captured him during one of the sea voyages. But, apparently, they did not know who they were dealing with. The shackles of themselves fell from his hands, and the masts of the ship Dionysus turned into snakes. To crown it all, he appeared on the deck in the form of a bear, which frightened pirates jumped into the sea, turning into dolphins.

The Marriage of Dionysos and Ariadne

Before finally settling on Olympus, the god of wine married. His chosen one was Ariadne, the same daughter of the Cretan king Minos, who, with her help , managed to get out of the labyrinth of the legendary Theseus. But the fact is that, being safe, the scoundrel threw the girl treacherously, why she was ready to commit suicide. Dionysus saved her, and the grateful Ariadne agreed to become his wife. On the joy of her new father-in-law - Zeus - granted her immortality and a legitimate place on Olympus. Many other adventures of this hero are described in the Greek legends, because Dionysus is the god of what? Wines, but its only worth eating, and that just does not happen ...