Bacchus/Dionysus

Bacchus is a Roman deity, and Dionysus a Greek one. Bacchus is the Roman god of wine (and intoxication) and vegetation, equated with the Greek Dionysus; there are so similar they are often merged, or treated as the same deity. His festival was celebrated on March 16 and 17. The Bacchanalia, orgies in honour of Dionysus, were introduced in Rome around 200 BCE. These infamous celebrations, notorious for their sexual and criminal character, got so out of hand that they were forbidden by the Roman Senate in 186 BCE. He represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but its social and beneficent influences likewise, so that he is viewed as the promoter of civilization, and a lawgiver and lover of peace.

He is regarded as a solar resurrectional god who atones for sin. This is influenced in Greek Mythology of Zeus fathering a child with Persephone, And Hera in a jealous rage ordered his death. The goddess Athena appeared and succeeded in saving the child's heart. This she ground into a fine dust and swiftly carried off to her father Zeus. The god secretly slipped the powdered organ into the cup of Semele, the daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. After drinking the magical elixir, the princess became pregnant and eventually gave birth to baby Dionysus. It is because of the god's second birth in Thebes that he is given the title Twice Born. Although some texts state Jupiter as his father.

Most of the artist impressions depict him as a young, plump and effeminate person (Probably because in one story, Hermes took the baby and brought him to Semele's sister Ino to raise as her own. In order to keep Dionysus safe from the wrath of Hera, Ino was instructed to dress the child as a girl. This is another example of the duality of the god, for he is sometimes represented with feminine traits, the most common being female breasts), usually naked or semi-naked, and surrounded by a great multitude of grapes, and often in early artwork, he appears as a bearded man of generous proportions, and later as a beautiful youth. The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a mature male, bearded and robed. He holds a fennel staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth. He seems to pop up all over the place in mythic tales, even in "The lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" series. He is a character of much mystery in his origins!

Modern Neopagans view Dionysus in different lights, depending largely on the individual sects and the other gods worshipped by a sect. Dionysus is often seen as the god of Earthly Delights and is thought to play a role in euphoria. As the god of vegetation - specifically of the fruit of the trees, which is why he eventually, he became the popular Greek god of wine and cheer, and wine miracles were reputedly performed at certain of his festivals. According to tradition, Bacchus died each winter and was reborn in the spring. To his followers, this cyclical revival, accompanied by the seasonal renewal of the fruits of the earth, embodied the promise of the resurrection of the dead.