While slaying one's host is considered bad form today, you can certainly celebrate Bacchus in his guise as a god of vine and wine — just be sure to do so responsibly! Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
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Did You Know? The word bacchanalia comes from Bacchus, and the wild parties thrown in his honor. To them, the Bacchanalia was a dangerous celebration. This was especially true after the cult of Bacchus began admitting male members. While more conservative outsides had been willing to overlook the excesses of single-sex rituals, the mixing of genders in nighttime bouts of drunkenness was an affront to their morality.
Whether fully deserved or not, the Bacchanalia became synonymous with every kind of debauchery and wickedness imaginable. Stories circulated about massive alcohol-fueled parties in which the followers of Bacchus broke every rule of morality and propriety. One of the greatest opponents of the Bacchanalia was Livy. Already suspicious of mystery cults, rumors of the excesses of the Bacchanalia prompted the historian to decry the practice as a threat to the Roman way of life.
In his History of Rome , Livy recounted the reaction of a freedwoman who learned that the man she loved had been promised to the cult of Bacchus by his immoral mother and stepmother:. She knew it to be a sink of every form of corruption, and it was a matter of common knowledge that no one had been initiated for the last two years above the age of twenty. As each person was brought in, he was handed over to the priests like a victim and taken into a place which resounded with yells and songs, and the jangling of cymbals and drums, so that no cry from those who were suffering violation could be heard.
She then begged and implored him to get out of the affair in whatever way he could, and not to rush blindly into a place where he would first have to endure, and then to commit, every conceivable outrage. Until he had given his word to keep clear of these rites she would not let him go. Although she had been exposed to levels of immoral behavior far beyond what a well-bred young woman would have known, the Bacchanalia was still so extreme to prompt terror in her.
According to Livy, the original Bacchanalia had been limited to a small group of women and held just five times a year. After the introduction of the Greek mystery cults, however, both sexes met up to five times a week.
Livy and those who shared his beliefs saw the Bacchanalia as more than just improper. The multitude of sins committed at these festivals violated Roman laws meant to keep the peace and ensure that society functioned. The Bacchanalia, to conservative thinkers, was disgusting not only in what occurred in secret. The cult of Bacchus as a nearly revolutionary group that threatened the very foundations of Roman society. These cults had always operated outside the established norms of their society.
Their organization, beliefs, and teachings ran counter to those of the official temples. While these secretive groups had been outside the norm in Greece, under Rome they ran dangerously close to being against the law. The Roman religion was one of the state, meaning that the gods and their roles were officially part of the government.
A shared belief in the gods and the appropriate way to worship them was a central pillar of Roman society. Without this shared belief, many Romans feared that their culture would fall apart. Rome held many territories incorporating several ethnic groups and races, but they were all unified in the shared worship of the state religion. The mystery cults operated outside of this religion and, in many ways, contrary to it.
Their legends were often different than those of the official religion. What was once a birth story like many others was changed by the mystery cults to reflect their focus on death and the Underworld.
Some believed that the Egyptian version of the god had been born first. The son of Ammon, or Amun , he had inherited the horns often shown on his father. The Romans likened Amun to Jupiter, so those who followed this belief thought that he had been born in a foreign land to an aspect of the father usually given. No stories recount the fate of this incarnation of Bacchus. It is usually believed that he was associated with Osiris and, like him, was killed.
Next came the birth to Proserpina, which is named first in many other accounts. Jupiter named this child his favored son and even seated him on his throne. Juno was so jealous of the preferential treatment that she called on the Titans to rip the child to shreds. Another version of this story said that this incarnation of Bacchus was born shortly before the war between the Titans and the gods.
In later stories, it was often Ceres who acted in a chthonic role. These stories of multiple births ended with Jupiter impregnating Semele to create Bacchus anew. In many of these stories, he fed her a potion instead of having a more traditional affair.
Ovid further complicated the story by claiming that it was actually Juno who made Semele fall in love with Jupiter. The many contradictory origin stories of Bacchus were never fully reconciled. This posed a problem for the state religion of Rome, which used the gods to reaffirm their own social structure and values.
While Bacchus was a recognized god in the Roman pantheon, his position was never as clear as others. Even in his birth story, the god of wine was seen as dangerously unpredictable and unclear. Prominent men like Livy and Cicero called for the revels of Bacchus to be brought under control.
The wild Bacchanalia, they argued, was a threat to common decency and social stability. In AD, the senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus , or senatorial decree concerning the Bacchanalia, was issued. The fear was that the cult of Bacchus was plotting to destabilize Roman society by corrupting its highest authorities.
The decree stated that it was illegal to own any property for the purposes of celebrating the Bacchanalia, no man or woman was allowed to hold officers in a Bacchanalian cult, and no agreements or promises were to be made between followers of Bacchus. Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, a god. His mother was a mortal named Semele. Jupiter was married to Juno but had an affair with Semele, resulting in the conception of Bacchus.
Juno learned of the affair and sought revenge against the woman who seduced her husband. Mortals were unable to view gods in their original form. Instead, gods transformed their appearances when they associated with mortals. Knowing very well of this, Juno tricked Semele into seeing Jupiter in his true form and she was burned up by seeing him in his divine form.
She had not yet given birth to Bacchus, so Jupiter sewed the baby to his thigh and carried him until he was ready to be born. Bacchus was known as the god of agriculture and wine. He spent his childhood in training by Silenus, a great lover of wine.
After his training was complete, he chose to share his knowledge with the masses and traveled the world teaching others how to grow the necessary components and turn them into wine. He did this until he took his place at Olympus. There are many statues and painted works of art dedicated to Bacchus.
He is also often shown with a glass of wine, presumably made by him. Bacchus is most often associated with wine and vines.
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