The Bacchae

Background

The Dionysus in Euripides' tale is a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of Cadmus, has denied him a place of honor as a deity. His mortal mother, Semele, was a mistress of Zeus; and while pregnant, was tricked by a jealous Hera to request Zeus to come to her in his true form. Being only a mortal, she was struck down by Zeus' thunderbolts while in his presence and was killed. Zeus then saved Dionysus, who was in Semele's womb, by sewing him into a cavity in his thigh. When Semele died, her sisters said it was Zeus' will and accused her of lying; they also accused their father, Cadmus, of claiming Semele was pregnant by Zeus to cover up an affair with a mortal man. Most of Semele's family refused to believe Dionysus was the son of Zeus, and the young god was spurned by his household. He traveled throughout Asia and other foreign lands, gathering a cult of female worshipers, the Maenads. At the start of the play, Dionysus returns to Thebes, disguised as a stranger, to take revenge on the house of Cadmus. He has also drives the women of Thebes, including his aunts, into an ecstatic frenzy, sending them dancing and hunting on Mount Cithaeron, much to the horror of the young Pentheus, king of Thebes who also is Dionysius' cousin. Complicating matters, Pentheus has declared a ban on the worship of Dionysus throughout Thebes.[9]


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