The Bacchae had an enormous impact on ancient literature, and its influence can be seen in numerous Greek and Roman authors.[44] It seems to have been one of Horace's favorite tragedies.[45] Beyond antiquity, dramatists and filmmakers of all ages have been greatly impacted by it. The tragedy's influence can be seen in the writings of Henrik Ibsen,[46] as well as Thomas Mann's 1912 novella Death in Venice[47] and Oliver Stone's 2004 film Alexander.[48] The Renaissance Venetian painter Titian may have illustrated the arrest of Bacchus in his painting "Il Bravo" in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.[49]
In popular culture
- Donna Tartt's 1992 novel The Secret History is about six students of classical languages who go in search of the rapture described by Euripides in The Bacchae.
- J. M. Tolcher's 2023 autobiography, Poof, makes direct reference to The Bacchae: Dionysus and Pentheus return as characters, and the book addresses many of the same themes such as femininity, intoxication, and liberation from oppression in a contemporary Australian setting.[50][51]
