Dionysus in the Ancient Sources: 333 Passages in Greek & English

Hesiod (2)

Hesiod, Theogony 930–959Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Dionysus and Heracles (930-959)Poseidon and Amphitrite have Triton, and Aphrodite bears Panic and Fear to Ares, and Harmonia, whom Cadmus marries. Maia bears Hermes, Semele bears Dionysus and Alcmene bears Heracles, who is finally wed to Hebe and lives among the gods. Hephaestus marries Aglaea, Dionysus marries Ariadne, and Perseis bears Circe and Aeetes to Helios, with Aeetes' daughter Medea at the end.
Hesiod, Fragments 1.86–96Dionysus, Coronis and CyreneHere Hesiod describes the gifts of Dionysus, the wine that brings joy and sorrow, and the story of Coronis, to whom a crow brought word to Pytho. Apollo and Asclepius appear, and Zeus is angry with Apollo. Cyrene and her son Aristaéus follow, then Antiope, and the building of the walls of Thebes by Zethus and Amphion.

Homer (4)

Homer, The Homeric Hymns 6.1–7.59Hymns 6 and 7: Aphrodite and DionysusHymn 6 tells how the west wind carries Aphrodite over the sea to Cyprus, where the Hours welcome and dress her. Hymn 7 tells of Dionysus, who appears on a headland like a young man and is seized by Tyrsenian pirates who take him for the son of kings. The ship fills with wine, a vine and ivy, and the god appears as a lion and a bear; the pirates leap into the sea and become dolphins, and only the helmsman is spared.
Homer, The Homeric Hymns 26.1–29.14Hymns 26 to 29: Dionysus, Artemis, Athena, Hestia and HermesFour hymns of moderate length. Dionysus is reared by nymphs in the dells of Nysa and roams the wooded glens, Artemis hunts over the mountains and goes to Delphi to lead the Muses and Graces in their dance, and Athena springs from the head of Zeus, shaking her spear, so that all Olympus reels. The last hymn honours Hestia, who has a place in every house, and Hermes.
Homer, Iliad 6.119–236Diomedes and Glaucus exchange armourDiomedes and Glaucus meet between the armies, and Diomedes asks who he is, saying that he will not fight a god. Glaucus answers that the generations of men are like leaves, and tells how his forefather Bellerophon was sent to Lycia, where he overcame the Chimaera, the Solymi and the Amazons. Diomedes, learning that their grandfathers were guest-friends, plants his spear and they exchange armour, Zeus taking the wits of Glaucus so that he gives gold for bronze.
Homer, The Homeric Hymns 1.1–21Hymn 1 to Dionysus (fragment)Only a fragment of the first hymn to Dionysus survives. It rejects the places that claim to be his birthplace, among them Dracanum, Icarus, Naxos, the river Alpheus and Thebes, and says that Zeus bore him secretly, far from men and from white-armed Hera, on a mountain called Nysa. The surviving lines end with the promise of sacrifice in his honour.

Apollodorus (3)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.5.1–9Dionysus, Pentheus, Niobe and OedipusDionysus roams Egypt, Syria and Thrace, where Lycurgus is punished, and returns to Thebes, where Agave tears her son Pentheus apart; he also turns the Tyrrhenian pirates into dolphins. Cadmus and Harmonia go to the Encheleans and become serpents, and the house of Labdacus continues through Laius, Antiope with Zethus and Amphion, and Niobe, whose children are shot by Apollo and Artemis. Laius, warned against fathering a son, exposes the infant Oedipus, who kills him unknowingly, answers the Sphinx's riddle, marries Jocasta and learns the truth.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.8.1–6Oeneus, Meleager and the Calydonian boarOeneus of Calydon is the first to receive a vine from Dionysus, and the Fates declare that his son Meleager will die when the brand on the hearth is burnt out, so Althaea hides it. When Oeneus forgets Artemis in his sacrifices she sends a boar, and a company of heroes is gathered; Atalanta wounds it first and Meleager kills it and gives her the hide. He kills his mother's brothers, the sons of Thestius, who took it from her, and Althaea burns the brand; a second version has him fall in a war against the Curetes. The section ends with Oeneus's later marriage, Tydeus (father of Diomedes) and the revenge of Diomedes on the sons of Agrius.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.4.1–4Cadmus and the founding of ThebesAfter the death of Telephassa, Cadmus is told at Delphi to follow a cow and found a city where it lies down. He kills the dragon of Ares, sows its teeth to raise the Spartoi, serves Ares for a year, and marries Harmonia. Their daughters Autonoe, Ino, Semele and Agave are named; Semele is destroyed when she asks to see Zeus in his glory, Dionysus is born from Zeus's thigh, and Ino and Athamas rear him and are driven mad. The section ends with Actaeon, torn apart by his own dogs after seeing Artemis bathing.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Isthmian Odes 7.1–51Isthmian 7: for Strepsiades — the glories of ThebesPindar asks Thebe which of her ancient glories pleased her most: the birth of Dionysus, the begetting of Heracles, the counsels of Teiresias, the horseman Iolaüs, the dragon-brood, the return of Adrastus to Argos, or the colony of the Aegeidae at Amyclae. He says that old glory sleeps unless it is sung, and praises Strepsiades of Thebes, victor in the pancratium, and his uncle who died in the van of the Theban army. He ends with a prayer to Apollo for a crown from Pytho.

Sophocles (5)

Sophocles, Antigone 100–161bParodos: the Chorus of Theban eldersThe Chorus of Theban elders greet the sunrise that has driven off the Argive army that came because of Polyneices' claims. They sing how Zeus struck down a boaster as he was starting to shout victory at the ramparts, how the seven captains fell at the seven gates, and how the two brothers killed each other. They call for a night of dancing in the temples with Bacchus as their leader, and as they end they see Creon, the new king, approaching.
Sophocles, Antigone 944–987Fourth stasimon: those shut in stoneThe Chorus sing of others who were shut away: Danae, held in a brass-bound chamber although she was of a noble line and carried the seed of Zeus, the Edonian king, son of Dryas, shut in a rocky prison by Dionysus for mocking the god, and the two sons of Phineus, blinded by their father's savage wife. They say that fate is mysterious and cannot be escaped by wealth or by war.
Sophocles, Antigone 1115–1182Fifth stasimon: the hymn to Dionysus; the Messenger's newsThe Chorus call on the god of many names, Dionysus, the son of the Cadmeian bride, to come with purifying feet to the city of Thebes, which is held in the grip of a plague. A Messenger then comes to announce that the fortunes of Cadmus' house have changed for the worse, and that Haemon is dead, by his own hand.
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 151–215Parodos: the Chorus of Theban elders pray against the plagueThe Chorus of Theban elders ask what the oracle of Apollo means, and pray to Athena, Artemis and Apollo to drive away the plague. They describe the dying city, the unburied dead and the cries of women at the altars, and call on Zeus, Apollo, Artemis and Bacchus to drive out the god of war and plague.
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 668–719First stasimon: the praise of ColonusThe Chorus sing the praise of Colonus, the land of fine horses, where the nightingale sings in the green glades, among ivy and berries, and where Dionysus walks with his nurses. They praise the narcissus, the crocus, the olive tree which no one may destroy, and the horse and the sea, gifts of Poseidon.

Euripides (27)

Euripides, Bacchae 775–847Third episode: Pentheus calls for arms; Dionysus persuades him to spyThe Chorus Leader warns Pentheus that Dionysus is inferior to no god, but Pentheus orders his troops to assemble against the Bacchae. Dionysus offers to bring the women without weapons, and tempts Pentheus to go and watch them as a spy. Pentheus hesitates at the thought of a woman's dress, but agrees and goes inside.
Euripides, Bacchae 434–508Second episode: Pentheus questions the captive strangerA servant brings in the stranger, who gave himself up without resistance, and reports that the imprisoned Bacchae were freed of their own accord. Pentheus questions the stranger, who says that he comes from Lydia and that Dionysus himself initiated him. The stranger will not describe the rites to the uninitiated, and Pentheus threatens to cut his hair and imprison him.
Euripides, Bacchae 912–976Fourth episode: Pentheus dressed as a maenadDionysus calls Pentheus out of the palace in the dress of a maenad. Pentheus, now deranged, sees two suns and a double Thebes and a bull leading him, and asks to be set right. Dionysus leads him off toward Kithairon, saying that he alone bears the burden for the city and will return carried in his mother's arms.
Euripides, Bacchae 576–641Third episode: the earthquake and the palace shakenThe voice of Dionysus is heard from within, calling on the earth to shake and the lightning to burn Pentheus' house, and the Chorus cries out as the palace collapses. The stranger comes out unharmed and tells the frightened women how he mocked Pentheus, who bound a bull in his place and then stabbed at a phantom.
Euripides, Bacchae 1302–1351Exodos: Dionysus' judgment and Kadmos' fateKadmos says that Pentheus, like Agave, did not revere the god, who therefore joined them all in one ruin, and he mourns his grandson. Dionysus appears and foretells that Kadmos and Harmonia will become serpents and lead a barbarian army against many cities, until Ares settles them in the land of the blessed. Kadmos and Agave plead that they have sinned, but Dionysus says that they learned too late.
Euripides, Bacchae 64–169Parodos: the Bacchae sing of Dionysus and his ritesThe Chorus of Asian Bacchae, who have followed Dionysus from Tmolus, sing of the joy of his rites and call on the people to keep holy silence. They tell how Zeus saved the infant god in his thigh after Semele's death, and how the Korybantes invented the drum. They end with a picture of the god leading the mountain dance and the land flowing with milk, wine and honey.
Euripides, Bacchae 509–575Second episode: the stranger is imprisoned; second choral ode to DircePentheus orders the stranger shut up near the horse stable and threatens to sell the Bacchae as slaves. The stranger goes, warning that Dionysus, whom Pentheus denies, will punish him. The Chorus sings to Dirce, who refused the infant god, and calls on Dionysus to come and restrain Pentheus.
Euripides, Bacchae 642–676Third episode: Pentheus confronts the escaped strangerPentheus comes out and is enraged to find the stranger free before his house. The stranger tells him to listen to a messenger who has come from the mountain. The messenger from Kithairon asks for immunity before reporting the doings of the Bacchae, and Pentheus grants it.
Euripides, Bacchae 266–342First episode: Teiresias and Kadmos defend DionysusTeiresias argues that Dionysus is a great god who gave men the drink of the grape as Demeter gave them bread, and that he also gives prophecy and war-panic. He urges Pentheus to receive the god. Kadmos begs his grandson to honor Dionysus, even if only so that Semele may seem to have borne a god, and recalls the fate of Actaeon.
Euripides, Bacchae 1024–1094Exodos: a second messenger announces Pentheus' deathA servant of Pentheus comes out to lament the house of Kadmos, and tells the Chorus that Pentheus is dead. He tells how he went up Kithairon with his master and the stranger, and how Pentheus asked to climb a tree to see the Maenads better. The stranger bent a pine to the ground, set Pentheus on it and let it spring upright, and a voice from the air told the women to punish the man who mocked them.
Euripides, Bacchae 215–265First episode: Pentheus rages against the new godPentheus returns and says that he has heard that the women have left their homes for Bacchic rites in the mountains. He says that he has already imprisoned some of them, and that he will hunt down the rest and the Lydian stranger who leads them. Seeing Teiresias and Kadmos dressed as Bacchants, he rebukes them, and the Chorus Leader condemns his impiety.
Euripides, Bacchae 1–63Prologue: Dionysus arrives in ThebesDionysus, son of Zeus and Semele, says that he has come to the land of the Thebans in mortal form, after travelling through Asia. He says that the sisters of Semele claimed that she had told a false tale about her marriage and that Zeus killed her for it, so that he has driven them out of their wits to the mountains, and that he will show Pentheus and all the Thebans that he was born a god.

15 more passages of Euripides that name Dionysus

Callimachus (1)

Callimachus, Hymns 6.1–138Hymn to Demeter: Erysichthon's hungerThe women greet the Basket of Demeter as it passes, and the poet recalls how the goddess wandered in search of her stolen daughter and drank only when Hesperus persuaded her. Erysichthon, son of Triopas, fells a poplar in her grove at Dotium, and Demeter, first in the likeness of her priestess Nicippe and then in her own shape, warns and condemns him. She sends him a ravenous hunger that eats his household bare until he begs at the crossways. The hymn ends with prayers to Demeter for harvest and peace.

Theocritus (1)

Theocritus, Idylls 26.1–38Idyll 26: The Bacchae and PentheusIno, Autonoe and Agave lead their bands of Maenads to the mountain and build altars to Semele and Dionysus. Pentheus, watching them from a hidden place, is discovered, and the women tear him to pieces. The poem ends with a plea that no one blame what the gods demand.

Aristophanes (35)

Aristophanes, Frogs 208–279bFrog chorus: Dionysus rows across the lakeThe frogs sing their Brekekekex refrain as Dionysus rows, and he complains of blisters and a sore seat. They answer every protest with the same song, and he swears that he will out-shout them. At last Charon calls a halt and sends him ashore, where he meets Xanthias again.
Aristophanes, Frogs 280–306dEpisode: Xanthias and the EmpusaDionysus boasts of his courage and says that he would like an adventure worthy of their journey. Xanthias then cries that he sees a monster that changes shape, and Dionysus hides behind his priest's seat and begs for protection. Xanthias announces that the Empusa has gone, and Dionysus makes him swear it three times.
Aristophanes, Frogs 1–37Prologue: Dionysus and Xanthias come to Heracles' doorXanthias, riding a donkey with the luggage, asks whether he may make the old jokes about carrying burdens, and Dionysus forbids them one by one. They argue over who is really carrying the load, since Dionysus walks while his slave rides. Dionysus, dressed in a lion's skin, knocks on the door with a clatter, and Heracles asks who banged it.
Aristophanes, Frogs 38–79Prologue: Heracles laughs at the disguise; Dionysus longs for EuripidesHeracles bursts out laughing at Dionysus dressed in a lion's skin and buskins. Dionysus says that he was serving on a ship and was reading Euripides' Andromeda when a sudden longing came over him, and he explains it with a comparison to a craving for soup. Heracles suggests Sophocles instead, but Dionysus wants to test Iophon first, and says that the longing is for the dead Euripides.
Aristophanes, Frogs 116–171Prologue: Heracles describes the roads to HadesHeracles describes the ways down: a rope and a bench, a draught of hemlock, or a leap from the tower at the Cerameicus. Dionysus chooses the road that Heracles took himself, across a great lake in a ferry that costs two obols. On the way are snakes and monsters, a swamp of filth for sinners and the happy bands of mystics near Pluto's gate; as they set off, a funeral party carries out a body.
Aristophanes, Frogs 172–207bPrologue: the dead man and Charon's ferryA dead man refuses to carry the luggage for less than two drachmas, and Xanthias has to go round the lake on foot because slaves are not taken on the ferry. Charon makes Dionysus take an oar, and Dionysus complains that he is no seaman. Charon promises that the rowing will go better with a timing song, and the frogs begin their refrain.
Aristophanes, Frogs 1448–1478Agon: the advice of the two poets and the verdictEuripides advises the city to trust those whom it now distrusts, and Aeschylus asks whom the city actually uses. Aeschylus says that the city will be safe when it counts the enemy's land its own and its own land the enemy's. Dionysus decides for Aeschylus, and Euripides protests that Dionysus swore to take him; Pluto invites Dionysus in to supper.
Aristophanes, Frogs 1360–1403Agon: the scalesDionysus says that the scales alone will test the poems, and asks each poet to hold one pan and speak his lines into it. Euripides' line about the Argo weighs lighter than Aeschylus' line about the river Spercheius, and the next rounds go the same way. When Euripides names Persuasion and Aeschylus names Death, the scale of Death sinks.
Aristophanes, Frogs 615–665Episode: the test by floggingXanthias offers his slave to be tortured, and Dionysus claims to be a god, but Xanthias says that a real god will not feel the whips. Each is struck in turn, and whichever flinches or cries out must be the slave, so each tries to hide the pain with a verse or a joke. Aeacus cannot tell which is the god and takes them both in to Pluto and Persephone.
Aristophanes, Frogs 1126–1172Agon: the test of the prologuesEuripides takes a prologue of Aeschylus and finds a dozen faults in three lines. He says that Hermes cannot be watching a father's murder and that 'I come' and 'I return' say the same thing twice, while Aeschylus replies that an exile who comes back both comes and returns. Euripides then picks out another line of Aeschylus, about calling on a father to hear and to hearken.
Aristophanes, Frogs 1404–1447Agon: the last weighing; what would save the cityAeschylus offers to meet his rival's whole household and all his books in the scales, with two of his own lines to outweigh them. Dionysus says that he cannot decide, since one poet is clever and the other delights him. Pluto reminds him that he must choose, and Dionysus asks each poet what advice he would give for the city.
Aristophanes, Frogs 80–115bPrologue: Dionysus asks Heracles about the poets of HadesDionysus says that Agathon has gone to join the blessed at their banquets, and Heracles asks after Xenocles and Pythangelus and then after the host of young tragedians. Dionysus dismisses them as poets who get one chorus and are never seen again, and asks for a genuine creative poet who dares a bold phrase. He then asks which friends and inns Heracles knew on his journey below.

23 more passages of Aristophanes that name Dionysus

Diodorus Siculus (9)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.2.1–4.5.4DionysusIn the Greek account Semele, daughter of Cadmus, dies when Zeus appears to her in his glory, and Hermes takes the child to the nymphs at Nysa. Dionysus teaches mankind the vine and a barley drink, leads an army that includes women, and returns from India to be honoured by festivals every other year. Some writers speak of an earlier Dionysus, son of Zeus and Persephone, and the chapters list the god's epithets and his Satyr and Muse companions.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.50.1–5.54.4Naxos, Syme, Calydna and NisyrosThe first settlers of Naxos are Thracians led by Butes; their dealings with the sons of Aloeus and with Dionysus, who is said to have been reared there, are told in turn. The historian then briefly gives the settlement of Syme, with its king Nireus, and of Calydna and Nisyros.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.6.1–4.7.4Priapus, Hermaphroditus and the MusesThe historian gives an Egyptian myth of Osiris, slain and dismembered by the Titans, to explain Priapus, whom others call the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, and he adds a short account of Hermaphroditus. He then treats the Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne in the usual account, quotes Homer and Hesiod for their number and names, and offers a reason for each name.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.1.1–7Preface to Book 4: writing the ancient mythsThe historian explains why the mythical age is hard to write about: its great antiquity, the lack of dates that can be proved, the multitude of genealogies, and the disagreement of earlier writers. Ephorus, Callisthenes and Theopompus avoided it, but he undertakes it. He closes by turning to Dionysus, whom both the Egyptians (as Osiris) and the Indians claim as their own, and says he will now give the Greek account.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.73.1–5.77.8The gods' discoveries and their Cretan originsZeus is said to have given each god a field of invention: the Muses the letters and poetry, Apollo the lyre, healing and the bow, Hermes the herald's staff, Athena the olive, and Dionysus the vine. The chapters then give an older Heracles, Artemis, Plutus, and the claim that most of the gods began in Crete and spread to other lands.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.11.1–4.13.4Heracles' labours I: the first sevenHera sends a frenzy on Heracles, and in it he shoots his children by Megara; when he recovers he goes to serve Eurystheus. The chapters give the labours of the Nemean lion, the Lernaean hydra, the Erymanthian boar (with the fight against the Centaurs at the cave of Pholus), the golden-horned hind, the Stymphalian birds, the stables of Augeas, and the Cretan bull.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.25.1–4.27.5Heracles: Hades, Orpheus and the HesperidesHeracles is initiated at Athens in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the historian digresses briefly on Orpheus. Heracles then descends to Hades, where Persephone welcomes him, and brings back Cerberus. For the last labour, the golden apples of the Hesperides, writers disagree about whether the prize was apples or golden-coloured sheep; the section also gives the story of Atlas and the Atlantides, whom Heracles rescues from pirates sent by Busiris, and Atlas's teaching him astronomy.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.81.1–4.85.7Aristaeus, Eryx, Daphnis and OrionThe historian tells of Aristaeus, son of Apollo and Cyrene, who after the death of Acteon goes to Ceos and helps the Greeks during a plague, and who is honoured as a god in Sicily. He continues with Eryx, son of Aphrodite, with the shepherd Daphnis in the Heraean mountains, and with the giant hunter Orion, whose works in Sicily, at Peloris and elsewhere, are described.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 6.1.1–11Euhemerus on the godsIn a fragment on the gods the historian is quoted as dividing them into eternal ones, such as the sun and moon and stars, and terrestrial ones, such as Heracles and Dionysus, who were honoured as gods for their benefactions. He then summarises the account of Euhemerus, who sailed from Arabia to the island of Panchaea, where a golden stele recorded the deeds of Uranus, Cronus and Zeus as kings.

Ovid (11)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.85–145Midas and the golden touchDionysus (Bacchus), passing through Phrygia, finds that his old tutor Silenus has been left behind, and King Midas treats him kindly and brings him back. In return Dionysus offers Midas any wish, and he chooses that all he touches turn to gold. When his food turns to gold, he begs to be freed, and Dionysus tells him to wash in the river Pactolus, which carries away the power.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.511–583Pentheus and DionysusThe blind prophet Teiresias (Tiresias) tells Pentheus, the king of Thebes, to worship the new god Dionysus (Bacchus), and Pentheus scorns him. Pentheus orders his guards to arrest the stranger who has come to Thebes with the rites of the god, and the guards bring in a prisoner, one of the god's followers, who begins to tell his story.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.584–733Acoetes and the sailors turned into dolphins; the death of PentheusAcoetes, the prisoner, tells how he was a ship's pilot who found a beautiful boy asleep on a shore, and how his crew, against his advice, carried the boy aboard. The boy, who is Dionysus (Bacchus), wakes and asks to be put ashore at Naxos, and the crew lie and sail on, and the ship stops in mid-sea as ivy grows over the oars and sails, and the sailors are turned into dolphins. Pentheus orders Acoetes to be tortured, but his chains fall off, and Pentheus, rushing to Mount Cithaeron, is torn apart by his own mother and her sisters.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.1–52The daughters of MinyasThe Theban women celebrate Dionysus (Bacchus), but the daughters of Minyas refuse to join and stay at home working at their looms. To pass the time they tell tales, and Alcithoe, after considering several stories, chooses to tell of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.542–674Procne's revengeTereus cuts out Philomela's tongue and keeps her shut in the hut, telling his wife that her sister is dead. Philomela weaves the story into a web and sends it to Procne, who, at the feast of Dionysus (Bacchus), frees her sister and brings her home. In her rage Procne kills her son Itys, and serves his flesh to Tereus at dinner, and then shows him the head. Tereus chases the two sisters with a sword, and the gods change all three into birds: Philomela into a nightingale, Procne into a swallow, and Tereus into a hoopoe.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.396–562The Minyades become bats; Athamas and InoThe daughters of Minyas, who have scorned Dionysus (Bacchus), find their looms turning to vines and ivy, and they are changed into bats. Hera (Juno), angry at the honour done to Semele's sister Ino, goes down to the Underworld and sends the Fury Tisiphone to the house of Athamas, who goes mad and kills his son Learchus. Ino leaps from a cliff with her other son Melicertes, and Aphrodite (Venus) asks Poseidon (Neptune) to make them sea-gods, and Ino's Theban companions are changed into rocks and birds.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.1–84The death of OrpheusThe Thracian women, who are angered by Orpheus' refusal to love another woman after Eurydice, attack him during the rites of Dionysus (Bacchus). Their spears and stones are charmed by his music until the noise of their pipes and drums drowns it out, and they tear him to pieces and throw his head and lyre into the river Hebrus. His shade goes to the underworld, where he is reunited with Eurydice, and Dionysus punishes the women by turning them into trees.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.563–662Cadmus and Harmonia; Perseus and AtlasCadmus and Harmonia, grieving at their misfortunes, go away from Thebes, and Cadmus, remembering the serpent he killed, is turned into a serpent, and Harmonia follows him. Perseus, flying over Libya with the head of Medusa, comes at nightfall to the kingdom of Atlas, who has been told that a son of Zeus (Jupiter) would steal his golden apples, and who refuses him shelter. Perseus holds up the head of Medusa, and Atlas is turned into the mountain that holds up the sky.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.159–296Medea rejuvenates AesonJason, home in Thessaly with the fleece, asks Medea to give some of his own years to his father Aeson. Medea, on the night of the full moon, calls on Hecate and gathers magic herbs, and drains the old man's blood and fills his veins with a potion. Aeson regains the vigour of a young man, and Dionysus (Bacchus), watching, asks Medea to do the same for his nurses.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.623–747Aeneas at Delos; Anius' daughters; ScyllaAeneas escapes from Troy with his father and his household gods and comes to Delos, where the king Anius shows them the temple and tells how his three daughters had the power of turning things into corn, wine and oil. Agamemnon tried to take them for the Greek army, and they escaped by prayer to Dionysus (Bacchus), who turned them into doves. Aeneas sails on past Sicily and the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, and the nymph Scylla asks the sea-nymph Galatea why she weeps.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.253–315Semele and ZeusHera (Juno), angry at the love of Zeus (Jupiter) for Semele, disguises herself as Semele's old nurse and persuades her to ask her lover to appear to her as he does to Hera. Zeus has sworn to grant her wish, and appears with his thunderbolts, and Semele is burned to ashes. The unborn child is taken from her and sewn into Zeus' thigh, and is born as Dionysus (Bacchus), and nymphs bring him up.

Pausanias (57)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.20.1–7Athens: Street of Tripods, theatre of Dionysus and Sulla’s capture of AthensThe Street of Tripods holds the Satyr of Praxiteles, with the story of Phryne tricking him into naming his finest work. The oldest sanctuary of Dionysus lies beside the theatre, with Alcamenes’ image and paintings of Hephaestus brought to heaven, Pentheus, Lycurgus and Ariadne. Near it stands a copy of Xerxes’ tent burnt by Sulla, which prompts an account of Mithridates, Aristion and Sulla’s siege and sack of Athens.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.21.1–14Patrae: Coresus and Callirhoe, the harbour sanctuaries and the mirror oraclePausanias tells the story of Coresus, priest of Dionysus at Calydon, whose love for Callirhoe led Dionysus to madden the Calydonians until Coresus sacrificed Callirhoe or someone who would die for her. Coresus killed himself instead of the girl, and Callirhoe then killed herself at the spring that bears her name. He lists the sanctuaries of Patrae: the precinct of the three Dionysus images, the sanctuary of Safety, Poseidon Hippius, Aphrodite, Ares, Apollo and Demeter. Beside Demeter's spring the sick consult a mirror let down on a cord, and there are also two sanctuaries of Serapis and one of Aesculapius.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.23.1–8Argos: Hollow Street, the Asclepieum and disputed Argive tombsAlong Hollow Street are a temple of Dionysus, brought from Euboea, the house of Adrastus, and shrines of Amphiaraus, Eriphyle, Asclepius and Baton. Pausanias disputes Argive claims to hold the tombs of Hyrnetho, Deianira and Helenus and the Palladium, noting that the Palladium went to Italy and Deianira died near Trachis. He also describes the underground chamber of Acrisius’ daughter, the tomb of Crotopus, and the temple of Cretan Dionysus, where Ariadne’s coffin was said to be found.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.24.1–11Laconian coast: Zarax, Cyphanta, Brasiae, Las and HypsaPausanias describes Zarax, destroyed by Cleonymus, the grotto of Aesculapius at Cyphanta with its spring struck by Atalanta, and Brasiae, whose people say Semele and the infant Dionysus drifted there in a chest. He then describes Las, with its temple of Athena Asia, the fountain Galaco, the river Smenus and the grave of Las. He argues from Homer that Achilles cannot have been a suitor of Helen.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.2.1–6Athens: from Piraeus to the Ceramicus, tomb of Antiope, early kingsEntering Athens from Piraeus, Pausanias notes the tomb of the Amazon Antiope, the ruins of Conon’s walls and the graves of Menander and a cenotaph of Euripides, which leads him to poets at royal courts. Inside the gate he describes the building for the processions, a temple of Demeter with statues attributed to Praxiteles, the colonnades to the Ceramicus and the sanctuary of Dionysus with clay images of Amphictyon feasting the gods. He ends with the first kings of Athens, from Actaeus and Cecrops to Cranaus, Amphictyon and Erichthonius.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.43.1–8Megara: shrines of heroes, the Aesymnium, Dionysus and Aphrodite, and the grave of CoroebusPausanias lists Megarian shrines and tombs: Iphigenia, Adrastus, Artemis, the Prytaneum burials, the rock Anaclethra, the Aesymnium Council House and the tombs of Pyrgo and Iphinoe. He describes the sanctuary of Dionysus and the temples of Aphrodite and Fortune with works by Praxiteles, Scopas and Lysippus, and tells the story of Coroebus, who killed Punishment sent by Apollo and founded Tripodisci.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.37.1–6Lerna: the sacred grove, Philammon’s mysteries, the Hydra and the Alcyonian LakeThe grove at Lerna runs from Mount Pontinus to the sea between the rivers Pontinus and Amymone, with images of Demeter and Dionysus and a sanctuary of Athena founded by Danaus. Pausanias describes the Lernaean mysteries and how Arrhiphon showed a supposed Philammon text to be spurious, the plane-tree and spring of Amymone where the Hydra was bred, and the bottomless Alcyonian Lake, through which Dionysus is said to have descended to fetch Semele.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.20.1–5Tanagra: Poemander, Corinna, the tomb of Orion, Hermes and the Triton of DionysusPausanias gives the Tanagrans' account of their founder Poemander and of the city's name, which came from Tanagra, also called Graea, a daughter of Aeolus or of Asopus. He mentions the tomb of Orion, Mount Cerycius, where Hermes was born, and the place called Polus. In the temple of Dionysus he describes the image by Calamis and the headless Triton, killed either in a fight with Dionysus or when he was lured by a bowl of wine.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.7.1–9Sicyon: Dorian rule, roadside tombs and the sanctuaries of Dionysus and PersuasionSicyon became Dorian, Demetrius son of Antigonus moved the city to its old acropolis, and an earthquake later damaged it. Pausanias describes the tomb of Lycus the Messenian, the Sicyonian style of burial, the grave of Eupolis, the tomb of Xenodice, the Dripping Spring, and the theatre with a statue said to be Aratus. He then describes the temple of Dionysus and its night procession, the ruined temple of Artemis of the Lake, the sanctuary of Persuasion with its legend of Apollo and Artemis, and the temple of Apollo with the flutes of Marsyas.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.29.1–10Delphi: Polygnotus' painting of the underworld (2): Indolence, Ariadne, Phaedra, Theseus and PirithousPausanias continues the underworld painting with the comrades of Ulysses bringing black rams, the figure of Indolence plaiting a rope eaten by a she-ass, and Tityus. He describes Ariadne and Phaedra, with the account of Dionysus and the bridge at Zeugma, then Chloris, Thyia, Procris, Clymene, Megara and Eriphyle. Near them are Elpenor, Ulysses at the trench with Tiresias and Anticlea, and Theseus and Pirithous seated with their swords.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.2.1–8Corinth: Palaemon’s shrine, the ports, the tomb of Lais and the market-placeWithin the Isthmian precinct Pausanias describes the temple of Palaemon and the altar of the Cyclopes, and the conduct of the Isthmian games after Mummius. He then describes Lechaeum and Cenchreae with their sanctuaries and the bath of Helen, and on the road to Corinth the tomb of Diogenes and the Craneum, where the grave of Lais lies. In the market-place he lists images of Artemis, Dionysus and others, with the story of the images made from Pentheus’ tree.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.13.1–9Sparta: Carneus, the Dionysiades, and the hill of Argive HeraPausanias notes the tombs of Cynortas, Castor, Idas and Lynceus, a temple of the Saviour Maid and the worship of Domestic Carneus, with explanations of the Dorian worship of Carnean Apollo. He lists the image of Aphetaeus, the colonnaded square, the temple of Dionysus Colonatas with its women’s race, the shrine of Pleuron, the temples of Argive Hera and Protectress Hera on the hill, and the statue of the wrestler Hetoemocles.

45 more passages of Pausanias that name Dionysus

Nonnus of Panopolis (169)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.0–181Book 48: The Giants attack Dionysos; he wrestles PalleneHera, still angry over Argos, stirs Earth to arm the Giants against Dionysos. He drives them off with his thyrsus and ivy, but leaves them alive for his father to deal with. He then turns to Pallene, whose father Sithon has killed all her suitors, and wins her in a wrestling-match on the Thracian isthmus when Sithon stops the bout.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.474–652Book 48: Dionysos' wine-spring and the sleeping AuraLovesick and unable to speak to the unyielding Aura, Dionysos sees the shade of Ariadne reproach him in a dream. Remembering how he won another nymph by a potion, he opens a spring of wine on the rock when Aura is parched with thirst at midday. She drinks, falls asleep, and Dionysos binds her hands and feet and takes her while she sleeps.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 27.241–341Book 27: Zeus' council of the gods on OlymposOn Olympos Zeus appeals to Apollo, Athena and Hephaistos to defend Dionysos, reminding each of their ties to him, and complains that Hera, Athena and Ares seem to side with Deriades. The gods depart: Apollo, Athena and Hephaistos go to help Dionysos, while Hera leads Ares and Hydaspes to the other side, with Deo supporting her.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.594–741Book 47: Dionysos fights Perseus; Hermes ends the war; Argos honours the godPerseus and Dionysos trade boasts and fight, and Hera fights unrecognised. Dionysos grows to touch the sky, but Perseus turns Ariadne to stone with the Gorgon's head. As Dionysos is about to sack Argos, Hermes restrains him, promises that Ariadne will be placed among the stars and reconciles the two sons of Zeus. Hera returns to Olympos and Melampus persuades the Argives to honour Dionysos with a festival.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 16.302–405Book 16: Nicaia's grief; the birth of Telete and the founding of NicaiaPan and a Satyr envy Dionysos his wine and bewail their own unlucky loves. Nicaia wakes and understands what has happened; in grief and anger she tries to find and shoot Dionysos, swears never to drink from the spring again and thinks of hanging herself. She bears a daughter, Telete, and Dionysos founds the city of Nicaia, named after the nymph and the victory over the Indians.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 19.0–96Book 19: Dionysos consoles Methe and Botrys; the harpers' contest beginsMethe laments Staphylos, and Dionysos consoles her and Botrys with wine, promising that Methe will give her name to drunkenness and Botrys and Staphylos theirs to the grape cluster and the bunch. He then holds a contest beside Staphylos' tomb, offering a bull and a goat as prizes to the harpers. Erechtheus of Athens sings first, of Demeter entertained by Celeos, comparing Dionysos' hospitality to it.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 20.289–404Book 20: Dionysos flees into the sea; Nereus consoles him; Zeus rebukes LycurgosDionysos, deceived, goes unarmed to the palace of Lycurgos, who scorns him, beats the Bacchants with his poleaxe and drives them into the hills. Terrified by Hera's thunder, Dionysos flees into the Erythraian sea, where Thetis and Nereus receive and console him. Lycurgos rages at the water and calls for fishermen to haul the god out, and Zeus rebukes him from the sky, recalling how Teiresias was blinded for seeing Athena.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 16.71–227Book 16: Dionysos woos Nicaia and is refusedDionysos sees Nicaia's colours in the flowers of a meadow and offers to carry her hunting gear, spread her bed with fawnskins under a vine, and give her dogs, handmaids and the Graces as servants. Nicaia answers that he must first win Athena or Artemis, her comrades, and threatens to chain him as the sons of Iphimedeia chained Ares. Left behind, Dionysos talks to the hound Pan gave him and promises to make it a star near Seirios if it will track the girl.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.496–593Book 47: An Argive taunts Dionysos; Hera arms PerseusAn Argive mocks Dionysos, setting Perseus the Gorgon-slayer against him and urging him to go back to Thebes. Hera, taking the shape of the seer Melampus, urges Perseus to defend Argos, and Argos's heroes muster. Dionysos arms his Bacchants and Satyrs and protects himself with a gem against the Gorgon's gaze.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 11.83–213Book 11: Omens of Ampelos' death; he mounts the bullA horned dragon drops a fawn on the altar, an omen of the boy's death. Ate, in the shape of a playmate, tells Ampelos that Dionysos has given him nothing and urges him to ride a wild bull. Selene sends a gadfly against the bull, and it runs off with him while he prays.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 14.228–320Book 14: Dionysos marches through PhrygiaDionysos sets out armed with a thyrsus and a horn of wine, and the army passes the rock of Niobe, which warns the Indians not to fight a god. In Ascania the people submit. Hera, in the shape of an Indian, urges the captain Astraios to fight, and he drives off the heralds Pan and the Satyrs.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 39.0–129Book 39: The fleet arrives; Deriades and Dionysos address their menThe ships built by the Rhadamanes arrive, and Deriades, alarmed but defiant, calls up a fleet from his islands. He argues that Dionysos is no god, since a son of Zeus would not fight with leaves and fawnskin. Dionysos answers by naming his allies in the sea and among the winds, and tells his captains to attack before the Indians can use fire against the ships.

157 more passages of Nonnus of Panopolis that name Dionysus

Bacchylides (1)

Bacchylides, Dithyrambs 19.1–20.11Dithyrambs 19–20: Io and Argus; Idas and MarpessaDithyramb 19 tells of Io, driven by the gadfly, and asks whether Hermes slew the watcher Argus or lulled him to sleep. She came to the banks of the Nile and bore Epaphus, and from that race sprang Cadmus and Dionysus. Dithyramb 20, a fragment, tells how the maidens of Lacedaemon sang of Idas bringing home Marpessa in a chariot given by Poseidon.

Orpheus (attributed) (7)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 47–51Hymns 47-51: Bacchus Pericionius, Sabasius, Ippa, Lysius Lenaeus, the NymphsFour Dionysiac hymns come first: to Bacchus Pericionius, who once took the house of Cadmus into his care, to Sabasius, here called the offspring of Saturn, to Ippa, the nurse of Bacchus, whose rites are those of Sabus, and to Lysius Lenaeus, the god of wine born of two mothers. The last hymn of the group calls on the Nymphs, who dwell in watery caves and derive their birth from Ocean.
Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 52–56Hymns 52-56: Trietericus, Amphietus Bacchus, Silenus and the Priestesses of Bacchus, Venus, AdonisThree more Dionysiac hymns address the triennial Bacchus, Amphietus Bacchus, who is called to rise with the nymphs, and Silenus, the Satyrs and the priestesses of Bacchus. Venus is hailed as the sea-born, laughter-loving queen, and Adonis as the best of daemons, who sinks into Tartarus and shines again in the heavens.
Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 42–46Hymns 42-46: Mises, the Seasons, Semele, Dionysius Bassareus, Liknitus BacchusMises, here called Thesmophorus, is invoked as a spermatic god of many names who bears a leafy rod, and the Seasons as the daughters of Jove and Themis who bring justice and peace. Semele is addressed as the Cadmean mother of Bacchus. The group closes with Dionysius Bassareus, the bull-faced son of the thunder, and Liknitan Bacchus, bearer of the vine.
Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 27–31Hymns 27-31: the Mother of the Gods, Mercury, Proserpine, Bacchus, the CuretesThe Mother of the Gods is invoked as the great nurse of all, honoured with the drum, and Mercury (Hermes) as the messenger of Zeus and son of Maia, patron of gain and graceful speech. Proserpine is addressed as the only-begotten daughter of Zeus and honoured wife of Pluto. Bacchus appears as a two-horned, ivy-crowned god of two forms, and the Curetes as leaping armed dancers.
Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 0–3Hymns 0-3: Musaeus (proem), Hecate, Prothyraea, NightThe collection opens with a prologue in which Orpheus addresses his pupil Musaeus, promises to teach him the rites of sacrifice and then calls on a long roll of gods, nymphs, spirits and personified powers to attend. The prologue ends with a short invocation of Hecate of the crossroads, which Taylor prints as its closing lines (modern Hymn 1). The next two hymns invoke Prothyraea, the goddess who presides over childbirth, and Night, named as the parent from whom gods and men first arose.
Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 37–41Hymns 37-41: the Titans, the Curetes, Corybas, Ceres, the Ceralian MotherA hymn to the Titans calls them the offspring of Heaven and Earth, and a second hymn to the Curetes names them as brass-beating servants of Mars. Corybas is invoked as a two-fold Curete. Two hymns to Demeter follow, one to Ceres as universal mother and one to the Ceralian Mother, who wandered in grief until she found her daughter Proserpine in the underworld.
Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 72–76Hymns 72-76: Fortune, the Daemon, Leucothea, Palaemon, the MusesFortune is asked to come with rich abundance, and the Daemon, or guardian genius, is invoked as a mighty, life-giving power called mild Jove. Leucothea, born of Cadmus and nurse of Bacchus, and Palaemon, who was nursed with Dionysius and dwells in the deep sea, are invoked as protectors of the initiated at sea. The group ends with the nine Muses, daughters of Jove, who are named one by one.

Dionysus in the ancient sources