Semele in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Semele

41 passages from 11 ancient authors that tell of Semele, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Semele was a princess of Thebes in Greek mythology, daughter of the hero Cadmus and Harmonia. She was the only mortal to become the parent of a god. ... For the story in one place, read our article on Semele.

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, Theogony 960–1022Goddesses and mortal men; the end of the poem (960-1022)The Muses are asked to sing of the goddesses who lay with mortal men. Demeter bears Plutus to Iasion, Harmonia bears Ino, Semele, Agave, Autonoe and Polydorus to Cadmus, and Callirrhoe bears Geryon. The list continues with Eos and Tithonus, Aphrodite and Anchises, Thetis and Peleus, and ends with Circe and Calypso bearing sons to Odysseus before the poet turns to the company of women.

Homer (3)

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, Iliad 14.224–360Hera and Sleep: the deception of Zeus on IdaHera goes to Lemnos and asks Sleep to lull Zeus once she has lain with him, promising him the young Grace Pasithea as his wife. They go to Ida, where Sleep perches in a fir-tree in the likeness of a bird, and Hera approaches Zeus, who is seized with desire for her. He persuades her to lie with him at once, hiding them in a golden cloud, and Sleep binds him, then goes to tell Poseidon to help the Danaans while Zeus sleeps.
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 (1)

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, Olympian Odes 2.1–100Olympian 2: for Theron — the house of Cadmus and the Isles of the BlestPindar praises Theron of Acragas, victor in the chariot race, and prays that time may heal the sorrows of his house. He recalls the house of Cadmus, with Laïus, Oedipus, the Fury that made his sons kill one another, and Polyneices' son Thersander. He then describes the afterlife, in which the wicked are punished and the good go to the Isles of the Blest, where Rhadamanthys judges and Peleus, Cadmus and Achilles dwell, and he ends by answering envy with the praise of Theron's generosity.

Euripides (5)

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.
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, Hippolytus 525–579First choral song to Love; Phaedra listens at the doorThe Chorus sings to Love, who from the eyes brings sweet desire to the souls of those he attacks, and prays that he may not come against them in anger. It recalls Iole and Semele as victims of Aphrodite. Phaedra, standing at the door, tells the women to be silent and listens to the sounds from within the house, and the Chorus asks what mischief is on foot.
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 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.

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.

Diodorus Siculus (2)

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.

Ovid (1)

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 (6)

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 9.12.1–6Thebes: the house of Cadmus, Harmonia and Semele, and the flute-player PronomusPausanias tells how the Thebans began to sacrifice working oxen to Apollo of the Ashes, and how Cadmus was led by a cow with moon-like marks to the spot where Thebes was founded, where an altar and image of Athena Onga stand. He describes the site of the house of Cadmus, the ruined bridal-chambers of Harmonia and Semele, and the log from heaven adorned by Polydorus as Dionysus Cadmus. He ends with the statue of the flute-player Pronomus, who invented flutes suited to every kind of melody, and the statue of Epaminondas.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.16.1–7Thebes: temples of Ammon, Fortune, Aphrodite and Dionysus, and the tombs of Amphion's childrenPausanias describes the temple of Ammon at Thebes with its image dedicated by Pindar, the observatory of Tiresias and the sanctuary of Fortune carrying the child Wealth. He lists the ancient wooden images of Aphrodite, with the three surnames Harmonia gave her, the sanctuary of Lawgiver Demeter and the theatre with the temple of Dionysus the Deliverer. He mentions the house of Lycus, Semele's tomb and the tombs of the children of Amphion.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.31.1–10Troezen: Saviour Artemis, Pittheus’ tomb and the purification of OrestesIn the market-place of Troezen Pausanias describes the temple of Saviour Artemis founded by Theseus and the altars of the gods below, the tomb and judgment seats of Pittheus, the sanctuary of the Muses and the temple of Wolfish Artemis. Near these are the sacred stone and the booth where Orestes was purified, the sanctuary of Thearian Apollo, the colonnade with statues of the Athenian women and children, the fountain Hippocrene, the Hermes Polygius with the sprouting club of Hercules, and the temple of Saviour Zeus.
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 3.19.1–13Amyclae and Therapne: Hyacinth’s tomb, Helen and the White IslePausanias describes the image of the Amyclaean Apollo, standing on an altar said to hold the tomb of Hyacinth and carved with reliefs, and the sanctuary of Alexandra and Dionysus Psilax at Amyclae. He then follows the road to Therapne past the sanctuaries of Zeus, Cotylean Aesculapius and Ares Theritas, and gives the Rhodian story of Helen’s hanging and the tale from Crotona and Himera of Leonymus and the White Isle.

Nonnus of Panopolis (18)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 8.178–332Book 8: Hera as Semele's nurseHera takes the shape of an old nurse and comes to Semele's chamber. She asks which god has been her lover and says that if it is Zeus she should ask him to come with thunder, as he does to Hera. Semele, stung, prays to Zeus for a bridal of lightning and complains that she has never seen his true form.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 7.255–368Book 7: Zeus woos SemeleZeus, struck by Eros's arrow, goes back to heaven and calls on Helios to hasten the night. He crosses to Thebes in two bounds and comes to Semele in the shapes of a bull, a lion, a panther, a bridegroom and a snake. He tells her that she will bear a son who will make men forget their troubles, and that she will be called immortal.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 8.333–418Book 8: The thunderbolt and the birth of DionysosZeus warns Semele that his thunder is not gentle, but gives way to the Fates and comes to her with lightning. Semele takes hold of the thunderbolts and is burnt to ashes. Hermes carries the unborn child, washed in fire, to his father. Zeus then calms Hera and gives Semele a place among the gods.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 8.0–121Book 8: Semele's pregnancy; Ares threatens to leave heavenSemele grows heavy with child and is carried off by every strain of pipes and cymbals in the hills. Envy, jealous of the unborn Dionysos, stirs up Ares, who complains of Zeus's loves and says he will leave Olympos for Thrace. Hera, still angry, meets Deceit near Mount Dicte.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 9.169–228Book 9: The boy Dionysos hunts; Semele's boastAt nine years old Dionysos hunts hares, stags and tigers and drives lions for Rheia. He grows up among the Pans in the Phrygian hills. Semele, in Olympos, boasts over Hera that Zeus himself brought her son to birth and that Rheia nursed him.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 31.199–282Book 31: Hera borrows the cestus of AphroditeHera visits Aphrodite on Lebanon and, in answer to her questions, pretends to fear that Semele, Dionysos and the vine will drive her out of Olympos. She then asks to borrow Aphrodite's cestus for a day, to charm Zeus and help the Indians, who she says have always honoured Aphrodite.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 7.67–149Book 7: Zeus promises mankind wine and a second DionysosZeus considers in silence and then tells Time not to be angry, since he will give men wine to heal their sorrows. He will bear a son in his own thigh who will plant the vine and be received among the gods. Eros takes out his quiver of twelve arrows, each engraved with the name of a mortal woman, and tips the fifth with ivy. Meanwhile Semele dreams of a tree whose fruit is carried off to Zeus, and her father Cadmos sends her to sacrifice.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 10.0–138Book 10: Athamas' madness; Ino leaps into the seaAthamas, driven mad, flogs a she-goat for his wife, hunts his son Learchos as a stag and kills him, and boils Melicertes in a cauldron. Ino snatches the child and runs to the sea, calling on Zeus and Hermes. She leaps in and is received by Poseidon as Leucothea, and Semele mocks her from heaven.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 5.122–228Book 5: Harmonia's necklace; the children of CadmosThe gods bring wedding gifts, and Aphrodite gives Harmonia a serpent-shaped necklace that Hephaistos had made. Harmonia bears four daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Agaue and Semele, and a son, Polydoros. Cadmos gives Autonoe to Aristaios.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 7.150–254Book 7: Semele washes in the AsoposSemele goes out to sacrifice at the altar of Zeus and is drenched with the blood of the victims. She bathes her robes in the river Asopos while Erinys looks on and laughs. Zeus sees her and takes the shape of an eagle to come nearer, and a naiad of the river wonders aloud whether she is Selene or a goddess.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 31.0–69Book 31: Hera appeals to Persephone against DionysosHera, jealous at the Indian defeat and the sight of Perseus' trophies, goes down to Persephone in Hades. She tells her that Dionysos will displace Zagreus and Demeter's honour and that Zeus has wronged them both, and asks her to arm the Furies against him.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 44.80–183Book 44: Teiresias' sacrifice, the snakes of Cadmos, and Pentheus' defianceTeiresias tells Agaue to sacrifice to avert the dream, while privately knowing what it means. At the altar a serpent winds harmlessly about Cadmos and another about Harmonia, foretelling their transformation into stone snakes. All Thebes takes up the Bacchic dance, and Pentheus rages, vowing to kill Dionysos and denying that a mortal can be a god.

6 more passages of Nonnus of Panopolis that name Semele

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

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.