Dionysus and Bacchus

   What's up my readers? It's time for the god of madness. Oh, and wine. Can't forget the wine. Yes, we're talking about Dionysus/Bacchus, which most of you probably know from Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief. Most of the time, he's depicted as some guy who's super drunk and merry, but perhaps you'd like to see the original.


   So, as with most gods, Zeus/Jupiter is the dad and his poor mother was a human. If you've read enough of my works, you should start seeing a pattern here. Anyway, Semele was a hero in Greek myths and got pregnant because of Zeus/Jupiter. She's got a feeling that Zeus/Jupiter is the father, but Hera/Juno is tired of all of these affairs Zeus/Jupiter keeps having and decides that she should plot Semele's death instead of taking it out on Zeus/Jupiter. It ends up with Zeus/Jupiter showing Semele his true form, which since she's human she dies from, and sews the fetal Dionysus/Bacchus into his thigh. Alright then. Later on when Dionysus/Bacchus was born, he went down to the underworld, probably giving Hades a punch in the gut, and saved his mother. She ended up becoming a god to help preside over her son's madness.


   Now, unlike most of the Greek and Roman gods, Dionysus and Bacchus have the exact same domains and are basically the same person except for their name. Both gods preside over wine, grape harvesting, madness, ecstasy, and the theatre. The last one sticks out the most, since it's mostly Apollo who is thought to own that domain. That and the fact that 'Theatre' doesn't really fit in with the rest of his stuff. Maybe they liked getting drunk before preforming in plays? Either way, he shows up in a myth i previously mentioned, Orpheus. Well, it's more like his cult makes an appearance. I won't spoil anything about what happens in the myth, sans for the ending. Orpheus ends up getting ripped apart and cannibalized by Dionysus'/Bacchus' cult in a drunken frenzy. Weird stuff man. Really weird stuff.