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| "Bacchus" by Solomko (earliest 20th century) |
The simplest way to comprehend Bacchus
(also known as Dionysus
and Liber) is to understand him to be the God of the vine and of wine,
and all that is associated with wine. Ancient Romans shared many of our
contemporary associations with wine, such as cheerfulness, licentiousness and night-time
partying, but beyond this the ancients added a sacred dimension. In Latin the
name of the God, Liber, literally means free.* The English word liberty derives from it, and that which
the word stands for was sacrosanct to the Romans. Bacchus is also the God of
libations, with wine being integral to many Roman rites, and the divine patron
of religious intoxication and ecstasy, which presumably played a role the Dionysian mysteries. The God also has a dark side, and not only
because his revels are often traditionally associated with the night. In
liberating his devotees from ordinary cares and inhibitions he momentarily
breaks the order of things. When Bacchus holds sway traditional social bonds
loosen, including those of class, the family, gender relations, even the order
of the State – and the mind – may dishevel. The Hellenic myths relating to King
Pentheus and King Lycurgus spell out the danger, a danger that went beyond the
mythical in the 2nd century BCE, when the Roman Senate felt
compelled to restrict the practice of Bacchic religion.