❝ what if you'd never seen the sea before? ❞

ἱκέτης, n. – one who comes to seek aid or protection; a suppliant. (secret pagan blog.)

[last-of-the-romans]

Temple of Bacchus 

[thecunningwife]

[At the] temple of Hermes … one of them [the supplicants requesting wisdom] would hang on the altar gold, another silver, another a herald’s wand of ivory, and others other rich presents of the kind. Now Aesop, she said, was not in a position to own any of these things; but he saved up what he had, and poured a libation of as much milk as a sheep would give at one milking in honour of Hermes, and brought a honeycomb and laid it on the altar, big enough to fill the hand, and he thought of regaling the god with myrtle berries, or perhaps by laying just a few roses or violets at the altar.

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5. 15 (trans. Conybeare) (Greek biography C1st to 2nd A.D.)

I love this because of how it illustrates that giving what you can is enough. The real offering is the time, energy, and thought (i.e. desire to please) you put into it.

(via heckyeahhermes)

[theartofwingingit]

[lady-arryn]

fyeahmyths thank gods it’s summer challenge: god of revelry

Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in Greek mythology. Alcohol, especially wine, played an important role in Greek culture with Dionysus being an important reason for this life style.

[hiketes]

(via Aphrodite and the Gods of Love: Eros and Hermaphroditos (Getty Villa Exhibitions))

[hiketes]

(via Roman Bronze Statuette of Mercury | 2nd Century AD | Price $22,500.00 | Roman | Bronze | Sculpture | eTiquities by Phoenix Ancient Art)

[hiketes]

(via Dionysos on a Panther, New York, NY | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)

[hiketes]

(via Hermes of Praxiteles | Flickr - Photo Sharing!)

[thesatyrsglade]

Olympians: Dionysus by ~Fedini

[dukeofbookingham-deactivated202]

A man, a man, and nothing more, yet he presumed to wage a war with god.

The Bacchae, Euripides (trans. William Arrowsmith)

[righthandedcato-deactivated2015]

[dukeofbookingham-deactivated202]

I call upon loud-roaring and revelling Dionysus, / primeval, double-natured, thrice-born, Bacchic lord, / wild, ineffable, secretive, two-horned and two-shaped, / ivy-covered, bull-faced, warlike, howling, pure.

The Orphic Hymns (via dukeofbookingham)

[lancelotfan-deactivated20151018]

Mythology meme: Dionysus (gender swap)

Wine flows as if it were blood in my veins. 

[poetryfoundation]

–from “Looking Around” by Charles Wright, Poetry, October 1999 Charles Wright has been awarded the Bollingen Prize for American Poetry for his title Bye-and-Bye: Selected Later Poems, in which “Looking Around” also appears. The prize includes a $150,000 cash award.

[apollofastingdionysusdrunk-deac]

the bacchae, euripides

“Anger does not become a god. You should not be like a human being.”

[byegods-blog]

modern god aesthetics: dionysus

god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, and festivity

[volchitza]

“I just can’t believe you’re telling me you actually saw—” “What if you had never seen the sea before? What if the only thing you’d ever seen was a child’s picture—blue crayon, choppy waves? Would you know the real sea if you only knew the picture? Would you be able to recognize the real thing even if you saw it? You don’t know what Dionysus looks like. We’re talking about God here. God is serious business.”

Donna Tartt. The Secret History