#dionysus lore

[nysus-temple]

Apollo & Dionysus [Part 1]

MAN. not sure if i know what i'm doing, they're very complicated and this won't be my only essay about them. But I've been delaying this essay for way too long, to a point in which I was close to crying about it.

Hope you enjoy, in any case, how i give you all the connections, both good and bad, of my favourite god figures from the Greek Folklore.

1. Karneia [Καρνεῖα].

One of Dionysus' main characteristics is how he's depicted with horns. It's part of his identity as a god, it's horns what (according to the Orphic hymns) made him look like Persephone's son. you can't take away his horns and pretend he's still Dionysus. Euripides knew that well.

Apollo, on the other hand, not many are aware that he sometimes was represented with horns, as well ! This festival, held mainly in Sparta, was to honor Apollo (and a couple of other gods but, he was the star of the show).

The reasons for why this festival was held vary; like Pausanias saying it was to calm him down so he wouldn't send a plague.

But, you see, the main reason this festival is mentioned here: the Spartans would stop any military activity to honor a horned Apollo, he resembled Dionysus during that time. And not only that, but he also was related with vines during it, and that's Dionysus sacred plant. Just like the laurel (or bay, i think it's called in English) is the sacred tree of Apollo.

Seeing Apollo with that plant, and harvesting grapes while having horns, has a strong conection to what Dionysus is.

2. Delphi's Oracle.

It's still Apollo's Oracle, wether Dionysus kept it while he was gone at Hyperborea or not. He killed Python, Gaia's big-ass snake, in order to get it.

But.

While Apollo had to leave during the winter time to go to Hyperborea, it was Dionysus OF ALL GODS the one who kept Delphi, and thus, his festivals were celebrated there.

On one side of the main temple, you could see Apollo with his twin sister, Artemis, and his mother, Leto.

And on the other side, it was Dionysus.

Dionysus wasn't related to prophecies, at all. Maenads did shenanigans during the time Apollo wasn't there.

But it's, you know... Interesting, that Apollo's most important oracle was kept by Dionysus during the time that he wasn't there.

With this, you should think "then, they're in good terms, right?" Yeah, well, they're supposed to be, there's nothing stating that they have a bad relationship, it's the other way around, actually !

But the next point... Is gonna leave us all confused.

3. Orpheus.

Or, as i like to call it:

And my favourite part of this essay, gotta say !

Orpheus brought many cults to the Greeks, according to Pausanias. Like the Eleusinian Demeter one, for example. And not to forget, Orphism gets his name from him, as well as the Orphic Hymns, obviously.

But, apparently, besides doing all that, at the end of his life, he claimed to not care about any gods, not even Dionysus, the main figure of Orphism, that weren't Apollo.

And his death was explained in a lost play of Aeschylus, one that two different writers describe; Eratosthenes and Pausanias, so pick your favourite:

P: 1. the maeneads saw Orpheus refusing to worship Dionysus, and killed him.

E: 2. Or, the interesting one: Dionysus saw that Orpheus devoted himself to Apollo and Apollo only, and got... Jealous. Jealous of his devotion to Apollo.

He was the one who started Orphism, the one who wrote many hymns for him. Seeing him being devoted to someone else than him apparently wasn't a good move. In this version he sent the maeneads to kill him, they didn't go for their own will, which makes it more peculiar.

I'm not writting down Ovid's version because it doesn't fucking count.

Plato also says some odd thingy, that "the gods imposed on Orpheus the punishment of dying at the hands of women for not having had the courage to die for love like Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, who had died in the place of her husband Admetus." ... Which, yeah, sure, I guess, whatever you say, buddy. We have to keep in mind Plato's texts are more related to philosophy than anything.

People always say it's Apollo the one who was envious of Dionysus' talents and parties, (for... some reason i guess) specially knowing how he had two of his muses related to him (tragedy and comedy) due to Dionysus being, after all, the god of theatre.

But, surprise ! It was the other way around. Dionysus was jealous of Orpheus' devotion to Apollo. "If you won't devote yourself to me, you won't devote yourself to anyone".

And, well, either because the sources didn't survive or because he wasn't considered his son in these versions, Apollo didn't do anything. In fact, we never see him doing anything towards Dionysus.

So, what now, Nysus? What was their relationship exactly, after all of this?

It's... Complicated !! Okay !!! This needs more research from my part, plus we all should keep in mind that, while all the authors mentioned here were Greek, they were different guys. You always need to keep in mind the place, person, era... All of that, before starting to judge how a dynamic between two gods work.

( If you enjoy my badly-written posts, please consider buying me a kofi ! You're not forced to, though, but please, reblog this post at least if you are gonna leave a like ! 💕 That's what will motivate me to keep working on my essays )

[nysus-temple]

Dionysus' lesser-known myths [or perhaps you do know them, but i will tell you about them anyway]

Some of these myths have already been shown in my blog, but i decided to bring some of them up again in a more elaborated way, plus some new too. Perhaps you've heard of them, perhaps you haven't, but i can tell you i haven't seen them much around here.

And my job isn't reading your minds, it's about writting essays, so here we go.

1. Ampelos (Αμπελος):

According to Nonnus of Panopolis, Ampelos was a satyr (tho not many art represents him as such) who loved Dionysus, and was loved by him as well. Not much of a surprise, since we do know many gods had male lovers.

The problem is that, we're still talking about a satyr, we know how those guys are and act. According to Nonnus, Ampelos was riding a bull while mocking Selene, angrily, she sent a gadfly to sting the bull. The bull ran and threw Ampelos all over the place. Nonnus describes it as a very gore-like death.

Dionysus, upset, ended up turning Ampelos' corpse into a grape vine, and from there, he created wine with his blood... THANKFULY, it was the blood.

Roman mosaic with Ampelos and Bacchus.

2. Midas (Μίδας):

"But Nysus, everybody knows Midas" yes yes, but do you KNOW the actual Greek myths? Or do you know the later, VERY later-on version that appears in Wikipedia? Midas never turned his daughter into gold in the folklore, for example.

Midas was a foreign king who married a greek woman, he was the king of Phrygia, and according to Pausanias, he had a daughter named Zoe. I have absolutely nothing about her except this.

Anyways, going to the important part: Silenus, a companion of Dionysus who used to be one of his foster fathers, got lost while he was... Kind of drunk ( come on, Dionysus can't keep an eye on everyone 24/7 ). Some peasants found him and took him to King Midas, who, as a very loyal follower of Dionysus, recognized Silenus and took care of him. When Dionysus arrived in order to take him back, he thanked Midas and said he would give him in return anything that he wished for... And here it comes: Midas wished to be able to turn everything that he touched to gold, and Dionysus agreed, even though he felt sorry he hadn't thought of it twice.

Midas was happy turning stuff into gold, obviously. But when he touched food and it turned into gold as well and he was unable to eat, he returned to Dionysus asking him to turn it back to normal.

Surprisingly, Dionysus didn't say "no" or "live with the consequences"; he told him to wash himself in the river Pactolus, and, good enough, the gold thingy dissappeared.

I don't have this myth fully narrated by a Greek, instead, from a latin author. The good thing tho, thanks to Herodotus and Pausanias, i know it's realiable.

Monument dedicated to Midas, in the old Prhygia ( now part of Turkey )

3. The Minyades (Μινυάδες):

According to Plutarch, king Minyas had three daughters ( whose names i honestly don't know, they appear in Ovid's Metamorphosis ). He tells that Dionysus appeared in the form of a maiden to invite them to the Dionysian Mysteries, since the rest of the women had already gone there. And they declined, politely, but still declined. This is one of those moments in which we see Dionysus' weak points, no justified anger. They neglected the cult, but had nothing against it anyways.

Still, for him, that wasn't enough.

He drove them mad, like very. Something that for Plutarch was even worse than death, apparently. They even killed their own children and ate them (yikes) dismembering them like Dionysus was once dismembered. The sisters were wandering around the mountains, without Dionysus caring at all.

Until finally, Hermes took pity on them, and turned them into bats, freeing them from the madness.

One of the Minyades showing the dismembered body of her son - Étienne-Barthélémy Garnier

4. Zeus' lighting bolts

This one is short, so i'll get to the point.

We all know what Nonnus' was up to when writing about Dionysus. He said in his work that Zeus recognized him (when being Zagreus) as his heir. Since when he was still a little kid, he was able to climb to his throne and to hold Zeus' lightning bolts. Of course, then the very well-known myth of Hera calling the titants to dismember Dionysus arrives here, since she wanted no heir to the throne.

Things happen, you know.

5. Lykurgos (Λυκοῦργος):

Remember when i talked about this guy in the anger essay? Wellp, here he is again, it's the same, but i'll elaborate on him a bit more.

He was a thracian king, and when he heard that Dionysus was going to Thracia, he ordered to trap all of his female followers in a prison.

Yes, only the women. I guess no men followed Dionysus in Thracia during his reign, not like i can ask him about it.

OF COURSE Pentheus 2.0 would imprison the FOLLOWERS of the god of MADNESS. Of course...

Dionysus got angry ( what a surprise ) and sent a drought towards Thracia + making Lykurgos go mad. It's not Dionysus if he doesn't punish you by making you go mad.

He then proceed to tell the people that the only way to stop that punishment was by killing Lykurgos, and, well, they did. They all killed him, and were freed from the punishment.

Dionysus then stopped the drought, he kept his word, indeed.

Lykurgos attacking his own wife after being induced into madness

6. The punishment of the titans

You think they got away? No, the fuck, of course they didn't.

After Zeus' found out what had happened to Dionysus (Zagreus), he imprisoned them in Tartatus, which caused Gaia to be all sad again, since many of her children had already been imprisoned there. What she did was, as scary as Gaia has always been, burning down everything she could.

The only way Zeus could take pity on her in order to stop that, was by sending a flood.

7. Coresus (Κόρησος):

Callirhoe was a Calydonian woman who scorned Coresus, a priest of Dionysus, who threatened to afflict all the women of Calydon with insanity as the good Dionysus priest he was.

The way to stop this was with a sacrifice, to kill the woman who scorned him. Coresus was ordered to sacrifice her, but he killed himself instead since apparently, he was in love with her and couldn't do it.

Callirhoe was overcome with remorse, and cut her throat at a spring that later received her name.

As always.

Coresus sacrificing himself to save Callirhoe - Jean-Honoré Fragonard

8. The Frogs (Βάτραχοι):

At this point, this isn't lesser-known anymore, and i'm not the biggest fan of Aristophanes' work (i love Euripides way too much, oops) but i'll still summarize what Dionysus has to do with this play.

Dionysus, as the god of theatre he is, wanted to bring back to life one of the great tragedy authors. And he descends to Hades for that, it's a way to mock his connection with it, this is still a comedy.

And after a poetry slam, Aeschylus is chosen in preference to Euripides. Smh, fucking Aristophanes, way to put your preferences.

9. Orpheus' death:

I'm not gonna elaborate on this one THAT much, since i wanna save it for the Apollo & Dionysus essay i have unfinished, which was the second most voted one and it might take more time to finish it.

In any case, do you know all these modern retellings in which they paint Dionysus as the "chill, calm, who only wants to party" dude? And Apollo as the "feral, envious, angry" dude? Well, ya'll are wrong...

Dionysus killed Orpheus due to his jealousy of Apollo's worship. I'm leaving you with this sentence, wait for the other essay to know why Dionysus and Apollo are so complex in terms of feelings. Or, at least, i will try to elaborate on it.

Apollo welcoming Dionysus to the sanctuary of Delphi, which they shared.

10. Dionysus IS physically incapable of getting drunk, live with it:

SHOCK i know. So if i see any of ya'll saying he's drunk 24/7, you better have your testament written.

NONNUS OF PANOPOLIS. DIONYSIACA. LITERAL TEXT: "Only to Dionysus gave Rhea the amethyst that saves the drinker from the chains of madness."

Yes, obviously going for scientifict facts, this doesn't work. It was believed in this world that the amethyst would prevent people from getting drunk. But this is mythology, Dionysus is a god, he can't get drunk even if he wanted to. And it's not like he should, he needs to keep an eye on his followers 24/7. Or do we want to remember what happened to Silenus?

Dude, how the hell do i have to tell you all, that in all text in which people were drinking for honoring Dionysus, they always stopped saying "he wouldn't like to see us this way" HE DOESN'T WANT YA'LL DO GET DRUNK. THAT'S NOT HOW HIS MADNESS WORKED

No. The women in the Bacchae are not ✨girlboss slaaaaay✨ they were feral women. The madness Dionysus used to punish Pentheus and the Theban women is NOT something you should idealize. Euripides didn't want ya'll to call him an icon because "omg the Bacchae is so progresive" GUYS... NO. IT'S NOT ABOUT THAT. It's about showing Dionysus' wrath. Of showing why like with any other god, he's feared.

The Greek gods are not your free playground OC's. You can't invent their sexualities or gender identities just for yourself. They're important figures of a culture and country that still lives. If you want an icon to feel identify with, create one. But don't go around there saying Dionysus is genderfluid JUST because you like seeing him young. No.

I know, personally, genderfluid people, and all of them agree THIS is wrong. I already had the whole pronouns drama with Dionysus, don't start over again with this. Please.

* AHEM * In any case... Hope you enjoyed !

I needed to work A LOT for this essay, since most of these myths weren't listed with sources. Whenever you wanna write a guide about folkore or anything similar, please, list your sources ! i don't want anyone else to go through the pain of needing to research though the catacombs of information JUST to confirm one sentence. Because i went trhough that, there's a reason why i've been researching about Dionysus for more than three years already and i still don't have everything. Thanks for your support and essay requests as always, it makes me INCREDIBLY happy to see so many of you willing to learn about a figure that has been so underappreciated and reduced into nothing like Dionysus, and who is still being misinterpreted to this day.

As always, reblogs would be very appreciated, it's the way people can find my blog for something else than copypaste incorrect quotes, and i always appreciate that kind of support. Of course i do this "por amor al arte" as i would say in Spanish, but still takes time and effort and i'm just a university student. I still will need A LOT of time to be able to work into something more accesible to everyone for the Greek folklore.

For now, this small Tumblr pieces is what i can give. But as always, thank you and χαίρε Διόνυσον 🍇

[nysus-temple]

Okay this question is mostly about Dionysus but also something in general about the gods.

So Dionysus has 7-8 children with Ariadne if i remember correctly. But he also had other many children from his previous affairs. Did he show the same care for all his children or more only with Ariande's children?

The same goes to Apollo and Hermes etc because some of their children became gods as well but some are not mentioned to be anything other than their offspring.

This is both a complicated and a simple question to answer. IIn general... Yup, they are just mentioned to be his offspring, and nothing more.

First, how many children Dionysus had with Ariadne depends on the source, and I'm talking about more reliable sources like Pausanias, not Hyginus or Νοnnus.

Second, most of the time, only the names of this offspring are mentioned, never how Dionysus or Ariadne interacted with them. Sometimes you even have children whose mothers we don't even know, or at least I am the one with no sources for them: Thysa, according to a fragment of Palamedes, from Euripides, was a daughter of Dionysus. Now, who is the mom? Good question ! I have no idea !

Regardless of if his offspring was from either Ariadne or someone else, it is never mentioned how he interacted with them. Which, yes, it's a pity, since we never know how he acts as a father. While, in Apollo's case, for example, we have many, MANY more examples of how he felt about his children. But Dionysus... Yeah, I have nothing.

Apollo, on the other hand, was known to love his offspring a lot ! At least, in general. I'm sure that @my-name-is-apollo has better answers and more clear sources for him :) I'm afraid that I'm still not too confident with my Apollo knowledge.

In Hermes case... It's the same as Dionysus. I really don't know much about how he treated his offspring, besides Pan. According to the Homeric Hymn 19 to Pan, Hermes was delighted with his birth. Good to know given the nature of this guy.

[nysus-temple]

I think there was a myth of Dionysus

At the direction of Hera, the infant Zagreus/Dionysus was torn to pieces, cooked, and eaten by the evil Titans. But his heart was saved by Athena, and he (now Dionysus) was resurrected by Zeus through Semele. Zeus struck the Titans with lightning, and they were consumed by fire.

Like i know there are many myths of him but damn that was brutal and Dionysus had it rough from the start 😅

Yes, that myth is described in the Dionysias by Nonnus of Panopolis and the Orphic Hymns. And some other anonymous Orphic texts. Zagreus is Dionysus' Orphic name, kind of. There's a very little tiny evidence that Zagreus could have been a different god instead of just another name for Dionysus, but honestly, it's not as strong.

In the Dionysias, Nonnus' expands the Orphic story by saying that Zagreus was meant to dethrone Zeus, that he was capable of even using his lightning bolts, and of course, Hera did not like this occuring.

Hera distracted the infant Zagreus with toys and the titans (or, as other say, the giants) murdered him. Zagreus turned into different animals in a way to escape, but he was still dismembered and eaten by them. I wouldn't call them evil, though, they kind of... Just obeyed orders.

Some say it was Apollo, others Athena, the one who was able to save his heart and resurrect him. Some say Zeus put him on his leg directly (which would make Semele kind of irrelevant) and others, such as Nonnus, say that Zeus gave the heart to Semele.

I talk a bit about that myth here.

And yes, Dionysus didn't have a normal childhood (or, well, no god did, I suppose). Regardless of which myths we read, even if we throw away all of his reincarnation shenanigans, he had it rough.

He was never with Persephone nor Semele, his moms. But at least he spends some time in the Underworld with the first one, it's better than nothing. Semele, on the other hand... Yeah, I don't think her soul would recognize him in Hades but, those are just my thoughts.

[nysus-temple]

Dionysus and Demeter [Sources]

In case you didn't know, Dionysus was considered a son of Demeter by some ! You have heard of Semele, Persephone, and people fighting between Hades or Zeus, and how many adoptive parents he had. But Demeter is a very less known mother of this little ram, mainly because we don't have many sources for it... But we still have some, after all. And here i am to show them.

Ἴακχος ( Yaco ) is an epithet for Dionysus, similar to Zagreus or Bacchus, which are also used as a name ! This name was mainly used in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and, well, the name already proves why we have so little sources for this, they're still a big mystery despite everything that has been discovered about them.

It's a common knowledge between scholars to know that Demeter and her daughter ( Persephone ) were the two main goddesses worshipped in this cults, but there were other various gods and being related to these Mysteries, and one of them was a god named Yaco, son of Zeus and Demeter. Yaco has been showed to be considered a different god from Dionysus just like Zagreus, but the most reliable things show that, just like with Zagreus, Yaco is a very common epithet for Dionysus. For example, it is used a lot in The Bacchae from Euripides,

Yaco appears as a main figure in one of the important days for the Eleusynian Mysteries. And you know why? Because he was commemorating a very well-known event by everyone: when Demeter was all over the place looking for her daughter, Persephone. And in the end of the event, he's reunited with both in order to perform dances and rituals regarding the Mysteries.

Some details that show the two of them being close are everywhere, it's just hard to find them. For example, I found this one last year: According to the Orphic Hymn XL to the Eleusinian Demeter, she’s Dionysus’ companion !

We have to remember as well that Persephone, Demeter and Dionysus are all very closely related to snakes ! The first one probably comes due to the whole “Zeus turning into something”; Demeter’s connection comes from the Orphic Hymn XL as well; and Dionysus in one of the many myths, the one in which he’s kidnapped by sailors, he turns the ropes into snakes.

Not to forget the three of them have been considered Ctonic gods at some point or another.

Aaand that was it ! It's not as much as with Semele and Persephone, i'm aware, but sadly this is everything that i've been able to find this far. If i ever have more access to less-known sources, i will let all of you know inmediatly.

This was done mainly for @decemebercircus who was looking for sources regarding Demeter being a mother figure to Dionysus. Hope it works for something.

[nysus-temple]

Your Dionysus posts are amazing. He is really an underrated god and for some reason not many pay attention to him even though like all the other Greek gods is complex and has both a good and bad side. Now they mostly associate him with him being fun and looze in parties, but do you know any cases he showed his "wild side" like anger etc?

Thank youuu !! Glad i can actually help people out with the things i share <3

But, oh boy, indeed i do have. He shows it more than people think he does, just like any god, he has a scary side, you could say. And i'm more than glad to show that side of him people usually don't talk about.

Apologies in advance if the post ends up being long, i really like this topic xD 💖

1. The Bacchae, Pentheus and hubris:

The first and the most well-known example i love to give, is The Bacchae. Euripides' did a really good job showing this side of Dionysus, and, being totally honest, Pentheus had it coming.

Dionysus' went to his mother's city ( Thebes, in this play, Semele is his mom ) in order to see how were things going around there after she had passed away, and in order to see if they cared about his own existence at all. To his surprise, people like Tiresias did! But oh boy, Pentheus and the Theban women ( including Semele's sisters ) were... Not respectful. And that's when his anger begins:

He made the Theban women go insane, VERY insane, and submitted them to him; Why? They weren't being very nice to his deceased mother, saying things like her and Zeus being lovers was a lie, that she probably died due to hubris and not due to an accident, they mocked her and refused to believe her son was Zeus' son as well. So, yeah, Dionysus didn't like the whole "mocking my dead mother" shenanigans, neither him being considered a non-god.

Then, Pentheus! Damn, this dude didn't know when to shut up. What i love about his situation is that it shows how much PATIENCE Dionysus has. He didn't mind his mockery, hi didn't mind him imprisoning him, he didn't mind any of that, he even invited him to join the cults with Tiresias and the rest! But when after all of these redeming chances, Pentheus still had the audacity to say that Dionysus was no god and therefore deserved 0 respect, is when he got way too mad to be able to forgive him.

In summary, he, well, he made the Theban women, including Pentheus' own mother, to dismember him and decapitate him with their bare hands. And after they had done that, he made them go back to their senses, so the image of Pentheus' mother holding his head between her bare hands covered in blood... Yeah. That was a big lesson for all the Theban citizens to not piss off the god of madness.

2. Epithet used in the Bacchae:

We're still with this play, because Tiresias said once that Dionysus "has a part of Ares". And this... Is actually very true.

Orphic Hymn XXX, the epithet Ἀρήιος is used in it, in Spanish it's translated to "bellicose" and in English it's probably "war-like".

Don't get the wrong idea, Ares is no bad guy, neither is Dionysus. This comparassion and epithet is probably made in order to remind people that he has a violent side, that you shouldn't piss him off, because he's still a god. If it was used in a hymn, it's for a good reason.

3. Keeping up with the hymns:

In this same one, Orphic Hymn XXX, it is said that Dionysus likes raw meat. I mean, sure, this might sound dumb to us, meaning only that people had to sacrifice animals like with any other god, but remember his connection to Zagreus? Well, no, not a connection... He is Zagreus. Wether people like it or not, it's his epithet ( and sometimes Hades' epithet too... ), Ζαγρεύς Διόνυσος; now, what does 'Zagreus' mean if it's not only a name, but an epithet? Yeah, well, i haven't finished my philology studies yet, so i can only rely on other scholars. And i have NO idea where they get their theories from, and as you know, i don't like saying things without sources. But according to them, Zagreus is something like "sovereign hunter", so, yup, Dionysus apparently is a hunter... A hunter of sanity? Perhaps?

4. Homeric Hymns time:

Do ya'll remember that myth regarding him turning sailors into dolphins? Yeah, it comes from the Homeric Hymn VII. Dionysus, when being younger, was kidnapped by some sailors who wanted to sold him as a slave... And other... Unholy stuff. They didn't know he was a god, of course, but they were still being pricks.

Dionysus got mad, obviously, but he stood there, waiting for the perfect time to act. WELL the captain of the crew went "hey, i think he's a god, we should free him. What if he's Zeus? Or Apollo?" yeah, that apparently wasn't very nice to hear for him. He then turned the ropes imprisoning him into snakes, as well as other parts of the ship. He also started a sound that drove the sailors mad, making them jump into the sea and turning them into dolphins.

What have we learned? Don't kidnapp a god. And don't compare him to other gods.

5. And yet ANOTHER dude disrespecting him:

Lykurgos is a less-known figure from the folklore, i mainly known him thanks to this pic:

He's attacking his wife while being under Dionysus' insanity thingy and all that. How did he get there? Wellp, he was a Thracian king, and when he heard that Dionysus was in there, he ordered to trap all of his followers in a prison. Dionysus got angry ( what a surprise ) and sent a drought towards Thracia, making people get mad at their king and killing him for provoking such a thing in their town. Dionysus then stopped the drought, he kept his word.

6. Honorable mentions of the Orphic Hymns:

Orphic Hymn XXX: Dionysus is called "of dual nature", could mean to him being born twice or to him being both a savior god and a dangerous god.

Orphic Hymn XLV: It says that Dionysus enjoys swords and blood, and that whenever his holding the thyrsus, he's VERY mad

WELLP that's all for now! There's probably more that I haven't mentioned, probably, either because i don't have the soruces or because i need to organized my ramblings again. Hope you like the few things i showed tho! Sorry this got too long, couldn't help it.

[nysus-temple]

Does Dionysus have any siblings from both parents? I explain: if Zeus is his father, then yes, he will have many half-siblings, but 'siblings'? As, both from father and mother? Hope I explained that well, English is not my first language.

You've explained youself perfectly ! But, sadly, no :( Not in the way people would want, I'm afraid.

Unless you consider Dionysus son of Zeus and Persephone, then yes, he has a sister from both father and mother, Melinoe. Yes, sadly, she's not Hades' daughter, as much as people want to believe that. I wanted to do it as well, but since we only have ONE source of her existence, and where the father stated is Zeus, then, nope.

Persephone had Melinoe with Zeus, who was disguised as Hades. Melinoe is considered Hekate too, by some. But that's another story.

The Orphic Hymns are a very realiable source for my shenanigans, but the whole Zeus and Persephone thingy is just... Uncomfortable. YES gods being siblings or any other family members were together, BUT they don't think it's that important the whole family thingy. Like for example, Zeus and Hera are siblings, yes, but they were mostly called husband and wife.

Now, Zeus and Persephone... They are always, ALWAYS reminding people that they were father and daughter, that what they did was something proihibited. They never say that with other relationships. So... Yeah. EVEN for the gods, a father and a daughter is intented to be... Weird. That's why i never choose this interpretation, and instead I go for the Zagreus one, in which Dionysus' parents are Persephone and Hades.

Soooo in the end, Melinoe DOES count as his sibling, just... Not in the way most people would want to. And the only hymn we have about her is only, like, seven lines long, so...

Or, well, Persephone would be his sister instead of mother if you made Demeter his mother, I guess.

[nysus-temple]

While we know Dionysus is mostly a festive god, i was surprised to find out that he did wrestling as well. A princess of Pallene in Thrake (north of Greece) whose father had her wrestle those who sought her hand in marriage. All were defeated and slain until Dionysos came along and won the contest.

Oh, yeah, that's a myth i didn't mention that was brought to us by none other than Nonnus himself, again (this guy has everything).

For more context: According to Nonnus, Sithon was a king who was in love with his own daughter (yeah- i know), and that was the reason why he was killing her suitors one after another. I guess Dionysus didn't like seeing this, and decided to stop it in his own way.

Dionysus came and said that he would fight for Pallene's hand with the maiden herself. Sithon agreed (yeah, what can go wrong?). And, well, apparently Dionysus wrestled with Pallene in a way that was more like... Seducing her. This is just Nonnus' way of writing, i guess.

Dionysus was the winner. What a surprise.

Dionysus then killed Sithon, and avenged the deaths of the suitors. He consorted with Pallene due to this, but he stayed with her for but a night. Way to go, genius.