This play was wild. It put the fear of god in me for a religion that doesn't even exist anymore. I never knew Dionysus/Bacchus was that terrifying.
Euripides did a great job with this play. Sophocles gets all the attention but this was better than some plays Sophocles wrote.
>wild
Go back to twatter
>that doesn't even exist anymore
>Sophocles gets all the attention but this was better than some plays Sophocles wrote.
True
>better than some plays Sophocles wrote
No, it wasn't. It does things Sophocles doesn't do though, so it deserves its own place. But Sophocles is the superior artist. Euripides just tapped into a particular vibe very effectively in his best stuff.
It's not as good as Sophocles acme but better than his nadir (which is still good).
I was aware that’s what you meant and I don’t agree. Sophocles is far more consistent than Aeschylus or Euripides.
Sell me on this, anon. I'm planning on writing a story that heavily features Dionysus someday. I've just been holding off reading this play until that time comes
The play is short and can be read in one sitting. You could easily start now and finish before the thread archives. The short premise is he returns in disguise to Thebes the place of his birth and there people deny his existence of Bacchus's godhood.
It plays more heavily into the madness aspect of his godhood than wine. The maenads are prevalent too.
Just go read it now and post in the thread when done.
Just finished it. Loved the writing (especially the Chorus and Dionysus leader), and the madness aspect is truly terrifying. I was also surprised by some of the visuals Euripides came up with. Really beautiful minds eye landscapes were conjured up for me. The Bacchae is reread material for me when I'm in the mood for some Greek tragedy.
For the novel, I want to write (I'll probably get started writing it in 7-10 years). Dionysus egotiscal madness has to be lowered to make the basic story idea work. So while The Bacchae was really good, it didn't give me a new insight on how to write Dionysus. In this, he comes off as more evil than most of the greek gods, for how he orchestrated vengeance. While I want to write Dionysus more as an optimistic partying fool who just so happens to spread an evil madness, he doesn't understand.
>he comes off as more evil than most of the greek gods
That's a strong claim considering how bad things could get for people.
What are you referring to?
nta but shit like demanding the sacrifice of iphigenia comes to mind. of course the greeks later coped with it by saying it was all a trick and she was fine but that just shows you the original version of the myth didn't sit well with them in terms of of cruel it made the gods look.
Prometheus had it rough
Yeah, any God that's done endless torture is on the top of the list. That's why Zeus is the king of the gods and king of the rat bastards
Read Dionysus: Myth and Cult, and Dionysiaca. That's the bare basic to understand Dionysus
It is a dramatisation of the "place refuses or denies Dionysus' divinity and is punished" narrative that seems to have been a common part of the belief system around him.
Also why the frick would you plan to write about Dionysus and not just read it now?
The only thing we have close to a film reproduction
PENTHEUS: young king of Thebes
DIONYSUS
Now Cadmus,
the old king, has just transferred his power,
his royal authority, to Pentheus,
his daughter’s son, who, in my case at least,
fights against the gods, prohibiting me
all sacrificial offerings. When he prays,
he chooses to ignore me. For this neglect
I’ll demonstrate to him, to all in Thebes,
that I was born a god. Once these things here
have been made right, I’ll move on somewhere else,
to some other land, revealing who I am.
But if Thebans in this city, in their anger,
try to make those Bacchic women leave,
to drive them from the mountains forcibly,
then I, commander of these Maenads,
will fight them. That’s why I’ve transformed myself,
assumed a mortal shape, altered my looks,
so I resemble any human being.
...
...
...
PENTHEUS
It so happens I’ve been away from Thebes,
but I hear about disgusting things going on,
here in the city—women leaving home
to go to silly Bacchic rituals,
cavorting there in mountain shadows,
with dances honouring some upstart god,
this Dionysus, whoever he may be. Mixing bowls
in the middle of their meetings are filled with wine.
They creep off one by one to lonely spots
to have sex with men, claiming they’re Maenads
busy worshipping. But they rank Aphrodite,
goddess of sexual desire, ahead of Bacchus.
All the ones I’ve caught, my servants guard
in our public prison, their hands chained up.
All those not in the city, I’ll chase down,
hunt them from the mountains—that includes
Agave, who bore me to Echion, Ino,
and Autonoe, Actaeon’s mother.
Once I’ve clamped them all in iron fetters,
I’ll quickly end this perverse nastiness,
this Bacchic celebration. People say
some stranger has arrived, some wizard,
a conjurer from the land of Lydia—
with sweet-smelling hair in golden ringlets
and Aphrodite’s charms in wine-dark eyes.
He hangs around the young girls day and night,
dangling in front of them his joyful mysteries.
If I catch him in this city, I’ll stop him.
He’ll make no more clatter with his thyrsus,
or wave his hair around. I’ll chop off his head,
slice it right from his body.