Vina Dionysus has always been distinguished by his extraordinary eccentricity. When modern researchers studied his cult in detail, they were sincerely surprised that the Hellenes, with their sober worldview, could tolerate such a celestial being with his frantic dancing, exciting music and immoderate drunkenness. Even the barbarians who lived nearby suspected that he had come from their lands. However, the Greeks had to recognize him as their brother and agree that Dionysus is the god of anything, but not boredom and despondency.
Illegitimate son of the Thunderer
Even with the story of his birth, he stands out from the general mass of dark-skinned and loud-mouthed babies born on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is known that his father, Zeus, in secret from his legal wife Hera, had a secret passion for a young goddess named Semele. Having learned about this, the legal half, filled with anger, decided to destroy her rival and, with the help of magic, instilled in her the crazy idea of asking Zeus to hug her the way he does with her - his legal wife.
Semele chose the moment when Zeus was ready for any promises, and whispered her wish to him. The poor thing didn't know what she was asking for. No wonder he earned the reputation of a thunderer. When he pressed his beloved to his chest, he was immediately engulfed in fire and illuminated by lightning. Hera, the wife, may have liked it, but poor Semele could not bear such passion and instantly burned out. An overly ardent lover managed to snatch the premature fetus from her womb and, placing it in his own thigh, carried out the remaining term. This is how the baby Dionysus was born in an unusual way.
New intrigues of Hera
Such a happy event took place, according to various sources, either on the island of Naxos, or on Crete; now no one remembers for sure, but it is known that the first educators of the young deity were nymphs, of whom a great many lived in those places. So young Dionysus would have frolicked between them, but suddenly the matter was complicated by the fact that Zeus learned about Hera’s desire to destroy his illegitimate son. To stop her, he gives the young man to his mother’s sister Ino and her husband Athamas.
But Zeus underestimated his jealous wife. Hera found out the whereabouts of Dionysus and sent madness to Athaman, wanting him to kill the child she hated in a fit of violence. But it turned out differently: his own son became the victim of the unfortunate madman, and the future god of wine safely escaped by jumping into the sea with Ino, where they were embraced by the Nereids - the Greek sisters of the mermaids well known to us.
The Satyr's Apprentice
In order to further protect his son from his evil wife, Zeus turned him into a kid and in this guise, he handed him over to kind and caring nymphs from Nysa, a city in the territory of present-day Israel. The legend says that they hid their ward in a cave, hiding the entrance with branches. But it just so happened that one old, but very frivolous satyr - a demon, a student of the drunkard Bacchus - chose this same place as his home. It was he who taught Dionysus the first lessons in winemaking and introduced him to immoderate libations.
So from a harmless-looking kid, the god of wine turned out. Further, disagreements begin in the legends - either Hera instilled madness in him, or alcohol had that effect, but Dionysus scattered the branches that hid the entrance to his shelter and went wherever his eyes led him. He was seen idly wandering around in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and even in India. And everywhere he taught people how to make wine. But the strange thing is that wherever he held celebrations, they always ended in madness and violence. It was as if there was something demonic in the juicy grapes.
The further life of Dionysus was full of adventures. He spent three years on a military campaign against India, and in memory of this, the ancient Greeks established a noisy Bacchic holiday. It was he, the god of wine and fun, who built the first bridge across the great Euphrates River, using a rope made of grapevine and ivy to make it. After this, Dionysus descended into the kingdom of the dead and safely brought out his mother, Semele, who entered later mythology under the name Fiona.
There is also a story about how the god of wine was once captured by pirates. Sea robbers captured him during one of the sea travel. But apparently they had little idea who they were dealing with. The shackles naturally fell from his hands, and Dionysus turned the masts of the ship into snakes. To top it all off, he appeared on deck in the form of a bear, causing the frightened pirates to jump into the sea, turning into dolphins.
Marriage of Dionysus and Ariadne
Before finally settling on Olympus, the god of wine got married. His chosen one was Ariadne, the same daughter of the Cretan who, with the help of her thread, managed to help the legendary Theseus get out of the labyrinth. But the fact is that, once he was safe, the scoundrel treacherously abandoned the girl, which is why she was ready to commit suicide. Dionysus saved her, and the grateful Ariadne agreed to become his wife. To celebrate, her new father-in-law, Zeus, granted her immortality and a rightful place on Olympus. Many other adventures of this hero are described in Greek legends, because Dionysus is the god of what? Wine, but you just have to taste it, and all sorts of things will happen...
Dionysus Dionysus , Bacchus or Bacchus (Dionysus, Bacchus, Διόνυσος, Βάκχος). God of wine and winemaking, son of Zeus and Semele, daughter of Cadmus. Shortly before his birth, the jealous Hera advised Semele to beg Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness; Zeus really came to her with lightning and thunder, but she, like a mere mortal, could not bear to see him and died, giving birth to a baby prematurely. Zeus sewed the child into his thigh, where he carried him to term. Accompanied by a crowd of his attendants, maenads and bacchantes, as well as sileni and satyrs with staffs (thyrses) entwined with grapes, Dionysus walked through Hellas, Syria and Asia as far as India and returned to Europe through Thrace. On his way, he taught people everywhere about winemaking and the first beginnings of civilization. Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos, was considered the wife of Dionysus. The cult of Dionysus, which at first had a cheerful character, little by little became more and more intemperate and turned into frantic orgies, or bacchanalia. Hence the name of Dionysus - Bacchus, i.e. noisy. A special role in these celebrations was played by the priestesses of Dionysus - ecstatic women known as maenads, bacchantes, etc. Grapes, ivy, panther, lynx, tiger, donkey, dolphin and goat were dedicated to Dionysus. The Greek Dionysus corresponded to the Roman god Bacchus. (Source: " Brief dictionary mythology and antiquities." M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.)
(Διόνυσος), Bacchus, Bacchus, in Greek mythology god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture, winemaking. A deity of eastern (Thracian and Lydian-Phrygian) origin, which spread to Greece relatively late and established itself there with great difficulty. Although the name D. is found on the tablets of the Cretan linear letter “B” back in the 14th century. BC e., the spread and establishment of the cult of D. in Greece dates back to the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. and is associated with the growth of city-states (polises) and the development of polis democracy. During this period, the cult of D. began to supplant the cults of local gods and heroes. D., as a deity of the agricultural circle, associated with the elemental forces of the earth, was constantly opposed Apollo - as primarily the deity of the tribal aristocracy. The folk basis of the cult of D. was reflected in the myths about the illegal birth of the god, his struggle for the right to become one of the Olympian gods and for the widespread establishment of his cult. Many monuments of ancient art have been preserved, embodying the image of D. and the plots of myths about him (D.’s love for Ariadne, etc.) in plastic (statues and reliefs) and vase painting. Scenes of the procession of D. and his companions and bacchanalia were widespread (especially in vase paintings); These stories are reflected in the reliefs of sarcophagi. D. was depicted among the Olympians (reliefs of the eastern frieze of the Parthenon) and in scenes of gigantomachy, as well as sailing on the sea (Kylix Exekias “D. in the Boat”, etc.) and fighting the Tyrrhenians (relief of the monument to Lysicrates in Athens, c. 335 BC . e.). In medieval book illustrations, D. was usually depicted as the personification of autumn - the time of harvest (sometimes only in October). During the Renaissance, the theme of life in art was associated with the affirmation of the joy of being; became widespread from the 15th century. scenes of bacchanalia (the beginning of their depiction was laid by A. Mantegna; the plot was addressed by A. Dürer, A. Altdorfer, H. Baldung Green, Titian, Giulio Romano, Pietro da Cortona, Annibale Carracci, P. P. Rubens, J. Jordaens, N . Poussin). The same symbolism permeates the plots of “Bacchus, Venus and Ceres” and “Bacchus and Ceres” (see article Demeter), especially popular in Baroque painting. In the 15th-18th centuries. Scenes depicting the meeting of D. and Ariadne, their wedding and triumphal procession were popular in painting. Among the works of plastic art are the reliefs “Bacchus turns the Tyrrhenians into dolphins” by A. Filarete (on the bronze doors of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome), “The Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne” by Donatello, the statues “Bacchus” by Michelangelo, J. Sansovino, etc. D. occupies a special place place among other ancient characters in Baroque garden sculpture. The most significant works of the 18th - early. 19th centuries - statues of “Bacchus” by I. G. Danneker and B. Thorwaldsen. Among musical works 19-20 centuries on the plots of the myth: the opera-ballet by A. S. Dargomyzhsky “The Triumph of Bacchus”, the divertimento by C. Debussy “The Triumph of Bacchus” and his opera “D.”, the opera by J. Massenet “Bacchus”, etc.
There are myths about various ancient incarnations of D., as if preparing for his arrival. Archaic hypostases of D. are known: Zagreus, son of Zeus of Crete and Persephone; Iacchus, associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; D. - son of Zeus and Demeter (Diod. Ill 62, 2-28). According to the main myth, D. is the son of Zeus and the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus Semely. At the instigation of the jealous Hera, Semele asked Zeus to appear to her in all his greatness, and he, appearing in a flash of lightning, incinerated the mortal Semele and her tower with fire. Zeus snatched D., who was born prematurely, from the flames and sewed him into his thigh. In due time, Zeus gave birth to D., unraveling the sutures on the thigh (Hes. Theog. 940-942; Eur. Bacch. 1-9, 88-98, 286-297), and then gave D. through Hermes to be raised by the Nisean nymphs ( Eur. Bacch. 556-559) or the sister of Semele Ino (Apollod. III 4, 3). D. found a grapevine. Hera instilled madness in him, and he, wandering around Egypt and Syria, came to Phrygia, where the goddess Cybele-Rhea healed him and introduced him to her orgiastic mysteries. After this, D. went to India through Thrace (Apollod. III 5, 1). From the eastern lands (from India or from Lydia and Phrygia) he returns to Greece, to Thebes. While sailing from the island of Ikaria to the island of Naxos, D. is kidnapped by Tyrrhenian sea robbers (Apollod. III 5, 3). The robbers are horrified at the sight of D.'s amazing transformations. They chained D. in chains to sell him into slavery, but the chains themselves fell from D.'s hands; entwining the mast and sails of the ship with vines and ivy, D. appeared in the form of a bear and a lion. The pirates themselves, who threw themselves into the sea out of fear, turned into dolphins (Hymn. Hom. VII). This myth reflected the archaic plant-zoomorphic origin of D. The plant past of this god is confirmed by his epithets: Evius (“ivy”, “ivy”), “bunch of grapes”, etc. (Eur. Bacch. 105, 534, 566, 608). D.'s zoomorphic past is reflected in his werewolf and ideas about D. the bull (618, 920-923) and D. the goat. The symbol of D. as the god of the fruit-bearing forces of the earth was the phallus.
On the island of Naxos D. met his beloved Ariadna, abandoned by Theseus, kidnapped her and married her on the island of Lemnos; from him she gave birth to Oenopion, Foant and others (Apollod. epit. I 9). Wherever D. appears, he establishes his cult; everywhere along his path he teaches people viticulture and winemaking. D.'s procession, which was ecstatic in nature, was attended by bacchantes, satyrs, maenads or bassarides (one of D.'s nicknames - Bassarei) with thyrsus (staffs) entwined with ivy. Girdled with snakes, they crushed everything in their path, seized by sacred madness. With cries of “Bacchus, Evoe,” they glorified D.-Bromius (“stormy”, “noisy”), beat the tympanums, reveling in the blood of torn wild animals, carving honey and milk from the ground with their thyrsi, uprooting trees and dragging them along with them. crowds of women and men (Eur. Bacch. 135-167, 680-770). D. is famous as Liey (“liberator”), he frees people from worldly worries, removes the shackles of a measured life from them, breaks the shackles with which his enemies are trying to entangle him, and crushes walls (616-626). He sends madness to his enemies and punishes them terribly; This is what he did with his cousin, the Theban king Pentheus, who wanted to ban Bacchic rampages. Pentheus was torn to pieces by the Bacchae led by his mother. Agaves, who, in a state of ecstasy, mistook her son for an animal (Apollod. III 5, 2; Eur. Bacch. 1061-1152). God sent madness to Lycurgus, the son of the king of the Aedons, who opposed the cult of D., and then Lycurgus was torn to pieces by his own horses (Apollod. III 5, 1).
D. entered the number of the 12 Olympian gods late. In Delphi he began to be revered along with Apollo. On Parnassus, every two years orgies were held in honor of D., in which the fiads - bacchantes from Attica (Paus. X 4, 3) participated. In Athens, solemn processions were organized in honor of D. and the sacred marriage of the god with the wife of the archon basileus was played out (Aristot. Rep. Athen. III 3). An ancient Greek tragedy arose from the religious and cult rites dedicated to D. (Greek tragodia, lit. “song of the goat” or “song of the goats,” that is, the goat-footed satyrs - companions of D.). In Attica, D., the Great, or Urban, Dionysius was dedicated, which included solemn processions in honor of God, competitions of tragic and comic poets, as well as choirs singing dithyrambs (held in March - April); Leneys, which included the performance of new comedies (in January - February); Small, or Rural, Dionysia, which preserved the remnants of agrarian magic (in December - January), when dramas already played in the city were repeated.
In Hellenistic times, the cult of D. merges with the cult of the Phrygian god Sabazia(Sabaziy became D.'s permanent nickname). In Rome, D. was revered under the name Bacchus (hence the bacchantes, bacchanalia) or Bacchus. Identified with Osiris, Serapis, Mithras, Adonis, Amun, Liber.
Lit.: Losev A.F., Ancient mythology in its historical development, M., 1957, p. 142-82; Nietzsche F., The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, Complete. collection soch., vol. 1, [M.], 1912; Otto W. P., Dionysos. Mythos und Kultus, 2 Aufl.. Fr./M.. 1939; Jünger F. G., Griechische Götter. Apollon, Pan, Dionysos. Fr./M., 1943; Meautis G., Dionysos ou Ie pouvoir de fascination, in his book: Mythes inconnus de la Grèce antique. P., , p.33-63; Jeanmaire N., Dionysos. Histoire du culte de Bacchus, P., 1951.
A. F. Losev.
(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)
Dionysus(Bacchus, Bacchus) - the god of viticulture and winemaking, the son of Zeus and Hera (according to other sources, Zeus and the Theban princess and goddess Semele, according to other sources, Zeus and Persephone). In honor of Dionysus, festivals were celebrated - Dionysia and Bacchanalia.
// Adolphe-William BOOGREAU: The Childhood of Bacchus // Nicolas POUSSIN: Midas and Bacchus // Franz von STUCK: Boy Bacchus riding a panther // TITIAN: Bacchus and Ariadne // Apollo Nikolaevich MAYKOV: Bacchus // Konstantinos CAVAFY: Retinue of Dionysus / / Dmitry OLERON: Heraion. Hermes and Bacchus of Praxiteles. Bacchus // A.S. PUSHKIN: The Triumph of Bacchus // N.A. Kuhn: DIONYSUS // N.A. Kuhn: THE BIRTH AND UPBRINGING OF DIONYSUS // N.A. Kuhn: DIONYSUS AND HIS PEACE // N.A. Kuhn: LYCURG // N.A. Kuhn: DAUGHTERS OF MINIUS // N.A. Kuhn: TYRRENIAN SEA ROBBEERS // N.A. Kuhn: ICARIUS // N.A. Kuhn: MIDAS
(Source: Myths Ancient Greece. Dictionary-reference book." EdwART, 2009.)
DIONYSUSin Greek mythology of Zeus and Themele, the god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture and winemaking.
(Source: “Dictionary of spirits and gods of German-Scandinavian, Egyptian, Greek, Irish, Japanese, Mayan and Aztec mythologies.”)
See what “Dionysus” is in other dictionaries:
- (ancient Greek Διόνυσος) ... Wikipedia
- (Bacchus) Greek deity, the embodiment of life force. The most ancient forms of the cult of D. were preserved in Thrace, where they had an “orgiastic” character: cult participants, dressed in animal skins, worked themselves into a frenzy (ecstasy) in mass celebrations... Literary encyclopedia
Ah, husband. Borrowing Report: Dionisovich, Dionisovna; decomposition Dionisych.Origin: (In ancient mythology: Dionysus, god of the vital forces of nature, god of wine.) Name day: (see Denis) Dictionary of personal names. Dionysus See Denis... Dictionary of personal names
- (Greek Dionisos). Greek name for the god Bacchus or Bacchus. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. DIONYSUS in the ancients. Greeks the same as Bacchus, another name for the god of wine and fun; the Romans have Bacchus. Complete dictionary... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Preparation of moonshine and alcohol for personal use
absolutely legal!
After the collapse of the USSR, the new government stopped the fight against moonshine. Criminal liability and fines were abolished, and the article banning the production of alcohol-containing products at home was removed from the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. To this day, there is not a single law that prohibits you and me from engaging in our favorite hobby - preparing alcohol at home. This is evidenced by the Federal Law of July 8, 1999 No. 143-FZ “On the administrative liability of legal entities (organizations) and individual entrepreneurs for offenses in the field of production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products” (Collection of Legislation Russian Federation, 1999, N 28, art. 3476).
Extract from the Federal Law of the Russian Federation:
“The effect of this Federal Law does not apply to the activities of citizens (individuals) producing products containing ethyl alcohol for purposes other than sale.”
Moonshining in other countries:
In Kazakhstan in accordance with the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses dated January 30, 2001 N 155, the following liability is provided. Thus, according to Article 335 “Manufacture and sale of home-made alcoholic beverages”, illegal production of moonshine, chacha, mulberry vodka, mash and other alcoholic beverages for the purpose of sale, as well as the sale of these alcoholic beverages, entails a fine in the amount of thirty monthly calculation indices with confiscation of alcoholic beverages , apparatus, raw materials and equipment for their manufacture, as well as money and other valuables received from their sale. However, the law does not prohibit the preparation of alcohol for personal use.
In Ukraine and Belarus things are different. Articles No. 176 and No. 177 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses provide for the imposition of fines in the amount of three to ten tax-free minimum wages for the production and storage of moonshine without the purpose of sale, for the storage of devices* for its production without the purpose of sale.
Article 12.43 repeats this information almost word for word. “Production or acquisition of strong alcoholic beverages (moonshine), semi-finished products for their production (mash), storage of apparatus for their production” in the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses. Clause No. 1 states: “The production by individuals of strong alcoholic drinks (moonshine), semi-finished products for their production (mash), as well as the storage of devices* used for their production - entails a warning or a fine of up to five basic units with confiscation of the specified drinks, semi-finished products and devices."
*You can still purchase moonshine stills for home use, since their second purpose is to distill water and obtain components for natural cosmetics and perfumes.
What do you know about alcohol and its gods? People have been preparing alcoholic beverages since Neolithic times: people made barley beer 8,000 years ago, and drank grape wine 7,000 years ago. What gods of alcohol and drunkenness existed in history?
Late last year, archaeologists discovered artifacts in central Mexico indicating the existence of the cult of the god of drunkenness, Ometochtli, among the Acolua Indians, related to the Aztecs. In connection with this remarkable discovery, we decided to talk about the most interesting deities, in our opinion, who were responsible for the preparation of alcoholic beverages and intoxication among other peoples.
It is worth noting that people have been preparing alcoholic drinks since Neolithic times. The oldest vessels with traces of grape wine were found in the territory of modern Iran; their age is approximately 7000 years. The oldest winery with a grape press, fermentation vats and wine vessels was found in Armenia and dates back to approximately 4100 BC. The history of brewing goes back even further, as far back as 8,000 years ago people were making barley beer. The oldest image of a man drinking beer was found on a Sumerian clay tablet that is about 6,000 years old.
Mesopotamia
Beer was a staple diet in Mesopotamia. The expression "bread and beer" was a metaphor for the expression "food and drink." Beer was used not only as a drink, but also in medicine and cosmetology. It served as a substitute for money: beer was used to pay for work and was used as a bride price. The price and strength of beer were established by law in the laws of Hammurabi. Its popularity was partly due to the fact that the grains from which beer was made were easier to grow in hot, arid climates than grapes, and beer was therefore cheaper.
Beer is mentioned quite often in myths. For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the wild man Enkidu, who lived on the steppe, turns into a civilized man after eating bread and drinking beer. In the myth about the ruler of the Universe and the god of wisdom Enki and the goddess of sky and love Innana, the patroness of the city of Uruk, the goddess, after getting Enki drunk with beer, begs him for a hundred “divine laws” and passes them on to people.
The goddess of beer and brewing among the Sumerians was Ninkasi. Little is known about her; no reliable images of this goddess have survived. Therefore, researchers can only speculate that the popularity and importance of beer was determined by the popularity of the goddess associated with it. Interestingly, most of the Sumerian gods of crafts were men, but the goddess of beer was a woman. Scientists attribute this to the fact that in ancient times women were home brewers. Brewing became widespread and became an industry only during the Babylonian period, and then brewing became the prerogative of men.
A poem has been preserved, “The Hymn of Ninkasi” - actually a recipe for making beer written down in poetic form. The clay tablet on which it is written dates back to 1800 BC, meaning the “Hymn” itself is apparently even older.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, beer was known 5,000 years ago and was the most popular alcoholic drink among both ordinary people and the nobility. Along with bread and onions, it was included in the daily diet of the Egyptians.
According to one of the ancient Egyptian legends, beer was discovered by the supreme sun god Ra, who first created people and then taught them how to make beer. Moreover, according to one of the myths, beer saved humanity from death.
The Supreme Sun God Ra, the progenitor of the gods and the creator of people, reigned over the world for a very long time and grew old. People learned about his weakness and decided to rebel against God and seize power. Then Ra called his daughter, the goddess Hathor, to him and ordered her to punish the disobedient. Hathor cast a spell and turned into a fierce lioness. She left the palace and ran into the desert to look for people. Having found the rebels, the goddess pounced on them and began to kill one by one, drinking their blood and scattering pieces of meat across the desert. After some time, the sun god decided that people had been punished enough and tried to stop his daughter. But the lioness goddess replied that she would not stop until she destroyed all people and drank their blood. Then Ra extinguished the sun's rays and night fell on the earth. God ordered the maids to grind barley and brew beer from it (7,000 vessels turned out) and sent messengers to the island of Elephantine for the red mineral didi (possibly meaning granite). The Supreme God ordered the miller to grind the red mineral into powder and add it to beer. The resulting drink looked very similar to blood. The servants of Ra went to the desert, to where the goddess Hathor killed people, and spilled beer on the ground. In the morning, the lioness goddess woke up, saw puddles of “blood” around her and was very happy. She liked the red beer and drank it until she became so drunk that she could no longer distinguish people. Then the sun god approached his daughter and said: “Go in peace, my beloved daughter. From now on, the people of Egypt will bring you vessels of beer every year on the day of Hathor. And may you be called “Mistress of Intoxication.”
The cult of the goddess Hathor existed in Egypt for a very long time. In the most ancient beliefs, Hathor was the goddess of the sky and was depicted as the Heavenly Cow, who gave birth to the Sun and all the other gods. After the rise of the cult of Ra towards the end of the Old Kingdom, she began to be considered his daughter and the Eye of Ra, which by force subjugated the enemies of God, and began to be identified with all lioness goddesses acting as the Eye. Even later, Hathor becomes the deity of love, fun and music. It is known that during the New Kingdom in Egypt, drunken festivals were held dedicated to Hathor and associated with the myth of the death of people.
Ancient Greece
Viticulture began to spread in Greece during the Neolithic period and became widespread at the beginning of the Bronze Age. The inhabitants of Crete traded with Egypt and borrowed Egyptian winemaking techniques. According to some sources, the wine festival was held in Greece back in the Mycenaean era, and at that time there was already a cult of the god of the vine, winemaking and fertility of Dionysus. It is not known for certain where the cult of Dionysus appeared; according to one version, it came from Asia Minor, according to another, from Thrace (a region in the Balkans).
Dionysus's father was Zeus, the head of the Olympian gods, and his mother, according to different versions, was either one of the goddesses or a mortal woman. Zeus was a loving character and had many illegitimate children. Therefore, Zeus's wife, the goddess Hera, hated Dionysus and persuaded the Titans to kill him, but the gods resurrected the baby. Thus Dionysus became “twice-born.” Then Zeus gave his son to be raised by the nymphs who lived on the mythological Mount Nysa. It was here that Dionysus invented wine.
What locality was identified with Mount Nisa is unknown; ancient authors placed it in different places - in Ethiopia, Libya, Egypt, Anatolia (the territory of modern Turkey) or Arabia. Hera did not leave the attention of the already matured Dionysus: she instilled madness in him. In this state, the god went to travel around the world, accompanied by a crowd of satyrs and maenads armed with swords, snakes and thyrsus (ivy-covered pine branches with a pine cone on the top). First, Dionysus went to Egypt, and then to the east, to India. Through Phrygia (the territory of modern Turkey) he returned from India to Europe and began to establish his cult in the states of Greece. Not all local residents greeted Dionysus with delight and recognized his divine origin, but the god did not stand on ceremony with anyone and either killed the disobedient or sent madness upon them.
Returning from India, the god of wine established his cult in the states of Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea. After the Greeks recognized the divine status of Dionysus, he ascended to heaven to take his place next to Zeus as one of the 12 great gods.
In honor of the god of wine different parts Greece held festivals and mysteries. During the festivities, solemn processions were organized, competitions of tragic and comic poets and choirs singing dithyrambs. Ancient Greek comedy and tragedy grew out of religious rites dedicated to Dionysus (interestingly, tragodia is translated from Greek as “song of the goats,” that is, a chorus of goat-legged satyrs who accompanied Dionysus). Only initiates could participate in the Dionysian Mysteries. The purpose of the mysteries was to short time free yourself from social restrictions and prohibitions and release the “animal essence” of man. Participants gathered in secluded places, forests or mountains, with the help of alcohol and ritual dances they entered a state of trance and in this state they danced, participated in orgies and even committed ritual killings of animals. Eventually people reached a state in which they identified themselves with God and believed that they had acquired divine power. Later, in ancient Rome, the Dionysian Mysteries began to be called Bacchanalia.
Researchers believe that in some areas of Greece, the death and resurrection of Dionysus symbolized the annual natural cycle. Scientists also believe that Dionysus was the “double” of the more ancient Phrygian god Sabazius, originally the god of beer. It is possible that spruce beer, flavored with ivy and sweetened with honey, was originally used as an intoxicating drink instead of wine. Hera's hatred of Dionysus and the hostility of the inhabitants of the countries through which the god of wine passed symbolize the rejection of wine as a ritual drink and dissatisfaction with the unbridled behavior of the maenads. But at the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th centuries BC, the rulers of Corinth, Sicyon and Athens recognized the cult of Dionysus and established official festivals in his honor. After this, the god of wine was accepted into the Olympic pantheon.
Scandinavia
The main alcoholic drinks of the Scandinavians were beer and mead, a drink made from fermented honey and water, sometimes with the addition of fruit, spices and hops. Just like beer and wine, mead is a very ancient drink. Vessels containing traces of a fermented mixture of honey, fruit and rice were found in Northern China and date back to 7000 - 6500 BC. Honey appeared in Europe later, 3800 - 2800 years ago. Therefore, mythological characters, following people, brew and drink these very alcoholic beverages. For example, the sea giant Aegir from Scandinavian mythology arranged feasts for the gods in his palace at the bottom of the sea. Together with his daughters, he brewed ale for the feast in a cauldron a mile in diameter.
The Scandinavian epic tells about the “honey of poetry”, which was kept by the god of poets Bragi. After drinking one sip of this drink, a person acquires poetic abilities.
One day, the Scandinavian gods, the Aesir, quarreled with other gods, the Vanir. After some time, they made peace, and when peace was concluded, both the Aesir and the Vanir spat into the bowl and made the dwarf Kvasir from the shared saliva. The dwarf was very wise; there was no question that he could not answer. He traveled around the world and taught people wisdom. One day Kvasir came to visit two dwarfs, who killed him, and poured his blood into vessels and mixed it with honey. The result was a drink that, after drinking, anyone became either a poet or a scientist. After some twists and turns, the giant Suttung took possession of the honey of poetry. The Supreme God of the Scandinavians, Odin, learned about the wonderful drink and decided to take possession of it. With the help of his younger brother Suttung, he made his way into the cave where the honey was kept, seduced the giant's daughter, who was guarding the vessels with the drink, and stole it. Having turned into an eagle, Odin flew to Asgard, the abode of the aesir gods, and Suttung, who discovered the loss of honey, went in pursuit. Odin flew to Asgard before Suttung caught up with him and spat out honey into the vessel, but since the giant was already overtaking him, Odin released some of the honey through the anus. This honey can be taken by anyone and is called the "rhymer's share." Odin gave the real honey, collected in a vessel, to his son, the god of poets.
Scandinavian myths existed for centuries only in oral tradition and were written down as early as the Middle Ages, almost all of them in the 13th century. Therefore, it is very difficult for modern researchers to draw conclusions about the origin and changes of myths over time. The main sources for the study of Scandinavian mythology are the prose "Younger Edda", written by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson, and a collection of poems about gods and heroes, called the "Elder Edda". The myth of the “honey of poetry” is recorded in the Prose Edda.
Snorri Sturluson not only mentions the god Braga in the book, but also attributes a number of poems to the skald of Braga, Bogdasson the Old, a real person who is considered the first skald whose name has been preserved in history. And although in the book these are two different people, there is a version that Bragi the skald served as the prototype for Bragi the god. Researchers have discussed this topic, but have not come to a consensus, and today the question remains open.
The Younger Edda tells about King Odin; he came from the Country of the Turks and was a descendant of the Trojan king Priam. Modern researchers believe that there is a rational grain in this version. According to the trifunctional theory, Odin embodied one of the three key social functions in the Indo-European pantheon, the cult. The symbols of the other two - military and economic - were the gods Thor and Van (Frey and Njord).
Central America
In conclusion, I would like to talk in more detail about the Aztec gods of drunkenness, one of whom, Ometochtli, was mentioned at the beginning of the article. In Aztec mythology, there was a whole group of gods of fertility, drunkenness and debauchery, who were called Senzon Totchtin, “400 rabbits”. 400 meant an indefinitely large number, and the rabbit was associated with drunkenness, perhaps because each subsequent jump of this animal is unpredictable.
The 400 Rabbits were originally rural gods who protected crops and food supplies, and some of these gods took their names from the area where they were worshiped. So, Tepoztecatl was the god of Tepoztlan, and Yautecatl was the god from the city of Yautepec. These rural gods became gods of drunkenness, so to speak, in their free time “from their main work,” during periods of festivities dedicated to the harvest.
According to Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish monk and major explorer of pre-Columbian Mexico, there were as many rabbit gods as there were types of intoxication and their consequences. Drunken aggression, lies, drunken jokes and even murders had their own drunken patron god, and Ometochtli (“two rabbits”) was the main one in this company. All "400 rabbits" were children of the god Patecatl and the goddess Mayahuel. Patecatl is the god of fertility and medicine, who discovered the peyote cactus, which contains hallucinogenic alkaloids, and taught people how to make pulque, a mash made from agave. Mayahuel is the goddess of agave and the intoxicating drink octli made from it. She was depicted as a woman with 400 breasts, from which agave juice constantly flowed and with which she fed her children-gods.
For the inhabitants of Ancient Greece, grapes were a symbol of the abundance of plant power. The God of Wine of the Greeks and Romans has the same characteristics and stories. Even in ancient times, people noticed that fermented grape juice has the ability to make a person happy. It was the grapes that were the main symbol of these gods.
Greek god of wine Dionysus
In myths, Dionysus is described not only as the god of winemaking, but also of joy and the fraternal rapprochement of people. He had the power to pacify the wild spirits of the forest and animals, and he also helps people overcome their own suffering and gives inspiration. It is important to consider that ecstasy can lead to clouding of reason. The god of wine Dionysius was the youngest of the Olympians, and he differed from the others in that his mother was a mortal woman. His symbolic plants were the vine, spruce, ivy and fig. Animals include bull, goat, deer, panther, lion, leopard, tiger, dolphin and snake. Dionysus was depicted in the form of a child or youth, wrapped in animal skin. On his head is a wreath of ivy or grapes. In the hands of the thyrsus is a rod, the tip of which is represented by a fir cone, and along its entire length it is decorated with an ivy or grape vine.
The companions of the ancient Greek god of wine were priestesses called maenads. In total there were approximately 300 of them, and they formed a certain army of Dionysus. Their spears were disguised as thyrsus. They are famous for tearing Orpheus to pieces. There is another name for maenads - fiads, and they are known for participating in orgies dedicated to Dionysus.
God of wine Bacchus
In mythology Ancient Rome this god is the patron of vineyards, wine and winemaking. Bacchus was originally the god of fertility. His wife is Libera, 
providing assistance to winegrowers and winemakers. These gods have their own holiday called liberalia. It was celebrated on March 17th. The Romans brought alms to Bacchus, and also organized theatrical performances, processions and large feasts. worship was often accompanied by insane orgies. People first tore pieces of raw meat and then ate it, which symbolized Bacchus.
The appearance of the Roman deity is almost identical to Dionysus. Bacchus was also represented as a young man with a wreath on his head and a staff. There are also images of him in a chariot drawn by panthers and leopards. Since childhood, Bacchus was the pupil of Silenus, a half-man who educated the god and also accompanied him on his travels.