Myth Literature Ancient World Paper 2

Dionysus
Name
Institution
Due Date
Dionysus
Dionysus is a latecomer god whose worship is at first resisted. Why might this be so, and what might be the reasons for his difference from other Classical gods?
The marriage of Zeus and Hera had its fair share of problems. Zeus’s desire for women and pleasure often overwhelmed him, and he would, therefore, have many sexual partners. He would fall in love and engage in sexual intercourse with goddesses and mortal women as well. One such woman had the name of Semele. Semele was the daughter of Cadmus who at the time was the King of Thebes. Zeus’s wife, Hera, always came to learn about her husband’s affairs, and instead of directing the blame to her husband, she always allowed her anger to burn against Zeus’s sexual partners and lovers. As expected, when she learned about Zeus and Semele, she concocted a plan to punish Semele. To ensure that her plan would succeed, she turned or disguised herself into Semele’s nurse and convinced Semele to ask Zeus to show himself to her in his eminence. Zeus did as Semele requested but his glory was too great for her and she died. However, before she died, Zeus managed to rescue their unborn child by the name of Dionysus. The baby was sewn to Zeus’s thigh and when the time of his birth was nigh, Zeus delivered him and asked Hermes to hide him. Hermes took it upon himself to care for the child and hid it in a remote mountain where nymphs raised him. Other mythologies claim that Hermes took the boy to Ino and her husband Athamas who raised Dionysus as a girl to help disguise him and shield him from the wrath of Hera. Dionysus had divine power with him but living with mortals all his life made it difficult for people to believe that he was indeed deity, and this forms the basis of this article.
Having been the son of a mo...