Bacchus

God of Wine and Celebration

Bacchus was the Roman god of wine, vines, celebration, theatre and powerful changes of feeling. Romans also called him Liber and connected him with the Greek Dionysus. His birth was extremely unusual. Jupiter loved the mortal princess Semele, but Juno tricked Semele into asking Jupiter to reveal his full divine form. The sight was too powerful for a human and Semele died. Jupiter rescued their unborn baby and sewed him into his thigh until he was ready to be born. This is why Bacchus could be called ‘twice-born’.

Bacchus grew up and learned how to cultivate vines and make wine. He travelled widely teaching the skill to others. Wine was important in Roman life, but the myths also recognised that it could change behaviour. Bacchus’s followers included satyrs and women called Bacchants or maenads, who danced to music and sometimes entered a wild frenzy. Bacchus was also strongly connected with theatre. Festivals of Dionysus in Greece had helped theatre develop, and Romans inherited this connection. His symbols included grapes, ivy and the thyrsus, a leafy staff topped with a pine cone.

One of Bacchus’s funniest adventures begins when pirates kidnap him, thinking he is a rich young man they can sell. Vines suddenly grow around the ship, strange music fills the air and Bacchus appears as a terrifying lion. The frightened pirates jump overboard and become dolphins. Another story tells how Bacchus finds Ariadne after Theseus leaves her on the island of Naxos. He marries her and her crown is placed among the stars. Not all his stories are cheerful, though. King Pentheus refuses to accept Bacchus and tries to stop his worship, with disastrous results. Romans themselves became worried about secret Bacchic gatherings in 186 BCE and placed strict rules on them. Bacchus therefore represented both celebration and the importance of knowing when excitement has gone too far. I think that makes him much more interesting than simply calling him the god of parties.

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