Dionysus Research Paper

Words: 1086
Pages: 5

Dionysus is known as the Greek God of Wine, Ecstasy, Fertility, and Theatre. Dionysus was born differently than all the others. Instead of being born by his mortal mother, he was born from the thigh of his father, Zeus. He was also known for his extremely handsome looks, making him a model for a variety of artwork throughout history. In the Ancient Greek times, they often held festival celebrations as a way to worship their gods. In honor of Dionysus, the Dionysia festivals were created. However, the Athenians didn’t honor and worship Dionysus right away. Instead, they rejected the worship of him as well as the statue made of him. Dionysus was so upset that he punished the Athenians with a plague making it impossible for reproduction to happen, which is the reason he represents fertility. Due to the punishment by Dionysus, the Athenians decided to accept the honor and statue of Dionysus, so he immediately cured the punished Athenians. Every year the Athenians gathered to remember the past events that occurred and celebrate the event by worshiping the Greek God, Dionysus, at the …show more content…
After seeing what he can do as a god, I think the Athenian were scared of him rather than wanting to celebrate and worship him. I also think the dramatic tragedies that were performed at the festivals were to show the Athenians how much better their city is compared to others. In a way, I could see the Athenians wanted to show the negative aspects of other cities. They represented the play around other cities to show and persuade the Athenians that they are the best city there is. However, the purpose of the plays was to show their honor to Dionysus since he is the God of Theater. They used a playwright competition to help really show how much they want to honor Dionysus. Overall they just want to keep Dionysus happy by worshiping him and performing events that he might like