Bacchus

Reading notes

• The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius §2 Bacchus

  God of the vine, here standing by metonymy for the wine and the late grape-harvest.

• On Benefits §1.13.2 Liber

  The Roman name of Bacchus/Dionysus, paired with Hercules as a mortal who won godhead by traversing and civilizing the world.

• On Benefits §7.3.1 Liber

  Bacchus (Liber pater), whose eastern conquests, with Hercules', were the legendary track Alexander's ambition followed.

• On Tranquility of Mind §17.8 Liber

  Liber, the Italian wine-god identified with Bacchus/Dionysus; Seneca plays on his name (Liber = 'the Free') to explain that wine 'frees' (liberat) the mind from care.

• On the Happy Life §25.4 Liber

  Liber, the Roman name for Bacchus (Dionysus), god of wine; his legendary triumphal procession from the East (the sun's rising) to his birthplace Thebes is the image of a conqueror's chariot.

• Hercules (Mad) §16 Bacchus

  Bacchus, Jupiter's son by the Theban Semele, raised to godhead; Juno resents him as one more of the family's bastards in heaven.

• Hercules (Mad) §919 the tamer of Lycurgus

  Bacchus, who broke the Thracian king Lycurgus and conquered the Red Sea (India); invoked with a thyrsus hiding a spear-point.

• Hercules on Oeta §1 Bacchus

  God of wine, son of Jupiter and Semele, who won godhead after conquering the East; cited as a lesser son of Jove now among the gods.

• Hercules on Oeta §234 the Lyaean god

  Bacchus (Lyaeus, 'the loosener'), whose ecstatic spirit possesses the Maenad of the simile.

• Medea §75 the child of the wicked thunderbolt

  Bacchus, born of Semele when she was consumed by Jupiter's thunderbolt; he yokes tigers to his car.

• Medea §107 the thyrsus-bearing Lyaeus

  Bacchus (Lyaeus, 'the looser'), whose worshippers carry the ivy-wound thyrsus; the wedding-torchbearers are his 'offspring.'

• Medea §382 a maenad

  A frenzied female worshipper of Bacchus, 'god-filled' and raving; the simile for Medea's state.

• Octavia §202 Bacchus

  The wine-god, son of Jupiter, raised to Olympus among the gods.

• Oedipus §110 Bacchus

  God of wine and ecstasy, born of Theban Semele; patron and kinsman of the Theban royal house.

• Oedipus §429 Bassarids

  Female devotees of Bacchus, named from the fox-skin (bassara) they wore.

• Oedipus §429 Ogygian Iacchus

  Iacchus, a cult-name of Bacchus; 'Ogygian' = Theban, after the old Theban king Ogyges.

• Oedipus §429 maenad

  A frenzied woman-worshipper of Bacchus, girt with the fawnskin and bearing the thyrsus.

• Oedipus §445 Tyrrhenian band

  The Etruscan pirates who seized Bacchus and were turned to dolphins for it.

• Oedipus §488 Nyctelian liquor

  Wine, from Nyctelius ('the nocturnal'), a cult-title of Bacchus.

• Oedipus §504 Lyaeus

  Lyaeus ('the loosener'), a cult-name of Bacchus, whose face the chorus vows to revere.

• Phaedra §435 Bacchus

  God of wine, invoked to unburden cares on festal nights.

• Phaedra §753 Liber

  Bacchus (Liber), the long-haired god from India; even his beauty cannot match Hippolytus'.

• The Phoenician Women §603 Bacchus

  The wine-god, born at Thebes; Mount Tmolus is among his haunts.

• Thyestes §885 and to Bacchus

  Bacchus, god of wine; his name stands for the wine of the feast, soon mixed with the sons' blood.