Anthropomophism study; Part 3

It is not that the Greeks saw the gods is being created straightforwardly in their human image the gods have a certain vitality about themselves. A certain pure energy, evident in the passage of Dionysus in the Homeric hymn?

The Homeric hymn to Demeter depicts the deity in anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic representations nicely in three passages. In the first passage Demeter is wondering the Earth and she has disguised her Divine Divinity ‘no man can see through her cover’ but there two instances where she fails to (one-time accidentally and the other time deliberately ) repress her true form. In searching for her stolen daughter Persephone Demeter becomes a nurse at the house of Keklos. Both passages of very interesting for what they can tell us about how dangerous a direct encounter with a Greek divinity is. She has been depicting herself in different kinds of anthropomorphic ways and that means that she can move among humans unrecognised but then her true divinity slips out in the second passage and then she manifests into her true for in third passage. 

In the second passage we have a partial epiphany of the goddess, because she is mourning her lost daughter she stops being able to disguise her divinity fully. Is entered into the palace what she sees is the wife of …. Holding her child and precisely because she is missing her own child so deeply she lets her anthropomorphic veil fall momentarily. How is it the divine nature manifests itself in this passage? Because her divinity transforms the surroundings there is a lot of emphasis on light. Light plays a very significant role in divine appearance e.g. in Homer's Odyssey Athena is typically manifested as a CNET glower copious, often translated as grey eyed Athena. Athena manifests many many times in the Odyssey often appearing in bright light, dazzling light, a quite unsettling presence as well. Apart from when Athena is making particularly developed disguises that will protect mortals from unmediated encounter with the deity. Here we have a very strong emphasis on light and the effects on the Queen (Metinira) are very interesting. She sees with fear, reverence and a pale fear ‘green fear’ that seizes Metinira. She senses that something greater has overcome her, she doesn't actually realise who she has encountered but there is an awareness on Metinira’s part that she has come into contact with something that is greater than herself. The significance of the height of the goddess also ‘she is the height of the mortals’ but when she is temporarily manifesting her Divine presence she becomes taller as well. Then when Metinira offers Demeter a chair she refuses to come down to Metinira’s level; which is the logic of that reference. The divine light showers her surroundings and Metinira feels awe and fear; these feelings are typical of what happens to mortals when they experience their epiphany manifestation of a deity.

In the final passage what Demeter does is shared of her disguise completely. She is angry, she is furious at this point; Metinira walks in on Demeter (who has been nursing her young born son, grooming him to divinity, to keep as her own, making him immortal-a son and heir of the kingdom) entrusted to Demeter as a nurse. Every night performing various rituals to make him divine and immortal placing him in fire every night which is a very interesting manifestation. Metinira accidentally walked in on this transformation progress when she believe Demeter was trying to kill him, when actually indeed she was ironically trying to make him immortal. Demeter was furious to have this immortalisation process interrupted. We get her manifestation of her true divinity where she changes the size of her appearance- thrusting of her disguise as an old woman. ‘She becomes larger-than-life; her youth and beauty manifests themselves’ light again is very significant, radiance floods in like lightning. There is a very strong emphasis on movable light in divine epiphanies just as Athena's gaze glower copious gaze is a very movable darting gaze. Again we can chart this affects that this epiphany has on Metinira she can not speak because she is coming to the presence of Divinity. For example Metinira’s knees buckle, she loses her voice for a long time, she's petrified, she even forgets her role as a mother because of the effects that are so profound she forgets to pick up a her only dear son from the floor therefore she is being neglectful under the awe of reverence that she is experiencing.

In conclusion the Greeks depicted their gods in a variety of different ways. Which conveys just how far divine for the Greeks was something very diverse something very varied, like looking at polytheism there are numerous gods all represented in different ways. Here we can look from a different perspective on just how diverse and varied the divine role was to the Greeks. Each deity would be infinitely extendable by their epithets; here we can see how diverse individual deities are thanks to the range of ways that they can be represented anthropomorphically and non-anthropomorphically. Also intriguingly the combination of use of anthropomorphism and non-anthropomorphic. One must stress that these humanised traits are so significant to divine representations, the fifth re is a convenience that they enable communication between humans and their gods. They enable humans to enter into a relationship with their deities however divine nature is more pure, it is more perfect than flawed human bodies are. Gods are both accessible but also fundamentally other. A god is over granting duality of deities and anthropomorphism expresses this duality very nicely.

Anthropomophism study; Part 2

This is a very common way in which Hermes the God was represented in Athens; this specific representation of the god is quintessentially Athenian. They were ubiquitous in Athens, found at various places in the city, commonly outside dwelling places. This links nicely with the Hestia and Hermes duality; for Hestia the sacred hearth goddess is inside the dwelling place and then Hermes stands protecting the outside. A stone pillar which is aspects of an an-iconic representation but what the God also had is a head and a phallus. Combining anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic modes of representation together. Hermes is a God of travel and boundaries; he would be part pillar and part humanised in the extent of anthropomorphism because it encapsulates the ambiguity and power of the God. It gets across the sense that he is the God that sets boundaries and marks boundaries, but transgresses them as well because he is always on the move- the God that can go to Olympus- one of the 12 Olympians. He can also journey down to the underworld accompanying souls to the underworld which is a key aspect of travel. One key function of the deity is to mediate between the gods on one hand and the people on the other hand. He is a God but he is also a mediator between this world and the other world, which is another duality on his part. He still form helps where he has got a very sacred aspect of the fact he's got humanised very accessible aspects as well. Just as the case of the wooden Athena; you have got a more powerful divinity of Athena at the Athenians were able to accept control over that deity by arrangement of adding anthropomorphic elements to the statue; jewellery peplos bathing. Maybe we have a comparable here Hermes as others, superior and divine and also as Hermes was humanised.

We have covered a range of ways how gods can be depicted and shown as birds and animals and how gods can manifest as natural phenomena, iconic ways of depicting deities as well. But To focus on the issue of anthropomorphic and nonanthropomorphic ways of representing the gods. I will now move on to why it was that the Greeks anthropomorphise their deities, particularly in view of the range that there were other options that are available to them. Anthropomorphism had a long and distinguished history but it was only one mode of representation against others. When we think about various examples we have looked at so far; most particularly in Hermes image- anthropomorphism can seemed to be a bit strange perhaps less obvious mode of representation compared with these other ones we have looked at. For example looking at Hermes and an iconic representations as a particularly holy aspect of the statues; what does this tell us about humanistic representations? Are they less sacred somehow?

In order to understand the meaning behind forms of representation we need to step back and think about Greek notions of divinity. It is not the case that the Greeks really thought that their gods looked like humans Aubrey behaved like humans. We see instead on one hand the data his powers and on the other their personalities. Athena is viewed as a human woman with her adornments; peplos and jewellery and humanised bathing ritual accredited to her and women like appearance regarding her anthropomorphic statue of Athena Parthenos. However, she is also the powerful goddess of wisdom and abilities closely associated with the city of Athens and also for helping heroes on their quests. She is also a God capable of metamorphosis disguise her godlike attributes from humans, for example Athena in the Iliad. The true divinity takes the form of something that mortals that cannot endure. One thing we often see in Greek literature is that the presence of divine is normally hidden from the mortals. We start to see anthropomorphism is a kind of compromise; away to represent the gods without their otherness, being something that mortals cannot deal with. So it keeps their otherness as something that can be represented rather than something extreme. Alternatively one thing conveyed in Iliad book 5; there's a mist that stops men from seeing the gods. Athena removes the mist from the eyes of the mortal Diomedes. She enables him to do what other mortals cannot do; namely distinguishing gods from mortals. The mist has been taken from his eyes and he is unable to see the gods. Many various interesting connections between Athena and eyesight aspects.

This one is particularly intriguing because the mortal thanks to Athena’s intervention is to do what mortals normally cannot; namely to differentiate gods on the battlefield. Athena in book 5 transforms Diomedes into a frenzied warrior, whose elevated beyond what normal mortal warriors are capable of because he has been inspired by Athena's warrior power. He has become something above the normal eyesight aspect washed and wants to do is although he has now got superpowers he won't go too far and accidentally kill a God. So she wants him to be able to see the gods so he won't accidentally kill them. However goddess he dislikes is Aphrodite and what he deliberately does is wound Aphrodite, which is something he shouldn't have done, as what re-occurs in literature in the vengefulness of the goddess Aphrodite. One thing that we get from this Iliad example is from what extent the example of the divine is normally something that is hidden from mortals. There are some other examples of this as well.

The importance of the secrecy of the bathing of Athena due to the plenty Festival; there is a pathological parallel to this concerning the young man Tyrsisas; the young man that ends up an old blind prophet. He wasn't originally blind- he inadvertently stumbled upon Athena bathing, which in itself is a very interesting parallel to the Palencia Festival, and then his blinded. There are two ways to look at this; either Athena blinds him and punishment because he is seen what he shouldn't have or the site of the bathing Athena is aslindcrable to mortal eyes causing his blindness. Also another young man Action (the hunter) has a worse fate than Tyrsisas when he observes the naked Artemus bathing. As punishment Artemus transforms him into precisely what he is hunting then his own hunting dogs tell him apart. The point being drawn from these sources signifies that any encounters with the deity is a dangerous thing. So not only have we got Aries complaining about Athena disease we also have Aphrodite complaining disease about the behaviour of the Athena inspired Diomedes. Lovely example of squabbling personalities apart from anything from book 5 of the Iliad.

A key way to approach anthropomorphic images is by thinking about the extent that they don't express what the gods are in essence; it's more that their conveniences and compromises. A way to make the gods approachable to humans. It makes them familiar. Gods need to be both other and representable and accessible. The Greeks like to trace their lineage back to the gods also; various heroes like Pericles except who are the offspring to daisies look like their parents, look like humans because they their parents already have a anthropomorphic don't mention. It is a convenience. One thing Zenophanies (an early Greek philosopher) draws attention to is the absurdities of anthropomorphism. He argued for example if oxen had gods than they would have to be ox like; so it is somehow natural perhaps absurd for mortals to depict gods in ways that are humanlike. The important thing to say here is that a response to the notion that Zenophanies makes is the gods were not seen as humanlike in all ways. What we have here is convenience that enables gods to be represented as beautiful humanised perfected versions of mortals. For example Athena who is a woman on the verge of adult hood; Apollo who is a beautiful young man, Zeus the bearded mature male. This is not what the gods essentially are that it helps make them accessible to mankind. So they can be worshipped because they have traits that are recognisable in human world. But the gods never confined to mortal restraints, after all gods are amongst other things athanatio (immortal and ever changing) or non-mortals to find contrast to us because they are undying; because they are perfect.

Apart from when that God is Hephaestus intriguingly; the disabled God-he could be a perfection of the disabled God or is this an indication of where God is not necessarily seen as perfect after all Hephaestus in literary accounts is a servant of the gods, he makes things for the other gods. He is also a figure of ridicule, on some level inferior to his fellow deities. You might have the opportunity to reflect on various ways of nation of anthropomorphism, divine imperfections, relationships between the gods; how some gods can be seen as marginalised and outcast. In the mortal world it would often be precisely men who were disabled who would be skilled craftsmen; in a cold or hot place because they are disabled. This is where the human situation is imposed on the divine God. Hephaestus is disabled therefore he is the Smith deity the craftsmen, who makes weapons and other necessary objects for the gods. An interesting duality of Hephaestus emerges in that in some versions of this myth Hera is so horrified that she has given birth to a disabled God that is not perfect she throws him off of Mount Olympus. Or he becomes disabled only when he hits the sea? So precisely when his disability comes to be is a chicken or the egg scenario; in which there are many classical mythology.

Anthropomophism study; Part 1

I was so captervated by the subject of Anthropomorphism consernning the deity Athena and certain other deities that I decied to put an extended study on the subject into 3 parts; 

As it was such an undertaking it is not fully completed but you can view how my view have progressed and performed justice to the indepth study of the subject; hope you enjoy.

Important as anthropomorphism is there are other ways available to represent deities. This blog will look at anthropomorphism, but will also seek to put it into a broader context of divine representation. I will begin by talking about the nature of anthropomorphism and compare it with other ways of representing Greek deities. This blog will also think about how and why the Greeks placed such an emphasis on anthropomorphism. I'll think about how gods are represented anthropomorphically and I will consider what studying this can tell us about the nature of Greek religion. It must be stressed, that anthropomorphism was not the only way for the Greeks to convey their gods. It was a means that appealed to the Greeks but far from the only way available; we have other ways of perceiving their deities. The anthropomorphic image of the gods dominates our understanding of them. The Greeks had no problem worshipping a deity anthropomorphically then in another context in a non-anthropomorphic way. This will conclude why the Greeks anthropomorphised their gods.

Key images that we have of the Greek gods are regularly represented as beings portrayed in human like ways (anthropomorphic), for example the statue of Athena Parthenos. The gods are typically represented this way on vase paintings and also in various literary sources.

In ancient Greek literature we find deities that are represented anthropomorphically. However, this is not a Greek invention; it is indicated earlier than the Homeric poems. We have traditions of humanised deities throughout Mesopotamia and Egypt source.  In the Homeric poems (the earliest works that we possess of Greek poetry) we see a Parthenon of deities; a polytheistic system where each god has individual identities and characteristics. Already in Homer’s works we have gods that look and behave like humans. These various human-like characteristics that the gods display in the Homeric hymns, remain intact throughout the archaic and classical periods. One particular example is Homer’s Iliad book 5.

We have an instance of the god Aries being depicted; the war deity - whose name is synonymous with war. Aries is displaying jealousy; a key human emotion. He is jealous of his fellow deity and sister Athena. Aries has gone to complain about the favouritism that Zeus (their father) has been showing to Athena on the grounds that Zeus had given birth to the goddess. We have a nice example of anthropomorphism and have an indication of how Zeus is different; he gave birth to Athena out of his head. Artists and authors represent deities in different ways; there is no ‘One Athena’, each create Athena in a fresh way that suits their own particular purpose for gender (specific example of gendered view of Athena). However, from Homer onwards we do see that the ancient gods have a distinct personality and appearance, in broad terms.

I have already discussed the jealousy of Aries, and the alleged favouritism of Zeus. Therefore, Aries is a god of personality. We already know that he is a manifestation of war. Euripides’ Trojan Women illustrates his personification well: it describes the fall and sack of Troy; when the wooden Trojan horse was taken inside the city, warriors erupted from within the horse and sacked the city. The event that is conveyed is the sudden emergence and violence of the Warriors coming out of the wooden horse. The ‘war burst forth’ fulfilling Athena’s desires. However, Aries is manifesting in the violence the Greek warriors are now conveying, as he is war. This shows that gods can manifest in their forms within various attributes. There is duality between gods who show anthropomorphic characteristics and those who can also switch to operating in other ways as well. Gods could manifest themselves in many non-anthropomorphic ways.

Gods can also be depicted in various theriomorphic (animal) forms. For example Athena could be depicted in owl form, or, depicted holding an owl. On one hand a deity and on the other hand a deity holding that attribute. There are representations of animals that can be seen as Athena’s favourite bird or Athena's attribute, but it could also be a representation of the goddess herself. After all she is the owl faced goddess, her very gaze can be linked with the ‘Glaukopis’ Athena owl eyed. In the Odyssey book 3, Athena typically disappears in a rush of wings or, in the form of the bird of prey. ‘Glaukopis’ is a very familiar epithet of Athena in the Odyssey. In modern ornithological terms the Athena nuptua -  the ‘little owl’ is the Greek Glaux.  ? Argued from studying representations of owls, to Athena, he argued that the original appearance of Athena had been an owl-like one. That kind of approach to the deities assumes that anthropomorphism is assimilated later and is regarded as outmoded and rather naive. It conveys how a scholar has acknowledged anthropomorphic beings, as opposed to promoting non-anthropomorphic ways of depicting a particular deity, in this case Athena.

This image (see appendix 1) shows an archaic anthropomorphic representation on one side of the coin and then an owl on the other side, which we could see as Athena's pet bird. We could also see it as an epithet of Athena, or an attribute of Athena, or we could see it as a manifestation of the goddess. It's big gleaming eyes are one of the things that Athena and the Glaux have in common. There is also an olive shoot in the corner of the coin which is an attribute of Athena but again also it is a manifestation of the goddess. The Greek letters ‘A O E’ which correspond with our A-TH-E, the first three letters in Greek which are the name of the city and the name of the goddess- the letters themselves say Athena and (the city) Athens. This coin is stating; ‘owl-Athena-Athens’, it is given that the owl and the olive branch link to Athena, but they are not just about Athena, they are specifically about the protective goal that Athena brings to the city. Athena the warrior / protector is depicted here in her anthropomorphic representation of the deity. One other type of representing a deity is in the form of xoanon (plural xoana).

Xoanon is a particular statue type in ancient Greece, specifically representing a holy ancient state cult image of a deity. These specific holy statues that represent deities are non-anthropomorphic ones. Why are the most holy and sacred statues non-anthropomorphic ones? The wooden Athena was of crucially significant importance to the Athenian state cult, as it takes this particular form. It was so sacred that when the Athenians needed to vacate their city very quickly in 480 BC (when the Persians were coming to sack the city) and escape to the island of Salamis?  (- Where they had to stay until it was safe to return to the sacked city). It was the only divine image that was notably removed by the Athenians. It was regarded as so important to them that they took it away. We do not know for sure what form it took, but, it seems to have taken the form of a piece of olive wood. The olive tree was already an important symbol of Athena and Athens; which is why it is depicted on coins along with the owl, Athena herself and the name of the city. It was a strikingly different form of olive wood standing apart from the other statues that were erected, like the Athena Parthenos, which is anthropomorphic in all its splendour. The Athenians were taking their protective deity with them, they had to leave the city but they continued to live under the protection of Athena because they had the statue with them. The city could be destroyed because Athena was not protecting Athens, but present protecting the Athenians. As far as the Athenians were concerned this object ensured their safety. It was invested in divine power that the Parthenos statue was not. 

Problematically the Athenians treated the sacred non-anthropomorphic ‘wooden Athena’, without humanistic features, anthropomorphically. Annually, specific cult servants of the goddess would clothe the statue in a magnificent, intricately woven, peplos (new robe). They would also adorn it in golden jewellery. The Athenians were very concerned with the wealth fair of this holiest of all images. Once a year the Plynteria ritual took place, in which they would take the statue to the sea, to bathe it. It was with great concern that the Plynteria took place in the appropriate way; preparing the statue for its new peplos that it was about to receive. This was all completed in conditions of great secrecy. Specifically designated females only would get to look at the statue. On the day of the Plynteria, the statue would leave the city, to be bathed; it was regarded as a day of particularly ill omen. It had lost its divine patron. The Athenians believed it was the true manifestation of the goddess, in some ways it wasn't just the divine image but it was the goddess it was invested with Our. When the statue was in city, the presence of Athena was with the city, so when it was taken to bathe, the city lost its Athena. On one level it actually is Athena, treating this non-anthropomorphic statue as a person; dressing it, bathing it, adorning it. It was believed that it fell from heaven, which is another reason why it may be regarded as more sacred than the anthropomorphic statue Athena Parthenos. Unlike this statue it hasn't been made by skilled craftsmen, it was from heaven and had divine origins. There are other ways of representing deities anthropomorphically and non-anthropomorphically, or an-iconic.

Greek Religion and Cinema; Zeus and Athena’s portrayal with Immortals (2011)

Immortals, official trailer[i]

When I departed to the cinema to watch the new release of Immortals (Tarsem Singh: 2011) I did not intend to come out with so many conflicting views on the portrayal of the deities that had been created. In the year 2000 there was a resurgence of re-worked Epic film (deriving from Ancient Greek Epic poetry); the narratives are set in historical or mythological content but displaying a ‘Hollywood’ representation with new media enhanced computer graphics, for example; 300 and Troy. The films are portrayed with little historical accuracy as the films are aimed towards the main audience who will want to see a film with narrative and characters which fits to their own pre conceptions. The directors and producers play to these pre conceptions for Box office takings; lucrative if you give the audience what it wants. Immortals  is a tale of Theseus a mortal man who has been chosen by Zeus to lead the Greeks to fight against the ruthless King Hyperion; who is plundering Greece trying to obtain the Epirus Bow to unleash the Titans form Mount Tartaros.[ii] First thoughts on watching Immortals I was quite angry about how the Greek gods were portrayed, but then I could not help thinking of how Athena and Zeus’ relationship was represented. It opened my eyes to a new way of viewing their relationship in Greek religion.

In the first scene introducing Zeus (Luke Evans) and his daughter Athena (Isabel Lucas) the first thing that I noticed was Athena’s beauty; dressed oozing femininity, not the matriarchal deity that I have come to appreciate. If Zeus had not stated her name I would have assumed it was Aphrodite. But the relationship that is portrayed is full of love and affection Athena compliments Zeus’ anthropomorphic disguise as an old man; ‘when you walked over here just now, you actually looked like a father or even a Grandfather.’ The image to the right depicts this scene.[iii] It started me to decipher why they were being portrayed in such a close father daughter relationship?

In Greek Religion Athena is a god because she has two divine parents (depending on which source; in Homers Iliad Zeus is Athena’s sole parent[iv]); Zeus and Metis. Or one can also see her as solely the offspring of Zeus because of the nature of her birth. Athena is conceived in the normal way between male and female but then she is born from the head of her father; Zeus. Her pregnant mother Metis is swallowed (according to Hesiod compared to various other sources) by Zeus before Athena is born, but then Athena grows inside the body of Zeus finally protruding from his head, which is a vaginal substitute, as the head splits open she emerges fully grown; already with her attributes intact.[v] Their relationship is portrayed as the ideal single parent relationship, full of love and admiration; in the scene below Athena has intervened in the mortal Theseus’ quest against her fathers will and she receives no punishment compared to her brother Aries god of war who gets killed for his intervention.  

Athena and Ares intervene with the mortal’s quest and Zeus kills Ares;[vi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=NXtHRPAvvDc

This is very interesting when referring to the god Aries in Homer’s Iliad book 5 being depicted; the war deity - whose name is synonymous with war. Aries is displaying jealousy; a key human emotion.[vii] He is jealous of his fellow deity and sister Athena. Aries complains about the favouritism that Zeus (their father) has been showing to Athena on the grounds that Zeus had given birth to the goddess. In Immortals this relationship of Zeus favouring Athena’s relationship to the other gods (especially above Ares; because he has just killed him) is clearly depicted.

---

[i] Immortals,(2011), Official trailer, Accessed at; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VdONYkKFmQ

[ii] Immortals,(2011),  Storyline, Accessed at; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1253864/

[iii] Image of Zeus (Luke Evans) and Athena (Isabel Lucas), Accessed on; http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Immortals-Zeus-and-Athena--570x380.jpg

[iv] Homer, (2008), The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press) 4.514.

[v] Hesiod, (2008), Theogony and Works and Days, Trans Intro and Notes by M. L. West, 3^rd ed. (Oxford: OUP) Theogony: 924.

[vi] Athena and Ares intervention. Accessed on; http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=NXtHRPAvvDc

[vii] Homer, (2008), The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press) Book 5.

The deity Dionysos and The Villa of Mysteries

 

During the summer of 2011, I was lucky enough to see the well preserved Roman villa; The Villa of the Mysteries, which lies just outside of the ancient city of Pompeii. The Villa is named after one room which depicts luxurious frescos which survived minimum damage from the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD becoming Pompeian iconic imagery. At one end of this fresco, the god Dionysos lounges in the lap of Ariadne, whom he rescued after she had been abandoned by the hero Theseus in Greek mythology. This led me to try to understand the relationship between the god Dionysos and his presents in Roman iconography. Mary beard states about the scholarly debate surrounding the frescos ‘to be honest, this is all completely baffling, and no amount of modern scholarship has ever managed to unravel the meaning – or, at least, not wholly convincingly.’ [i] The most credible theory is that the fresco depicts a kind of initiation ritual into the religious cult of Dionysos. But I would like to focus towards the deity himself and how he has was depicted in Greek religion and evidently adopted into the Roman. 

The god Dionysos was especially popular in ancient Greece and he has been a god who has generated a particular amount of scholarly interest and also he has generated a lot of interest in the modern world over the course of time. Dionysos has been looked at in much detail; one reason I would say is because of his ancient image, the power of the ancient image of Dionysos. His readiness that we see on the part of Dionysos in Ancient literature and ancient art; to appear among mortals. He is the god who is particularly known for his epiphany’s, for his manifestations and his appearances amongst mortals. Richard Seaford in Dionysos makes reference to Dionysos as ‘the most epiphanes god’; the most manifesting god.[ii] Dionysos was particularly close to mortals because he was typically given to manifesting among them. This perhaps makes him intriguingly different from the more remote deities, for example Zeus throws his lightning bolt from afar at mortals. What Seaford is quoting here is an ancient source for Dionysos (a late one as it is form the 3^rd Century AD). But, evidence of Dionysos manifesting among the mortals is present as early as the 8^th century BC; Homer in the Iliad describes Dionysos as a ‘joy to the mortals’.[iii] From the minor role that he plays in the Iliad certain earlier scholars argue that Dionysos was a late arriver in the Ancient Greek Pantheon of gods. But it can be argued that the reason that Dionysos was not present in the Iliad is very much concerned about the individual, whereas Dionysos is the god that breaks down the individuality. So Dionysos is consistent in his portrayal throughout periods of history as being present among the mortals; bringing them joy, depicted also among the ritual portrayed in the Villa of Mysteries. 

In Plato’s Laws Dionysos is described as the ‘companion of the festival’.[iv] He is a god that is present rather than remote, he is appears among men. He is not just venerated from festivals he is a god who is a companion of the festival, he appears amongst his worshipers. Or on another level his worshipers become him. He is someone who is among mortals rather than Zeus who smites them form afar. This is one reason among many why Dionysos has long attracted the interest of scholars. His very power of being present amongst mortals compared with the more distanced devinities.

Detienne portrays Dionysos as the god that is always arriving; he is seen as the outsider who is coming into Olympus later, as myth constructed.[v] It is important to stress that although the Greeks regarded Dionysos different and other and later, this was the way that they managed to get across his divinity. It didn’t actually mean he was a later arrival than other deities. It is important to stress that his cult goes back to the late bronze age so he actually does have very good credentials as an old Greek god[vi]. 

Another thing to focus on is Dionysos image of the god of the oppressed. He was thought of in the Ancient World as a liberator who was sort to relieve his followers from every day life; women in his cult would leave aside their normal roles. They would typically leave aside their child care responsibilities in order to commune with Dionysos, and indeed other Dionysian worshipers, in the mountain side. So women would leave aside their domestic roles. He would liberate individuals from their everyday lives and this is something that’s made him endure as a symbol. In the Villa of Mysteries the fresco depicts a woman being initiated into the cult, being whipped then comforted but what it clear is that it was celebrated. Dionysos was favoured by Greek women and Roman women alike.

Dionysos is not often found by himself, he is often linked with his thiasos; his cortège or retinue, because his cult is something that is shared. He is typically found not alone but in the company of various other curious female figures including the mainades/bakchai; frenzied women. Here we can see them dancing frenzied dances, they are very much liked with the natural world which is signalling not necessarily conducting their worship. Whether it is supposed to be how the Greeks conceptualise it. One of the things that would have been done is that rather than animlas being sacrificed through usual methods they set out ritualised methods, animals would more spontaneously be torn apart. What could be being depicted in the Villa is as simple as Dionysos with his mainades/bakchai.

What we see in Athens are two key festivals that are particularly significant where Dionysos is the god of wine; the Oschoporia and the Anthesteria. The Oschophoria is a tricky festival to study because we have a lot of evidence for it, but it is very scattered causing it to become problematic. It was linked to Dionysos but also various other figures. The Oschophoria included a race of young men dressed as women and they would run between a sanctuary of Athena and Dionysos. It was a transvestite ritual. Linking two gods with transvestism; Athena wears masculine attire and Dionysos who is linked amongst other things with transvestite rituals - men would sometimes be seen wearing female clothing. These two festivals would complement each other very nicely in that the   Oschophoria would take place in the Autumn (at a time of the wine cutting) while the Anthesteria would take place in late February at the time of the opening of the new wine, particularly celebrating the new wine. The Anthesteria was a great communal occasion, a joyful occasion but being drunk can make one either joyful or uncontrolled; both featured becoming outside of one’s self. Dionysos had an epithet Diamorphos Dionysos which meant he was dual formed. This epithet of Dionysos had a particular relation to this festival as yet on one hand it could have been a joyful occasion but on the other a young Athenian hung herself while under the influence of euphoria that wine had entailed in this festival. This is expressing that in related ways to Dionysos; there was a dual nature to the gift of wine that he gave, and that there is responsibility to be taken with the power of wine that he gives. There is often a dark side to the worship of Dionysos, there is always a duality to Dionysos as he often parallels between the two spectrums for example celebration; having a good time and also things can then go too far and the merriment of wine drinking for example can turn the situation darker as the effects of wine can take over.

When the Villa of Mysteries was excavated a wine press was discovered and it has now been restored to its original location. This is plausible that maybe some form of these festivals had been incorporated into the ritual that may have gone on in the Villa, what is certain that wine was a key feature with the god Dionysos. This type of Religion was taboo, not part of Roman state Religion and became out lord in the second century BC, ‘if so, then the room itself might have been some kind of sacred precinct within the house’ hidden away by secrecy of the cult members.[vii] The truth is that these frescos are as mysterious in the modern sense as they could have many meanings entailed; the name for the villa is well chosen. What is evident is that Dionysos’ Ancient image was being appreciated by Roman life, and frozen in time, is still today.

All of the images of The Villa of Mysteries are my own, including the short video.

---

[i] Beard, Mary, (2010), Pompeii; The Life of a Roman Town, 3^rd edition, (London: Profile Books) p.131.

[ii] Seaford, Richard, (2006), Dionysos, (London and New York; Routledge), p.39.

[iii] Homer, (2008), The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press) 14.325.

[iv] Plato, (1968), Laws in ‘Plato in Twelve Volumes’, (translated by R.G. Bury, Vols. 10 & 11.{ London: Harvard University Press}), Available at: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0166. 653d.

[v] Detienne, M and Vernant, J.P (1978) Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society, translation by J.Llyod, (Harvestor: Hassocks).

[vi] Linear B Tablets c. 13^th Century BC.

[vii] Beard, Mary, (2010), Pompeii; The Life of a Roman Town, 3^rd edition, (London: Profile Books) p.132.