Greek and Roman Mythology Dionysus

Dionysus (Bacchus) the son of Zeus and Semele the God of Wine Thebes was his own city, where he was born.

Dionysus (Bacchus)

The birth of Dionysus Dionysus had a strange birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was a mortal woman, Semele, the daughter of king Cadmus of Thebes, and his father was Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus' wife, Hera, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant. Appearing as an old crone (in other stories a nurse), Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that Zeus was the actual father of the baby in her womb. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood.

The birth of Dionysus Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he agreed. Therefore he came to her wreathed in bolts of lightning; mortals, however, could not look upon an undisguised god without dying, and she perished in the ensuing blaze. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus by sewing him into his thigh. A few months later, Dionysus was born on Mount Pramnos in the island of Ikaria, where Zeus went to release the now-fully-grown baby from his thigh.

The birth of Dionysus

Ariadne the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë the bride of the God of Wine, Dionysus associated with mazes and labyrinths, due to her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were made as part of reparations; however, she would later help Theseus in overcoming the Minotaur and saving the would-be sacrificial victims

Ariadne

Midas The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. This came to be called the Golden touch, or the Midas touch.

Midas