Dionysos embodies the irrepressible life energy in plants

… and in animals (note the panther skin on his shoulders)

Dionysos is also known as Bacchus (Bakkhos), a term that designates both the god and the worshipper

Pentheus torn apart by his mother and aunts: sparagmos

Jupiter and Semele, by Gustave Moreau.

A Maenad inhabited by the power of Dionysos, holding a panther (which she presumably has caught herself with her bare hands)

The sparagmos of Pentheus

Dionysos, god of theater, masks, and impersonation

The pirates who captured Dionysos turn into dolphins

The daughters of Kadmos and their sons AutonoeAgaveSemeleIno ActaeonPentheus (pain)DionysosLearchos Melikertes

Artemis and Actaeon

Lycourgos pursues the Maenads, goes mad and kills his own son Dryas while mistaking him for an ivy vine

Maenads (always clothed) and Satyrs (always naked)

Zeus “gives birth” to Dionysos from his thigh

Dionysos and Ariadne, an exceptionally successful mortal/god marriage

Hermes handing baby Dionysos over to Athamas and Ino

In Greek Myth, Foreignness is more Symbolic than Literal Medea (from the Black Sea Coast): child and brother killer Taurians (on the Black Sea Coast): perform human sacrifice The Amazons (in a vague Northeast): all-women warrior society, who reject males except for purposes of procreation