DIONYSUS / BACCHUS
The god of wine
Greek: Dionys… (Διόνυσ…) / Roman: Bacch… (Βακχ…)
Name refers to “orgy” (Greek: orgia [οργια])
Encyclopedia of World Mythology, Warner, 1975, p. 167, “Appendix | Orgy”:
Encyclopedia of Values and Ethics, Hester, 1996, p. 816, “orgy”:
Encarta World English Dictionary, 1999, p. 507, “dionysian”:
Greek & Roman Mythology, Translated by Elizabeth Burr, 1994, p. 43, “Bacchanalia”:
http://80-www.xreferplus.com.ezproxy.jocolibrary.org/entry/773212 (subscription required), Dionysus or Bacchus OR http://books.google.com/books?id=AV4tSS_Tm-IC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq=%22The+Greeks+of+early+historical+times&source=bl&ots=A5VokZlrav&sig=OmGAh55rRIcJjoSdDkhLOy_3WTA&hl=en&ei=w5GrSemXJIzanQfe06TaDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result, Who’s Who in Classical Mythology –Google books result, by Michael Grant & John Hazel, 2002, p. 178 & 181, “Dionysus or Bacchus”:
The Greeks of early historical times were aware of the foreignness of Dionysus' spirit, and in many states the aristocratic government rejected his non-Greek orgiastic rites. Many of the myths relating to Dionysus arise from his punishment of such rejection; they may reflect a historic process whereby a foreign, ecstatic faith imposed itself on the traditional Olympian religion of the Greek ruling class. … His female followers wore deerskins, carried the thyrsus, suckled fawns, tore to pieces and ate wild beasts, and allegedly indulged in sexual promiscuity.
http://www.thirdmill.org/newfiles/joh_frame/Frame.Apologetics2004.GreeksBearingGifts.pdf, Greeks Bearing Gifts, “The Greek Way of Worship”:
Dionysus, god of wine and revelry, was one of the Olympian gods, but not one honored much by Homer or by the politicians. For his worship was an intentional violation of the form, order, and structure: a religion of drunken revelry, of sexual orgy.
A Browser’s Dictionary and Natives Guide to the Unknown American Language, Ciardi, 1980, p. 285, “orgy”:
Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Universe, Cavendish, 1995, p. 2344, “Sex | Overwhelming Eros”:
Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, Mike Dixon-Kennedy, 1998, pp. 113-116, “Dionys~os, ~us”:
It makes sense that a god where everyone is drinking wine, could turn into a sexual orgy.
The History Channel, 12-29-08, Seven Deadly Sins: Lust (documentary), counter: about 5:47:
“The god Dionysus was worshipped with wild sexual rituals in the woods.”