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42-516: The tragedy is based on the Greek myth of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave , and their punishment by the god Dionysus (who is Pentheus's cousin). The god Dionysus appears at the beginning of the play and proclaims that he has arrived in Thebes to avenge the slander, which has been repeated by his aunts, that he is not the son of Zeus. In response, he intends to introduce Dionysian rites into

84-494: A classical Meitei language play based on the ancient Greek tragedy of the same title . In the play, as distinct from the original tragedy, King Pentheus is portrayed as a small community , whose chances of survival is highly unpredictable and doubtful, affected by the massive globalization results of the developed countries (depicted by God Dionysus ). Sparagmos Sparagmos ( Ancient Greek : σπαραγμός , from σπαράσσω sparasso , "tear, rend, pull to pieces")

126-488: A Bacchic frenzy. Accordingly, Pentheus imprisoned Dionysus, thinking the man simply a follower, but his chains fell off and the jail doors opened for him. Dionysus lured Pentheus, disguised as a woman, out to spy on the Bacchic rites, where Pentheus expected to see sexual activities. The daughters of Cadmus saw him in a tree and thought him to be a wild animal. They pulled Pentheus down and tore him limb from limb (as part of

168-401: A ban on the worship of Dionysus throughout Thebes. The play begins before the palace at Thebes, with Dionysus telling the story of his birth and his reasons for visiting the city. Dionysus explains he is the son of a mortal woman, Semele, and a god, Zeus. Some in Thebes, he notes, do not believe this story. In fact, Semele's sisters—Autonoe, Agave, and Ino—claim it is a lie intended to cover up

210-490: A cult of female worshipers, the Maenads . At the start of the play, Dionysus returns to Thebes, disguised as a stranger, to take revenge on the house of Cadmus. He has also driven the women of Thebes, including his aunts, into an ecstatic frenzy, sending them dancing and hunting on Mount Cithaeron , much to the horror of the young Pentheus , king of Thebes who also is Dionysus' cousin. Complicating matters, Pentheus has declared

252-442: A frenzy the participants thought Pentheus was a boar and attacked him. His mother was the first one to spear him and then the group tore his flesh apart with their bare hands. In Oppian 's version, Dionysus's female followers ask the god to transform them into leopards, and he grants their request, while simultaneously changing Pentheus into a bull. The leopards then attack and tear apart the bull, killing Pentheus, as Oppian presents

294-540: A long sequence near the beginning of his film Medea (1969), before dramatising the episode in which Medea kills her brother in a similar way. Interpreting the ritual through the lens of the Freudian Oedipus complex , Catherine Maxwell identifies sparagmos as a form of castration , particularly in the case of Orpheus. Historically, it is presumed that women celebrating the rites of Dionysus did not actually dismember animals or eat raw flesh, although it

336-465: A poem by Emily Dickinson . Sparagmos is a central theme in Dimitris Lyacos 's The First Death , which recounts the torments of a mutilated protagonist stranded on an island. The book draws upon the dismemberment of Dionysus as well as ancient Greek rituals and practices. In Eric Gans ' Generative Anthropology , sparagmos is a key component of the hypothetical "originary event" marking

378-401: A prophet of Orphic or Bacchic religion, died when he was dismembered by raging Thracian women. Medea is said to have killed and dismembered her brother whilst fleeing with Jason and the stolen fleece in order to delay their pursuers, who would be compelled to collect the remains of the prince for burial. The Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini staged a sparagmos ritual as part of

420-513: A ritual known as the sparagmos ). When his true identity was later discovered, officials exiled the women from Thebes. Some say that his own mother was the first to attack him, tearing his arm off and then tearing off his head. She placed the head on a stick and took it back to Thebes, but only realized whose head it was after meeting her father Cadmus. The name "Pentheus", as Dionysus and Tiresias both point out, means "Man of Sorrows" and derives from πένθος, pénthos , sorrow or grief, especially

462-416: A sailor who confirms the divinity of Bacchus and tells how the crew of his ship ended up being turned into dolphins after trying to kidnap the young god. Pentheus, convinced that Acoetes is lying, tries to throw him in jail, but when the guards try to shackle Acoetes, the chains fall off. In a rage, Pentheus ran to deal with Bacchus himself. He charged through the woods straight into a Bacchanalia . Driven to

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504-410: Is a direct experience. The actor would have experienced a "stepping out" of himself to become a representation of Dionysus. As a spectator, the experience comes from what is acted onstage, arousing emotions that sympathize with Dionysus. Collectively, through Dionysiac acting, there is a reintegration of the "other" into the "self", that is to say that Dionysus has been accepted and will be worshipped by

546-403: Is a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of Cadmus , has denied him a place of honor as a deity. His mortal mother, Semele , was a mistress of Zeus ; and while pregnant, was tricked by a jealous Hera to request Zeus to come to her in his true form. Being only a mortal, she was struck down by Zeus' thunderbolts while in his presence and was killed. Zeus then saved Dionysus, who

588-416: Is an act of rending, tearing apart, or mangling, usually in a Dionysian context. In Dionysian rite as represented in myth and literature, a living animal, or sometimes even a human being, is sacrificed by being dismembered. Sparagmos was frequently followed by omophagia (the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered). It is associated with the Maenads or Bacchantes, followers of Dionysus , and

630-624: Is believed those acts still had some basis in maenadic ritual. In contemporary literature, this is used in Tennessee Williams 's play Suddenly, Last Summer . Sparagmos is also briefly mentioned in Donna Tartt's The Secret History . Camille Paglia , in her controversial survey of Western culture Sexual Personae , uses sparagmos to describe flesh-rending violence in several works, including The Bacchae , contemporary horror films, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights , and

672-568: Is distinctive in that the chorus is integrated into the plot and the god is not a distant presence but a character in the play, indeed, the protagonist. The Bacchae has been the subject of widely varying interpretations regarding what the play as a whole means, or even indeed whether there is a “moral” to the story. Hans Oranje calls such questions the riddle of the Bacchae, and says that the play concerns itself with “wisdom, cleverness, and soundness of mind.” The extraordinary beauty and passion of

714-448: Is presented by Euripides as follows. Cadmus, the king of Thebes , abdicated due to his old age in favour of his grandson Pentheus. Pentheus soon banned the worship of the god Dionysus , who was the son of his aunt Semele , and forbade the women of Cadmeia to partake in his rites. An angered Dionysus caused Pentheus' mother Agave and his aunts Ino and Autonoë , along with all the other women of Thebes, to rush to Mount Cithaeron in

756-402: Is the head of a mountain lion . She proudly displays it to her father, Cadmus, and is confused when he does not delight in her trophy, but is horrified by it. Agave then calls out for Pentheus to come marvel at her feat, and nail the head above her door so she can show it to all of Thebes. But now the madness begins to wane, and Cadmus forces her to recognize that she has destroyed her own son. As

798-406: Is warned by the blind seer Tiresias to welcome Bacchus or else "Your blood [shall be] poured out and defile the woods and your mother and her sisters..." Pentheus dismisses Tiresias and ignores his warnings. As Thebes succumbs to the "dementia and the delirium of the new god", Pentheus laments the fall of his kingdom and demands the arrest of Bacchus. His guards instead arrest Acoetes of Maeonia,

840-503: The Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, Crassus' head was sent to the king of Parthia , Orodes II , where it was used "as a prop, standing in for the head of the tragic Pentheus" in a production of The Bacchae . Greek theater was a form of religious expression and worship. The Bacchae re-enacts how Dionysus had come to be a god. In ancient Greek theatre, "role-playing is a well-known feature of ritual liminality." To an actor, religious worship

882-606: The Dionysian Mysteries . Examples of sparagmos appear in Euripides 's play The Bacchae . In one scene guards sent to control the Maenads witness them pulling a live bull to pieces with their hands. Later, after King Pentheus has banned the worship of Dionysus, the god lures him into a forest, to be torn limb from limb by Maenads, including his own mother Agave . According to some myths, Orpheus , regarded as

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924-445: The Bacchae became frenzied and pursued the men. The men escaped, but their cattle were not so fortunate, as the women fell upon the animals, ripping them to shreds with their bare hands . The women carried on, plundering two villages that were further down the mountain, stealing bronze, iron and even babies. When villagers attempted to fight back, the women drove them off using only their ceremonial staffs of fennel. They then returned to

966-480: The Greek gods and their followers, the author finally repented of his cynicism, and wrote a play that honors Dionysus and that carries a dire warning to nonbelievers. Then, at the end of the 19th century the opposite idea began to take hold: it was thought that Euripides was doing with The Bacchae what he had always done, pointing out the inadequacy of the Greek gods and religions. The Dionysus in Euripides' tale

1008-407: The Greek people. Jesus's interrogation by Pontius Pilate from The Bible has been compared to Dionysus' interrogation by King Pentheus regarding his claim to divinity. In the play's climactic plot construction, Dionysus the protagonist instigates the unfolding action by simultaneously emulating the play's author, costume designer, choreographer and artistic director. Helene P. Foley , writing of

1050-412: The city, and he intends to demonstrate to the king, Pentheus, and to Thebes that he was indeed born a god. At the end of the play, Pentheus is torn apart by the women of Thebes and his mother Agave bears his head on a thyrsus to her father Cadmus . The Bacchae is considered to be not only one of Euripides's greatest tragedies, but also one of the greatest ever written, modern or ancient. The Bacchae

1092-438: The fact that Semele became pregnant by some mortal. Dionysus reveals that he has driven the women of the city mad, including his three aunts, and has led them into the mountains to observe his ritual festivities. He has disguised himself as a mortal for the time being, but he plans to vindicate his mother by appearing before all of Thebes as a god, the son of Zeus, and establishing his permanent cult of followers. Dionysus exits to

1134-412: The god's power, as he thinks he sees two suns in the sky, and believes he now has the strength to rip up mountains with his bare hands. He has also begun to see through Dionysus' mortal disguise, perceiving horns coming out of the god's head. They exit to Cithaeron. A messenger arrives to report that once the party reached Mount Cithaeron, Pentheus wanted to climb an evergreen tree to get a better view and

1176-574: The grief caused by the death of a loved one. His name appeared to mark him for tragedy. Pentheus was succeeded by his uncle Polydorus . Before or possibly after Pentheus was killed, his wife gave birth to a son named Menoeceus , who became the father of Creon and Jocasta . He became the grandfather of Oedipus . The story of Pentheus is also discussed by Ovid in Book III of his Metamorphoses . Ovid's version diverges from Euripides' work in several areas. In Ovid's Metamorphoses , King Pentheus

1218-419: The importance of Dionysus as the central character and his effect on the play's structure, observes: "The poet uses the ritual crisis to explore simultaneously god, man, society, and his own tragic art. In this protodrama Dionysus, the god of the theatre, stage-directs the play." At the play's start, Dionysus' exposition highlights the play's central conflict: the invasion of Greece by an Asian religion. Until

1260-526: The late 19th century, the play's themes were considered too gruesome to be studied and appreciated. It was Nietzsche 's " Birth of Tragedy " in 1872 that re-posed the question of Dionysus's relation with the theatre and awakened interest in The Bacchae . In the 20th century, performances became quite fashionable—particularly in opera, due in part to the dramatic choruses found throughout the story. In 1948, R.P. Winnington-Ingram said of Euripides' handling of

1302-561: The metaphors and illusions from The Bacchae as literal. According to a biography written by the ancient historian Plutarch , after his defeat and death at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, the head of Roman general and statesman Marcus Licinius Crassus was sent to the Parthian emperor Orodes II and used "as a prop, standing in for the head of" Pentheus in a production of Euripides' The Bacchae . King Pentheus appears in Bacchae ,

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1344-444: The mountain top and washed up, as snakes licked them clean. Dionysus, still in disguise, persuades Pentheus to forgo his plan to defeat and massacre the women with an armed force. He says it would be better first to spy on them, while disguised as a female Maenad to avoid detection. Dressing Pentheus in this fashion, giving him a thyrsus and fawn skins, Dionysus leads him out of the house. At this point, Pentheus seems already crazed by

1386-576: The mountains, and the chorus (composed of the titular Bacchae) enters. They perform a choral ode in praise of Dionysus. Then Tiresias, the blind and elderly seer, appears. He calls for Cadmus, the founder and former king of Thebes. The two old men start out to join the revelry in the mountains when Cadmus’ petulant young grandson Pentheus, the current king, enters. Disgusted to find the two old men in festival dress, he scolds them and orders his soldiers to arrest anyone engaging in Dionysian worship, including

1428-424: The mysterious "foreigner" who has introduced this worship. Pentheus intends to have him stoned to death. The guards soon return with Dionysus himself in tow. Pentheus questions him, both skeptical of and fascinated by the Dionysian rites. Dionysus's answers are cryptic. Infuriated, Pentheus has Dionysus taken away and chained to an angry bull in the palace stable, but the god shows his power. He breaks free and razes

1470-505: The palace with an earthquake and fire. Dionysus and Pentheus are once again at odds when a herdsman arrives from the top of Mount Cithaeron, where he had been herding his grazing cattle. He reports that he found women on the mountain behaving strangely: wandering the forest, suckling animals, twining snakes in their hair, and performing miraculous feats. The herdsmen and the shepherds made a plan to capture one particular celebrant, Pentheus' mother. But when they jumped out of hiding to grab her,

1512-521: The play ends, the corpse of Pentheus is reassembled as well as is possible, and the royal family is devastated and destroyed. Agave and her sisters are sent into exile, and Dionysus decrees that Cadmus and his wife Harmonia will be turned into snakes and lead a barbarian horde to plunder the cities of Hellas. In his biography of the Roman statesman and general Marcus Licinius Crassus , the ancient historian Plutarch claims that after his defeat and death at

1554-641: The play: "On its poetical and dramatic beauties, he writes with charm and insight; on more complex themes, he shows equal mastery." Recent criticism has been provided by P.E. Easterling , et al. in The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy. The Bacchae had an enormous impact on ancient literature , and its influence can be seen in numerous Greek and Roman authors. It seems to have been one of Horace 's favorite tragedies. Beyond antiquity, dramatists and filmmakers of all ages have been greatly impacted by it. The tragedy's influence can be seen in

1596-406: The poetic choral descriptions indicate that the author certainly knew what attracted those who followed Dionysus. The vivid gruesomeness of the punishment of Pentheus suggests that he could also understand those who were troubled by religion. At one time the interpretation that prevailed was that the play was an expression of Euripides’ religious devotion, as though after a life of being critical of

1638-515: The stranger used divine power to bend down the tall tree and place the king in its highest branches. Then Dionysus, revealing himself, called out to his followers and pointed out the man in the tree. This drove the Maenads wild. Led by Agave, his mother, they forced the trapped Pentheus down from the tree top, ripped off his limbs and his head, and tore his body into pieces. After the messenger has relayed this news, Agave arrives, carrying her son's bloodied head. In her god-maddened state, she believes it

1680-544: The writings of Henrik Ibsen , as well as Thomas Mann 's 1912 novella Death in Venice and Oliver Stone's 2004 film Alexander . The Renaissance Venetian painter Titian may have illustrated the arrest of Bacchus in his painting "Il Bravo" in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum . Pentheus In Greek mythology , Pentheus ( / ˈ p ɛ n θj uː s / ; Ancient Greek : Πενθεύς , romanized :  Pentheús )

1722-508: Was a king of Thebes . His father was Echion , the wisest of the Spartoi . His mother was Agave , the daughter of Cadmus , the founder of Thebes, and grandson of the goddess Harmonia . His sister was Epeiros and his son was Menoeceus . Much of what is known about the character comes from the interpretation of the myth in Euripides ' tragic play, The Bacchae . The story of Pentheus' resistance to Dionysus and his subsequent punishment

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1764-502: Was in Semele's womb, by sewing him into a cavity in his thigh. When Semele died, her sisters said it was Zeus' will and accused her of lying; they also accused their father, Cadmus, of claiming Semele was pregnant by Zeus to cover up an affair with a mortal man. Most of Semele's family refused to believe Dionysus was the son of Zeus, and the young god was spurned by his household. He traveled throughout Asia and other foreign lands, gathering

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