Bacchus, God of Wine

Dionysus (2nd century CE), Louvre Museum. (Wikipedia)

Dionysus was the Greek god of wine. His Roman alterego was Bacchus. Classical depictions of this god often make him young and very beautiful -- though at times, he appears as a rather degenerate older man. In Greek depictions, he was often shown with his followers: a group of human revelers who often appeared in a celebratory procession. These were called the thiasus or thiasos of Dionysus. Dionysus is also shown with cheetahs or leopards, which pulled his chariot or otherwise accompanied him.

Non-human revelers in Greek or Roman myths and images of Dionysus and Bacchus included dancing girl-nymphs called maenads and male satyrs, which had human heads and bodies with horse-like ears and tails. They were a pretty wild bunch! A Bacchanal is still the name for an orgy-like party.

Also from the Louvre: a Greek vase showing Dionysus and his Thiasos. (525 to 500 BCE, Wikipedia)

Bacchus from The Leadenhall Street Mosaic (British Museum)

Bacchus Fresco from Pompeii (British Museum)

Bacchus in the Renaissance

Caravaggio's Bacchus (1595-1597) from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Renaissance painters also loved to depict this god, just as the ancients did.

Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian (1522-1523). National Gallery, London. (Wikipedia)
This painting depicts the myth of Bacchus and Ariadne as told by the Roman poet Ovid.
It's the only image I have chosen where Bacchus is not holding a wine cup.

Perhaps the fermented beverage that Greek and Roman gods and humans drank didn't taste just like the wine we enjoy these days. In ancient Greece it often had the taste of pine resin, which lined and sealed the terracotta amphoras used for shipping and storing wine. We probably wouldn't actually rate it very high! So although I wouldn't want to drink their wine, I find the ancient Greek and Roman myths about it very appealing and I really like the gods and mythical tales that personify the glory of wine.

I'm sharing these portrayals of Dionysus and Bacchus and their wine cups with Altered Book Lover and the many followers of her blog who share their ideas and images about drinks each Tuesday.

Blog post © 2020 mae sander for maefood dot blogspot dot com. Images as credited.