22.1: The Cult of Dionysus

If you've heard of Dioynsus, you're likely aware of his associations with grapes, wine, and theatre. The famous Theatre Dionysia was the site where some of the ancient world's greatest scripted performances were staged in honor of the god. But what is the connection between wine and theatre? The power of wine to remove inhibitions parallels the power of art to strip away the socialized self to reveal—through the donning of the theatrical mask—the true inner self. Wine and art are a path to unfiltered truth. This, in its purest and most idealistic form is the ideology of the Dionysian mysteries; a cult of drunk, naked, conspiratorial revelers tearing a fully grown bull limb from limb deep in the forests outside the Greek city state.