1893.J i-Vj [Dolley. 



The Thyrsos of Dionysos and the Palm Inflorescence of the Winged Figures 

 of Assyrian Monuments. 



By Dr. Charles S. Dolley. 



(Read before the American Philosophical Society, February 17, 1893.) 



The generally accepted interpretation of the conical structure termi- 

 nating the thyrsos, carried by Dionysos and his Thyasos, is that it repre- 

 sents the pine or fir cone. 



Notwithstanding the number of authors, both ancient and modern, 

 acquiescing in this interpretation, it seems to the writer entirely incon- 

 sistent with the present state of knowledge regarding the origin and 

 spread of the Dionysos cult, and the significance of the Dionysiac mys- 

 teries. Brunck.i Welcker, '^ Smith'' and others regard the fir tree and its 

 cones {y.ui'n)<f('>pn^.^ xujvoi;, Theoph.) as being dedicated to Dionysos in 

 consequence of the use of the cones and of the turpentine and resin ob- 

 tained from the fir trees (^Tzeoxv], Theoph.) in making wines. 



Buchholtz* comes to the same decision regarding the pine (rri-u?'), 

 basing his opinion upon the same line of reasoning, and the authority of 

 Plutarch.^ 



The custom of flavoring wines with resinous substances was not con- 

 fined to the ancients, but is prevalent in Italy and Greece to-day,^ and a 

 careful review of the list of wines mentioned by Homer and earlier Greek 

 writers, and the statements of Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Pliny re- 

 garding turpentines and resins, goes to show that there is no sufficient 

 foundation for the above conclusion. It will furthermore be shown in the 

 following examination of the subject, that such associations as exist 

 between the Dionysos cult and the pine or fir tree are based upon consid- 

 erations having nothing to do with wine. 



The epithet or surname Bacchus Q3d/.;(o?, Jcovuffo? j^dx/eco?) does not 

 occur until after the time of Herodotus (484 B. C). According to Lenor- 

 mant,^ the "name is derived from the joyous cries with which the young 

 god was accompanied, and it at first denoted the procession itself, or the 

 song which was sung in it, before it was applied to the god." It seems 

 possible that the term primarily referred to the thyrsos or rod carried by 

 the god and each of his followers. 



The drunken, riotous characteristics of the mysteries were probably 



1 Oriech. Anal., i, 42. 



= Gricch. Goltcrleh., i, 424. 



^ Diet. Greek and Roman Antiq., Article "Thyrsos." 



*Hom.. Realien., i, 2, p. 266. 



6 Symp. quxit., 3. 



6The modern Greek uame y.parsX prjT(7v^(ixn Is applied to wines flavored with the 

 resin of the Aleppo pine, Pinus halepensia, Mill. See Heldreich, Die Nutzpflanzen Qriechen- 

 lands, pp. 14 and 41. 



7 "Eleusinian Mysteries," by Francolse Lenormant, Contemp. Rev., Vol. xxxviii, p. 855 



