118 MYTHOLOGY AND ‘RELIGIOUS RITES. 
Menades, or Bacchantes, sporting, dancing, and. rejoicing from the effects 
of wine. Everywhere he was received with delight, and all who honored 
him enjoyed his favor and beneficence. None of the gods received a more 
universal worship than Dionysos. The mythologies of India, Lybia, Assy- 
ria, and Egypt embraced a deity of this name, and that of ancient Greece 
recognised two, the elder of which was the son of Zeus and Persephone, the 
younger of Zeus and Semele. The myths relate that the jealous Hera, 
enraged at her husband’s visits to Semele, persuaded the latter to request 
Zeus to approach her the next time in his true form as the god of thunder. 
His compliance, which she had insured by making him promise to grant 
any request she might make, proved her ruin; she could not endure the 
sight of Zeus in his majesty, and expired in the flames. Zeus desired, 
however, to preserve her unborn child, and as it wanted three months to 
maturity, he inclosed it in his thigh, whence in due time it was born (pl. 24, 
jig. 7), and received by Hermes, who, in order to protect the tender limbs 
of his charge, enveloped it in a Vebris, or sacred fawn-skin. Zeus commis- 
sioned Hermes to carry him to Athamas and Jno, in Thessaly, to be 
educated; but as the wrathful Hera persecuted both him and his foster 
parents, he was subsequently transferred to the mountains composing the 
range Nysa, where he was suckled by Nymphs and instructed by Silenos 
(pl. 23, fig. 19). One of the nymphs, Lewcothea, nursed him tenderly ; 
and in pl. 24, jig. 8, we see him resting on her arm, grasping the handle 
of a wine cup with one hand, and caressing his nurse with the other. 
Leucothea herself is dressed in the tunic without sleeves, and a mantle 
covers her shoulders and neck. 
We have said that many deities bore the name of Dionysos (Bacchus) ; 
they all, however, gradually blended into one, and the various deeds of all 
came at length to be attributed to the youngest, namely the son of Zeus 
and Semele, whom the poets distinguished by the epithet the Theban 
Dionysos. In their representations the artists did not confine themselves 
to any uniform idea of his person, but permitted their fancy to follow the 
various conceptions indicated by the myths and traditions relating to this 
god. Some allusion has already been made to the statues of Dionysos the 
infant. In addition to these we sometimes see him represented as a youth, 
and to such images we shall apply the term adolescent or Theban ; then the 
manly, bearded, or Lndian Dionysos ; and finally, we have the horned, or 
the ox, resembling Dionysos the son of Persephone. 
The Theban Dionysos is characterized by a figure, countenance, long 
hair, and general expression, exhibiting the roundness, delicacy, and 
tenderness of a beautiful maiden, rather than the qualities of a vigorous 
youth. The face is a slightly prolonged oval, while the moderately full 
lips indicate the love of pleasure; the eyes are not particularly lustful nor 
yet far-seeing, but the expression seems rather feeble and languishing. A 
very customary symbol is the frontlet and a crown of ivy or vine leaves 
bound round his hair, which is long, flowing, and gathered in a knot or 
bunch on the back of his head, only a few locks on each side lying upon 
his shoulders. The head itself is slightly inclined. The structure of the 
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