LANG 350--Classical Mythologyy
Homeric Hymn to DionysusAt the beginning of this hymn, before the pirates notice him, how is Dionysus described?
How are the pirates described? What is the object of their interest in the young nobleman on the promontory?
What prevents the captain from heeding the advice of the pilot? How is the power of Dionysus manifested when the captain attempts to sail off with his captive? How does Dionysus respond to the pirates' attempts to bind him? What emotions does he display?
Which of the crew members does not suffer from the god?
Dionysus embodies paradoxical qualities and this short poem illustrates them well. He is potentially very violent, as here. But what are the means and methods of his violence? What are the direct results of his violence?
Did the pirates take him by surprise? What struggle did he put up? Is there something provocative about Dionysus standing disguised as he is on the promontory in the first place? Who is really the victim here?
Dionysus as the Other
Dionysus has been characterized as a god who, for all his appearances to mortals, yet resists identification with them. He is otherness, defying precise definition. The French classicist Vernant writes:
Even in the world of the Olympian gods, to which he had been admitted, Dionysos personified, as expressed so well by Louis Gernet, the presence of the Other. He did not confirm and reinforce the human and social order by making it sacred. Dionysos called this order into question; indeed, he shattered it. In so doing he revealed another side of the sacred, one that was no longer regular, stable, and defined but strange, elusive, and disconcerting. As the only Greek god endowed with the power of maya ("magic"), Dionysos transcends all forms and evades all definitions; he assumes all aspects without confining himself to any one. Like a conjurer, he plays with appearances and blurs the boundaries between the fantastic and the real. Ubiquitous, he is never to be found where he is but always here, there, and nowhere at the same time. As soon as he appears, the distinct categories and clear oppositions that give the world its coherence and rationality fade, merge, and pass from one to the other. He is at once both male and female. By suddenly appearing among men, he introduces the supernatural in the midst of the natural and unites heaven and earth. Young and old, wild and civilized, near and far, beyond and here-below are joined in him and by him. Even more, he abolishes the distance that separates the gods from men and men from animals.