The God of Chaos

A Story by RûbbërSøul

Pretty much a formless re-telling of some Myths I remembered about this god in particular. So don't judge me too harshly! haha

Just a heads up, this is pretty informal, no structure whatsoever. When I saw that Greek Mythology was the topic I just started typing non-stop Jack Kerouac style. I haven't even proof read it, haha. Enjoy!

I was always most intrigued by the god of the grape harvest. I mean, how awesome are Grapes? and if that wasn't enough to convert you into a Maenad, which is the name given to the gods most significant followers, well there are a few other things that he was the god of, a few other things he was known for.

He was mostly known for being the God of Wine, but you might also hear him referred to as the God of Ritual Madness, of Ecstatic Liberation, or put simply, the God of Chaos.

His life was unusual from the day he was born. The womb he'd spent the last 4 months of his fetal development was within Zeus's thigh. Which is the meaning of the name, which means "Zeus-thigh" in Greek. Dionysus had to be kept secret from Zeus's wife, Hera, as he was the result of an affair with a mortal woman who was killed by Zeus once Hera found out, so he was sent away and raised as a girl to disguise him even further, for the wrath of Hera was no joke.

The power of Dionysus could be experienced in two ways. Those who attempted to resist his gifts were driven to madness, but those who worshiped him would experience euphoria and feel more alive than they ever had, they would join the Thiasus, the god's entourage, made up of Maenads, Satyrs, which were male human-goat hybrids, mortals who had fallen under his spell, and often the god Pan was in the company of Dionysus and his followers. They would all be dancing and singing in a very frenzied, chaotic way. They were referred to by onlookers as "The Maddened Ones".

His nomadic revelry was headed toward Thrace, but his free-spirited ways were not welcomed by King Lykourgos, who not only denied the god entry but insulted him publicly and eventually attempted an attack on Dionysus and his nymph companions. Woken from their stupor, the young women fled in terror and Dionysus too fled into the ocean, to the under water home of Thetis.

Dionysus was clever in bringing down the king, playing on his hatred for Dionysus, the god drove him mad, King Lykourgos saw grapevines sprawling within the castle and without hesitation he started slashing it to pieces with his axe goad. In reality, he was hacking his son to pieces. Dionysus had caused the hallucination. It was a cake-walk from then on. At the will of Dionysus, the king was marched up the mountain, tied between two horses and ripped in half, while still alive. Nice.

I've already written more than I intended, I'm incredibly fascinated by Mythology, primitive cultures. My eagerness to type up this essay should put me in the lead for this competition!

Regardless, I'd like to tell one more story about Dionysus. If the former wasn't enough of an example of the ruthless, merciless brutality of these gods, then this one ought to do it.. ;)

After the events in Thrace, Dionysus realized people weren't too fond of his wild parties out in the forest, so he approached his next destination disguised. The name of said destination? Thebes, the city of Dionysus' birth, which was also the home of his mother, and the home of his foster parents. All of whom were now dead. The mother was struck down by a bolt of Zeus as she had been betrayed by her neighbours, people were talking about her rendezvous with a mysterious man. The foster parents were driven to murder and suicide by Hera, all part of the punishment for her husbands affair. so it's pretty safe to assume that Dionysus was not returning home with notions of making a home and becoming part of the city. In fact, the new ruler of the city, Pentheus, had made it clear that none of this madness out in the jungle was welcome anywhere near Thebes. Enter the God of Chaos. In no time at all woman of the city were falling under the God of the Vines spell. A huge majority of the cities women fled for the mountains and stayed there weeks reveling in the ritual of complete freedom, high of the euphoria that followed the ecstatic liberation from every aspect of their former lives. Two of these woman were of note. One being the mother of Pentheus, the other his Aunt.

Under his false identity, Dionysus got close to Pentheus and reasoned that he shouldn't be too quick to send a force up to the mountain, as his Mother and Aunt were up there. He suggested that Pentheus and he disguise themselves as woman and sneak up the mountain. That way they could evaluate the situation. As the two made their way up the mountain the gods powers were already taking effect on Pentheus, he claimed that his assailant had taken the form of a bull. I'll cut some of the details out, but as I'm sure you've guessed, it didn't end too well for Pentheus. All Dionysus had to do was say the word and a horde of frenzied women closed in on Pentheus, and as a testament to the power of Dionysus's mind control it was actually the Mother and the Aunt of Pentheus who finished him off. They did so by first ripping an arm off, then the other arm, then they ripped his head off as a trophy and began their march back to town, thyrsus in hand. A Thyrsus is a staff covered in ivy vines and generally topped with a pine cone, however, on this particular occasion the pine cone wasn't necessary. Instead, Agave adorned hers with her sons head. Quite the statement.

I'll stop it there. A good insight into how the Greek Gods handled people who crossed them, and those aren't even close to the harshest things these gods did to each other. It's fascinating stuff, and if you read into it enough you'll find that they're not just stories. They're all relative to real life. It's really mind-blowing stuff. In case you hadn't worked it out yet I'm absolutely obsessed with Mythology from all over the world. There's a great book talking about how Myth relates to real life, it's called 'The Power Off Myth' and it's by Joseph Campbell. It's actually the transcript from a filmed conversation that Campbell had with Bill Moyers about the subject, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Mythology.

Thanks for reading.

~ RubbęrSøul