Dionysus (Roman name Bacchus), Greek Olympian god
of vine, wine and mystic ecstasy. Orgies in favor of Bacchus are bacchanals.
According to classical mythology, the god’s favorite island was Andros,
where rivers ran with wine instead of water. The Greek city of Amphissa,
or Salona, was also a center for the cult of Dionysus.
See: Alma-Tadema The
Woman of Amphissa. Here a group
of exhausted female bacchantes are waking up after a night of bacchic revels,
and being tended by local women.
Giovanni Bellini. The
Infant Bacchus.
Feodor Bruni Bacchante
Giving Wine to Cupid.
Caravaggio Self-Portrait
as Sick Bacchus, Bacchus.
Michelangelo Bacchus.
Nicolas Poussin. Andrians
or The Great Bacchanal with Woman Playing a Lute, Bacchanal.
Peter Paul Rubens Bacchanalia.
Henryk Siemiradzki. Bacchanalia.
Titian
Bacchanals
of Andrians. Bacchus
and Ariadne.
Diego Velázquez. Bachus.