Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, who died during his conception (consumed by the 'fiery splendour' in which Zeus appeared to her!). Zeus placed the foetus in his thigh from where, in time he was born.

As he grew he was entrusted to Ino, Seleme's sister and then to the nymphs at Nysa (a mountain). He battled with, and overcame, Pentheus King of Thebes and this episode is documented in 'The Bacchae' by Euripedes, along with the flesh and limb-ripping shenanigans we have come to associate with his cult.

Dionysus is usually represented as an effeminate, fleshy youth wearing grapes and carrying a wine goblet or thyrsus (a rod encircled with vines or ivy). He is normally acconmpanied by a group of Satyrs, Maenids, and Bassarids who dance, possessed and intoxicated around him, tearing animals to pieces (mmmm). These are known as Bacchi.

He was God of wine, intoxication, ecstasy, music and poetry (elements reflected in the Cult of Dionysus). Later, to the Greeks, he became God of vegetation who dies and is brought back to life yearly. The Egyptians identified him with Osirus, God of the underworld, and the Romans knew him as Liber or Bacchus.

Goats were sacrificed to Dionysus, either perhaps because he was sometimes represented as a goat, or because goats were known to eat vine shoots and injure the vine, and at least five festivals were held in Athens throughout the year in honour of the God. These were composed of processions, sacrifices, wine tasting, theatrical performance and, in one case a symbolic marriage between the King of Archon and the God, Dionysus.